O'Loughlin’s was alive with the roar of fans and highpaced kickboxing action last weekend. Dragons Lair Kickboxing, which only opened its doors 12 months ago, had its first IKF sanctioned full contact kickboxing promotion in O'Loughlin Gaels GAA Club on Sunday and if they were out to make a statement, they certainly did that and more.
Promoter Bernard Doyle and his team put on a top class show with an action packed fight card that was witnessed by more than 800 enthusiastic and very vocal fight fans.
This show had junior fighters, senior fighters, an amateur IKF All-Ireland Title fight, and international bouts both amateur and professional. The action was non-stop from start to finish with all ages in action, featuring fan favourites such as Vinny Di Ruscio and JP Soames and the next generation of heroes such as Helen Meagher and Hugh Doheny. One fight that had the audience on their feet throughout was between two young ladies, Megan Maher from Pat Rocket’s Gym in Waterford and Helen Meagher from the Dragons Lair camp in Kilkenny. It was three rounds of punch after punch after kick, fast-paced and full of style, determination and heart. In the end the judges couldn't split them and awarded a draw, a result nobody could argue with.
Another cracker of a contest was the IKF Middleweight fight which was for the recently vacated belt and this was between local hero Clayton Delaney and Waterford fighter Sean O' Neill.
These two had a little bit of history as Delaney knocked out O'Neill in Waterford about four months ago, so it was pride as well as the IKF belt that seemed to spur O'Neill through five gruelling rounds to a closely fought victory to lift the title. IKF representative Pete Foley commented that it was a first class and extremely competitive fight that could have been a main event anywhere on the planet.
Then, of course, you had the two main events which certainly didn't fail to deliver as John Paul Soames and Vinny Di Ruscio both knocked out their Welsh opponents — Soames with a left hook body shot in the fourth round. All credit to the Welshman Ryan Martin, he took everything Soames gave him for the first three rounds and then he discovered why Soames is called “the Punisher” as Soames landed strike after strike to Martin's body before the Welshman finally succumbed in the fourth. Di Ruscio was off at breakneck speed from the bell, giving his Welsh opponent Matthew Ashford no quarter, landing a flurry of punches followed with a spectacular head kick to end the fight in the first round.
