6/11/2011
It’s Showtime: It’s Showtime Warsaw
Warsaw, Poland
Murthel Groenhart def. Errol Koning - Majority Decision (4-1)
Revanho Blokland def. Marco Vlieger - Unanimous Decision
Hafid el Boustati def. Piotr Woznicki - Unanimous Decision
Danyo Ilunga def. Nenad Pagonis - TKO Round 4
Rafal Dudek def. Michal Glogowski - Extra Round Decision (4-1)
Daniel Ghita def. Erhan Deniz - TKO Round 2
Danyo Ilunga retains world title, Daniel Ghita claims TKO victory
http://www.itsshowtime.nl/index.php?p=news&id=106
June 12, 2011 -
Last night’s IT’S SHOWTIME event featured the world title clash for the 95kg max belt between 2 of the most promising prospects in the division. Danyo Ilunga, who won the vacant title in March by beating Wendell Roche, didn’t get his victory over Nenad Pagonis for free though.
While he entered the stage of the Warszawskie Centrum Expo XXI in Warsaw, Poland, the spectators could see a big smile on his face. It looked like the smile of a king greeting his people, instead of the other way around. Both fighters started throwing bombs right from the opening bell, with Pagonis landing hard lowkicks on the champion’s left leg. Ilunga tried to put the pressure on his challenger, keeping the center of the ring and pushing forward. However, Pagonis managed to fight very well while in reverse gear. In the second round, Ilunga kept trying to pressure and chase the young Serbian, but at times Pagonis outscored the champ. Pagonis was under heavy attacks from Ilunga, who really didn’t want to give his belt away. He hurt Pagonis badly, but didn’t go for the kill, therefore losing momentum and Ilunga didn’t grab the chance to finish the fight. As the championship rounds began, Ilunga showcased why he is the champion. With an incredibly hard blow he made Pagonis do the ‘rubberneck’ and scored a knockdown. Soon after that, the young German made an end to all title aspirations of Pagonis, knocking him down with another punch. Pagonis got up within 8 seconds, but clearly wasn’t able to continue, causing the referee to do the only right thing, which was stopping the fight. Winner by TKO and still the IT’S SHOWTIME 95kg max world champion: Danyo Ilunga.
In the main event, BFN Group and IT’S SHOWTIME had put up the heavyweight fight between the Romanian giant Daniel Ghita and Erhan Deniz from Turkey. Ghita started off pretty carefully and maybe even too slow. Erhan was the smaller fighter but his braveness kept him going and he really fought back hard. After an accidental head butt, the referee gave Ghita the 8 count. Unfortunately, the referee wasn’t in the best position to judge the head butt, and afterwards it appeared to be accidental. However, that seemed to be exactly what Ghita needed to wake up. And when you wake up the giant, you’re not in for a treat. In the second round, Ghita punished Deniz’ legs with his trademark lowkicks. As commentator Vinny Shoreman said, Ghita is the “Romanian Robbie Kaman”, referring to the legendary Dutchman, who fought his retirement fight at the very first IT’S SHOWTIME event ever, 49 editions ago. Deniz was brave, but Ghita knew he had to make up for the 8 count in round 1, and attacked with hard shots to the body. One of his shots to the liver sent Deniz down, but before he hit the ground, a left kick of Ghita landed on Deniz’ head, causing a big cut. Daniel Ghita won by TKO (doctor stoppage) in round 2.
Also on this very exclusive VIP event, IT’S SHOWTIME’s anniversary for their 50th event, was a Polish clash between the local hero Michal Glogowski and Rafal Dudek. Glogowski walked out to the dark tunes of ‘Lux Aeterna’, a track very well-known from the movie ‘Requiem for a Dream’. As soon as he made his entrance it was clear that the Warsaw resident was the crowd favorite. Rafal Dudek, on the other side, was a man with a mission. Six years ago he lost to Glogowski by knockout, but a lot can change in six years. Dudek opened the fight with a front kick right in the face of his opponent, showing no signs of fear because of their first fight. It was a careful round though, being Glogowski’s first fight in six months. Dudek also suffered from a little ring rust, after not having fought since December 2010, when he beat Chahid Oulad el Hadj in Athens, Greece. In the second round, Dudek fired off the front kick again from the start. Glogowski, in a Muay Thai stance, kept things mostly simple, while Dudek threw in a flying knee. It was clear that the Polish pride was on the line as both showed respect for each other’s skills. Glogowski opened very well in the third, but Dudek’s defense was tight and shut. Dudek, training at Mike’s Gym, threw a lot of lowkicks, causing Glogowski to switch his stance. Dudek was the quicker fighter, with Glogowski being the more powerful.
After three rounds, the judges decided that the VIP crowd got to see an extra round. Both fighters really showed the will to win this fight! Glogowski tried to force a knockout by throwing single, but powerful, shots. Dudek kept putting together nice combinations, eventually earning him the decision win in this rematch.
In the opening fight of the night, Murthel ‘The Predator’ Groenhart made his first ring appearance without what seemed to become a trademark haircut. Apparently, his strength wasn’t in his hair as he put together a 4-1 decision win over Errol Koning. Because of a not completely healed injury, Murthel started in southpaw stance. While he found his shape he switched to orthodox and showed some great combinations, including the left-right, livershot and right head kick, which sent Joep Beerepoot to the canvas in September 2010. However he didn’t force a knockout, he did leave Errol Koning with a cut in the head, pretty similar to the one we saw at Freddy Kemayo in December 2010, from the devastating high kick by Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva. Although he lost the fight, Errol Koning proved to be a very tough guy, and able to go the distance with the experienced Groenhart.
Hafid el Boustati seems to be on a roll. After his win over Mohamed Medhar on the previous edition of IT’S SHOWTIME, he now displayed his great shape again by scoring a unanimous decision win over Piotr Woznicki. The Polish Woznicki didn’t block the lowkicks thrown by the Moroccan and was on the receiving end of some great combinations. Early in the second round, El Boustati smelled blood and went for the kill but Woznicki is tough as nails! Woznicki seemed bigger in size than El Boustati, but El Boustati was the quicker of the two. It was Woznicki’s good head movement, which saw him survive a good head kick from El Boustati, who was put under pressure in the end of the second round.
Round 3 began with El Boustati being way ahead on the scorecards. This didn’t prevent him from going in hard again. With a head kick and two attempts for fight-ending overhand rights he showed some bad intentions. Woznicki screamed, like saying “Bring it on”. El Boustati kept throwing a lot of techniques to Woznicki, whose leg was colored red and purple. However, the Polish fighter just didn’t go down. After three rounds of vicious attacks, Hafid el Boustati got the nod from all judges, scoring this fight 5-0.
Making his IT’S SHOWTIME debut, Revanho Blokland immediately took his chance by beating Belgium’s Marc Vlieger. Blokland showed some good combinations and rounded them off with lowkicks to the massive legs of Vlieger. As time expired, Vlieger showed signs of fatigue. While Blokland landed combinations, Vlieger tried to load up his battery for single powershots. Blokland was clearly the better conditioned fighter, and in the third round he definitely made the difference, fighting his way to a unanimous victory and making his IT’S SHOWTIME debut a successful one.
IT’S SHOWTIME teamed up with BFN Group for their 50th event, with another stunning exclusive VIP entourage. A good ambiance, TKOs and some great upsets made this an anniversary to not soon forget.
