The sweat’s barely dried in the ring, but Queenstown fighter Rob Horrocks is already marinating on the next Invictus Fight Night.
Held for the first time at the Memorial Centre last Saturday, the event featured 10 Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts, including one exhibition bout.
Horrocks says that’s because the fighter due to face Fight Science’s Aiden Dolan pulled out about an hour before the show.
‘‘This legend, Goldie, from South Island Lee Gar in Christchurch stepped in and fought against our lad to save the day — it was a bit mad, but it was cool that he did it.’’
The Just Dig It main event was won by former Queenstowner Diego Beneduzzi by knockout in the third round against Wellington’s Jon Anderson, giving him the AMTA middleweight New Zealand Muay Thai championship title — he also won the Locker Room fighter of the night award.
In the TomTom co-main event, a 3×3 ISKA professional kickboxing bout, Cody Sione (Hamilton) beat Reid Miller (Christchurch), while in the
Hazweld pro kickboxing bout, Fight Science’s Rishon Harris delivered a head kick in the second round to win by knockout against Kate O’Neill
(Christchurch), for which she won the Barmuda ‘epic finish’ award.
Christchurch’s Shaun Spencer beat Gore’s Rod Rare in the Hall of Fades kickboxing bout, while a North Island v South Island rematch between Queenstown’s Aoife Whelan and Wellington’s Mel Berg went to the North Island.
Whelan, Horrocks says, had a ‘‘fantastic fight’’.
‘‘It was an absolute battle back and forth, but the other girl was maybe a little bit physically bigger and she was stronger; she landed some good shots and did a good job, really.’’
In another ‘‘standout performance’’, Queenstown’s Anurag Thapli, in just his second Muay Thai fight, beat Kahu Light (Christchurch), while Nicola Beswick, also from Fight Science, beat Christchurch’s Dana Lambert, and Taane Taiepa (Christchurch) beat Max Woodward (Balclutha).
Horrocks says the sold-out event, a collaboration between Ringcraft Promotions and No Trace Events, was ‘‘fantastic’’ and will be held ‘‘at least annually’’.
‘‘I think everybody had a good time, a lot of coaches and fighters were absolutely over the moon with it, saying it was the best show they’ve ever been to, it’s been amazing feedback.
‘‘It was great to see everyone out supporting us at the show, cheering for our sponsors and getting behind all of the fighters.
‘‘The plan is really to use this to show everybody what we can do as a production team and as promoters, and then just try to grow it.
‘‘If we can do it twice a year, great … but we are planning on doing it regularly and keep growing it, so we can put the best fights in New Zealand on.’’
Horrocks, who’s also grateful to City Cave for providing massage services on Saturday, says they’ll look to add some boxing bouts next time, for which he’s already got a few fights in mind.
