Glory World Series First 16, Sweden, 26th May 2012 Results

Written by: Eddie Goldman
2012-05-29
SemmySchiltErrolZimmerman052612a.jpgSemmySchiltErrolZimmerman052612a.jpg

(Semmy Schilt vs. Errol Zimmerman)

From Golden Glory:

A night of GLORY

On Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd in the Swedish capitalStockholm, the GLORY World Series tournament commenced with an event that eventhe most veteran kickboxing fans are declaring to be one of the best nights offighting they have ever seen.

From top to bottom the event was stacked with the household names of thekickboxing world, legends of fighting drawn from every part of the globe on amission to try and win the most prestigious tournament in the sport andprogress, eventually, to the grand finale and a prize of $300,000.

The action was unrelenting - every fighter who entered the GLORY ring was readyfor war. Some went the distance and put on a master class display of the skillsthey have spent a lifetime crafting, other fights were over quickly as

"We had an amazing night of GLORY in Stockholm. The show looked amazing,the fights were world-class and the fans loved it. We could not have asked fora better start for the new GLORY World Series - but this is only the beginning.If you enjoyed this first show, you will love what’s coming up," saysGLORY SPORTS INTERNATIONAL Managing Director Marcus Luer.

His comments were echoed by GLORY SPORT President Bas Boon, who has beeninvolved in fight sports since the 1990s but has rarely witnessed an event thatwas so action-packed and so satisfying both for its producers and for itsaudience.

"I am very excited to be part of the new GLORY Sports Internationalorganization. What a way to start the First 16 here in Stockholm, Sweden,"he said immediately after the event had concluded. "I want to thankeverybody in GLORY and also a special thanks to the production team - theSwedish promoter did a stand-out job.

"This is just the beginning - we are ready to conquer the stand-upfighting sport world and take it by storm. It’s time for GLORY!"

Last night’s event was broadcast to 110,000,000 homes worldwide by some of theworld’s premier sports television networks, including EuroSport, Canada’s FightNetwork and the Central European terrestrial television broadcaster KanalTurk.

The television broadcasts were complemented by a high-definition livepay-per-view stream which aired via www.gloryworldseries.com. Employing state-of-the-arttechnology, the stream was perfect throughout and - notably for a live streamof extended duration - suffered no technical difficulties, leading to a highlevel of fan satisfaction.

Semmy Schilt vs. Errol ZimmermanSemmy Schilt vs. Errol ZimmermanGLORY World Series: First 16 was headlined by the legendary Semmy Schilt, whoreinforced his status as the world’s number one heavyweight kickboxer byputting a clinic on the young highly-regarded prospect Errol Zimmerman.

Zimmerman’s corner threw the towel in in the third round as Schilt’s dominancebecame impossible for their man to endure. The win earned Schilt the GLORYHeavyweight Title, the most prestigious kickboxing title in the world. Schiltin his post-fight interview acknowledged that he ranks this title on the samelevel as his previous titles in the other organization.

Also on the card, Gokhan Saki demonstrated his thrilling power with a quickstoppage of the American veteran Carter Williams and Nieky Holzken stoppedrising Swedish star Alex Harris with a trademark body shot in the second roundof their super fight.

In the centrepiece of the event, the eight opening-round fights of the GLORYWorld Series 70 kilo tournament produced action, surprises and excitement asthe sixteen top fighters in the weight class fought tooth and nail for thechance to progress to the quarter-finals.

Giorgio Petrosyan outpointed the top French fighter Fabio Pinca to underlinewhy he is the favourite to win the tournament, Albert Kraus had a tough battlewith Denmark’s Mohammed El Mir to secure his own spot in the next round andAmerican prospect Ky Hollenbeck smashed his countryman Michael Corley in undera minute to get his pass.

Upsets came via the unknown Georgian fighter David Kiria, who knocked down andout-worked the top Thai fighter Kem Sitsonpeenong, and Switzerland’s ShemsiBeqiri did the same with another tournament favourite, Japanese veteranYoshihiro Sato, to take a split-decision win after an action-packed battle.

Fight of the Night was surely put on by Robin van Roosmalen and DzhabarAskerov, who stood toe-to-toe and battered each other for nine minutes in afight that had the fans in the arena going crazy. Van Roosmalen gradually edgedahead and took the decision win.

The final spots in the second round were taken by 21-year-old Swedish prospectSanny Dahlbeck, who impresses with each outing, and the British fighter TimThomas, who stood in on late notice and had actually worked a full shift in anew job the preceding day.

For more information on GLORY visit our website at www.gloryworldseries.comand follow us on Twitter @GLORY_WS. Announcements will be coming soon regardingthe location, date and matches for the next event.