Israel has world middleweight title in sight

PERFECT STORM: Formidable former Whanganui fighter Israel Adesanya (left) will fight for the world middleweight kickboxing title in Los Angeles tomorrow evening NZ time.

The Whanganui martial arts fraternity will be glued to Sky Channel 065 tomorrow evening as one of their own fight for the world kickboxing middleweight title in Los Angeles.

Nigerian-born former Whanganui fighter Israel Adesanya will fight for the Glory middleweight title. The 29-year-old now Auckland-based fighter will aim to dethrone defending champion Jason Wilnis of the Netherlands in the main event of Glory 37.

A native of Odogbolu, Ogun State of Nigeria. Adesanya was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to New Zealand with his family in 2001. After taking up Muay Thai in Whanganui under Derek Broughton, Adesanya moved to Auckland where he began a professional kickboxing career under Eugene Bareman at City Kickboxing.

His family still live in Whanganui as does one of his regular sparring partners and fellow Muay Thai exponents Kyle Gallacher.

Back in the early days around 8 years ago, Gallacher trained with the then aspiring young fighter and recalled the natural talent Adesanya showed.

"Izzy was always a fast and creative fighter and unpredictable," Gallacher said yesterday.

"He had his own style, which was a lot more about controlling distance and avoiding shots. You can see now he is the perfect storm of talent and world class training.

"No doubt he will take out the world title this weekend," Gallacher predicted.

Adesanya has a formidable record and as of January 1 this year, he is ranked the No4 middleweight in the world by Combat Press and as of January 2 he is also ranked No4 by LiverKick.com.

Glory is the world's premier kickboxing promotion with events held across the United States, Europe and Asia, while Adesanya's bout will be broadcast live on cable sports giant ESPN in America.

It will also be broadcast on Sky Arena Channel 065 between 5pm and 7pm tomorrow.

The Style Bender, as Adesanya is known, secured his shot at the title after winning the four-man contender tournament in Denver two months ago, claiming decision victories over Robert Thomas and arch-rival Yousri Belgaroui on the same night.

Wilnis (29-6-1) will be making his first defence of the belt since recording one of the biggest upsets of the year with a third-round TKO over then-middleweight champion Simon Marcus in September.