Unlike the first Vanyo kickboxing smoker where we sent just one fighter (Khalil Khalil), this time we sent six fighters and a good crowd of supporters. Thank you to Tim Stafford, Paul Compton, Russ Herbert, Khalil Khalil, Jon-David Reeves, and George Comer for stepping up and representing the academy so well.
Smokers are for fun and experience, the results are not recorded and do not become part of a fighter's record. The GR crew made the trip to Strongsville last Friday night for the 2nd Vanyo Kickboxing Smoker of 2013. The GR team covered the range of experience at GR from seasoned pros like George Comer to first time fighters like Russ Herbert. Vanyo had their own well prepared team in place and invited one of the newer gyms in the area, The Wrestling Factory, to participate. The event ran very smoothly, and the gym was packed with an enthusiastic crowd.
It was a night of surprises and great performances... Russ's high kick KO win out of nowhere was THE strike of the night in any fight, Comer's come from behind win over a much more experienced opponent (a former Lebanese national champion) was a lesson in conditioning and pressure, but Tim Stafford's overall performance was the demonstration of guts for the night. Tim's first fight led off the event, and he won a tough decision. He had under two hours to recover and fought a fresh opponent literally half his age and took him to a decision too.
Khalil Khalil and Jon Reeves had terrific back and forth fights with their opponents, and while the decisions didn't go in their favor, both fights could easily have gone the other way. One of the differences between smokers and official fights is that smokers use only one judge, so sometimes you get results that you may
not agree with.
Everyone fought well, everyone has reason to be proud of each man that fought and the entire team. They represented the academy well and showed what team work and good training can do.
Written by: Bob Donaghy
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