Muaythai Fight Night, Civic Hall, Ellesmere Port 13th May

This was a promotion by Heavy Hitters in association with Showsport International, featuring the long anticipated Kevin Harper vs Lee Chesters fight and also Neil Woods vs Chris Armstrong under full Thai rules. Unfortuantely Chris Armstrong pulled out and Mark Beale took his place.

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The referee for the evening was John Blackledge.






Haan vs Ahmer Iqbal

Haan (HeavyHitters, Chester) VS Ahmer Iqbal (SIMTA, Bradford) 3x2mins

Simon Mangeolls was working the corner for the SIMTA for the evening due to a collar bone injury to David Croft. There was a running aggressive start by Iqbal attacking with a flurry of low kicks and punches. Haan however was just looking to kick in reply. Iqbal scored well with some hard punches, whereas Haan only landed low kicks, his attempted high kicks missing. Rnd 2 : This round was dominated by low kicks from Haan and jumping knees which put Iqbal down for a count. Iqbal recovered well and came back with a right cross that put Haan to the canvas for a count.Iqbal continued the round with some strong boxing catching Haan cleanly with a right hook.
Rnd 3: There were some strong kicks by Haan early on but towards the end of the round he was looking the more tired of the two.

Correction (Apologies for orginal incorrect mistake) Decision: Win to Haan










Tam vs Craig Richardson

Tam - Heavy Hitters, Chester VS Craig Richardson - SIMTA, Bradford
Rnd 1 : Richardson opened the fight with low kicks but then Tam grabbed Richardson and started to throw lots of knees into his sternum. Richardson replied well with a right cross but then a confident looking Tam landed a hard left body kick that ended the fight catching Richardson on the floating ribs.

TKO to Tam







Simon Aston vs Steve Tierney

Simon Aston - Birmingham VS Steve Tierney - Kaobon, Liverpool 3x3mins
This fight was only over 3 rounds as Aston had recently fought in Birmingham over 10 rounds. Tierney was originally scheduled to fight Sterrit who pulled out from the fight.
Rnd 1 : Aston opened aggressively with the higher work rate but most of his shots were blocked by Tierney. Tierney then grinned as he landed his first low kick. All in all a fairly even round damage wise but Aston doing far more work, which resulted in Tierney getting shouted at form his corner.




Rnd 2 : Aston scored well early on with a punch whilst Tierney was trying to get his distance for low kicks. Aston was doing again more work with hands and managed a nice kick and also a teep that knocked Tierney to the floor as the bell went.

Rnd 3: Tierney's work rate picked up this round as he landed a lot of punches pushing back ASton all the time but not doing any great damage. Aston again produced a nice catch in this round before going back to being boxed against the ropes by Tierney
Decision: Draw







Julian Priestley vs Mike Jeavons

Julian Priestley - SIMTA, Bradford VS Mike Jeavons - Thomas Muay Thai
Rnd 1 : Priestley started the round well with some excellent boxing, though the majority of the round was spent in the clinch by the fighters with Jeavons scoring some strong knees at the end of the round.
Rnd 2 : Again for the first part of the round Priestley was darting in and out well with attacks whereas Jeavons was looking to clinch and when he did again landed some good knees. Priestley showed a good ability to listen to his corner throughout this round.

Rnd 3 : Jeavons opened with a good low kick, whilst Priestley was looking to go forward all the time. Jeavons again dominated the clinch with some good knees.
Decision: Majority Draw





Kevin Harper vs Lee Chesters

Kevin Harper - Beastmasters, Altrincham VS Lee Chesters - Wicker Camp, Sheffield 5x2mins
Rnd 1 : This was a fairly boring first round with each fighter feeling out the other with the odd low kick and right cross being thrown.

Rnd 2 : Harper performed a nice jumping knee in this round before leading into the clinch where Harper used his weight advantage. There was nice low kick by Chesters who we felt won this round by doing more work with his fists.

Rnd 3 : Again there was more work from Chesters with his hands, mixing body shots with straight punches. This was a more entertaining round with Harper coming back strong with Chesters landing more low kicks but Harper getting some good body kicks in under Chesters' arms.

Rnd 4: This was a faster paced round with both fighters attacking mixing punches and low kicks. Harper caught Chesters with a a good straight punch that put Chesters on the back pedal but he came back well.

Rnd 5: Harper showed some nice skill with his hands this round keeping on top early on whilst Chesters was looking to land low kicks. Chesters scored a nice teep to Harper's face. Going into the clinch Chesters through a good long knee and was on top to the end of the round.

Decision: Draw - though had Harper not had a 3 kilo weight advantage things may well have been different!










Neil Woods vs Mark Beale

Neil Woods - Kaobon, Liverpool VS Mark Beale - Zen Kutsu, Coventry 5 x 3 full Thai Rules
Mark Beale was a late replacement for Colin Armstrong who pulled out earlier in the week.


Rnd 1: Beale was the early aggressor with knees in the clinch whereas Woods preferred to bide his time and score with selective kicks. Woods throwing some fast punch and kick combinations winded Beale towards the end of the round.


Rnd 2: Into the second round Woods started to get his kicking range and was doing the damage with low kicks putting Beale down for a count. Woods then scored with another kick to the body putting Beale down and the referee waved the fight over.


2nd Rd TKO to Neil Woods.