Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing Gym competed in a special class K-1 kickboxing tournament on the Island of Malta recently.
Five fighters represented Ireland from the Galway club, and three came away with titles.
First up was Darren Van Strien from Newcastle who faced Maltese fighter Jacov Bosnjsk in a fast-paced fight, and it was the Galway man who dominated throughout, winning a well-deserved unanimous decision.
Ballybane’sPatrick Ward, in this first K-1 rules fight, was matched with another strong fighter from Malta, Jaydee Cassar, but after taking a nasty knee to the groin, which really took the wind from his sails, the home fighter got the decison at the final bell.
Evelyn Coffey from Rahoon faced Maria Camilleri in another fast-paced fight with Camilleri looking to land big shots and seemingly only wanting to box, but the experienced Coffey picked off the Maltese fighter with accurate leg kicks and boxing of her own to earn a well deserved unanimous decision for Ireland.
Knocknacarra’s Liam Tobin faced local fighter Isaac Gatt Valeta from Malta in a rematch - the pair having previously fought in Galway last November.
Valeta, looking for revenge, started fast, but Tobin once again won all three rounds comfortably and took the win, making it two out of two, but astonishingly, it was scored as a split decision. Ireland’s last fighter Corey O'Malley from Ballybane also faced familiar foe when he mt local hero and European champion Justin Pace from Malta in the main event.
On the last occasion they met in Galway, O’Malley won comfortably, but this fight was set at 60kg with a half kilo allowance, and it was 2am in the morning by the time they entered the ring.
O’Malley had hit the scales 24 hours previously inside the limit at 60.3kg, while Pace was 61.5kg, but the fight went ahead, and once again O’Malley took control, landing some excellent kicks and punches to Pace’s head and knocking him back.
The Irish fighter was the one landing the better knee strikes inside, and one knee was right on target to the head making him fully confident he had won. However, in a shock result, the winner by split decision was Pace.
