New Zealand is a country that has done well on the International kickboxing stage producing many world champions. The Godfather of Thai Boxing in New Zealand Sifu Phillip Lam recently celebrated thirty years of service to Kickboxing and Thai boxing in New Zealand and one of his early champions Wayne Vaega is now promoting the sport in the South Island.
Wayne is a well-known and respected fighter and trainer and conducts a Lee Gar Gym in Queenstown. Wayne and Lynn Vaega have done much for the sport in the South Island and this their third Clash of the Districts promotion was a sell-out.
Wayne and Lynn are promoting grass roots kickboxing in the South and doing very well indeed.
Kickboxers and local fight fans love nothing better than seeing locals fight and this created an atmosphere on Saturday November 26th that was truly a Southern fight fest experience and a half.
The promotion was held at the Queenstown Memorial Hall and the whole building rocked with atmosphere and fight fans were provided top line combat sports entertainment. There were some sad faced fight fans that left it until the last minute to buy tickets and had to be turned away at the door when the crowd capacity was met. This only shows how good the promotion was and next time will only be even bigger and better if that is possible.
Another Philip Lam champion of the early days along with Wayne was Lollo Heimuli who once again travelled down to the south to support our promotions and brought along with him his nephew Doug Viney a seasoned kick boxer who also fought in boxing at the Athens Olympics. Their presence was very much appreciated by the fighters and fight fans.
Lollo also brought with him Shannon Foreman who fought local fighter Phil Matia in a real crowd pleaser of a boxing bout. These two guys looked in superb condition and tested each others chin from the outset not to mention some punishing body blows.
Shannon the boy from the North won the bout and the crowd got to see what they had come for.
I heard many a comment from spectators in regards to Lollo and how he had trained the likes of Jason Suttie, Jason Vermoa, Ray and Rony Sefo and Doug Viney and it shows how lucky we are to have such a great trainer living in New Zealand.
He deserves more credit and reward for his achievements and we can only wonder what fame and fortune he could have made living in a bigger country.
I made the suggestion that we have a regular column from him in Fight Times going global and inviting fighters to come down under and train from him. Hopefully he will take me up on the offer and I know readers would really like that.
The great thing was that Wayne, Lollo and T Man were all so approachable on the night and new fighters could only be inspired by associating with some of the greats in kiwi kickboxing.
The T Man not only controlled the bouts but he also commended and encouraged fighters and so did the judges which made for a really positive environment especially for first time fighters.
The referee; well what can you say, the T Man Mr Hiriwa TeRangi, in my opinion New Zealand’s most willing fighter in any code and he has done just about everything from boxing to full contact karate to Vale Tudo and professional kickboxing picking up more titles than he can remember. He is fantastic competitor and loved by not only South Island fight fans but right around New Zealand and the world.
He towered over even the super heavyweights and made them feel at ease, he is great for the sport in the South Island and was great for the event.
Now Wayne and Lynn must have been very busy for several weeks leading up to this promotion and had done the ground work well leading up to the event and on the night, while Wayne took care of his fighters and officials and many more important promotional duties Lynn was there conducting the show in a very calm and professional manner seeing too everyone’s needs and ensuring everything went like clock work. They are a great team and combined with their family and local fighters and friends pulled off a spectacular promotion.
But more than spectacular it was a lot of fun and many a fight fan could be found the next day that had lost their voices from all the cheering. It was wall-to-wall spectators and excitement from the outset and the production was spot on with great lighting, sound and good entertainment breaks and plenty of time to get refreshments.
Fight fans are just that and when you mix the wrong brand of between fights entertainment they will certainly let you know.
I have seen full contact martial arts and traditional martial arts on fight cards and the crowd when comparing it to the action of combat sports, they can be very harsh indeed. This was not the case in Queenstown as the between fight entertainment was provided in the form of an outstanding dance light and music show by Nuztyles Hip Hop Dance Group from Dunedin. These young guys and girls had the costumes and routines to get the fight fans attention and keep it between bouts.
The venue provided a centre ring set up as well as a stage for the between bout entertainment and fighters made their way from their upstairs changing rooms through the upstairs corporate tables area and down the stairs on either side of the ring and through the downstairs spectators to the ring. This gave the fight fans a close and personal audience with the fighters and was just another factor that added to then atmosphere.
The ring commentary was loud, clear and witty and the fighter’s entrance music filled the hall with excitement and had the fans standing and cheering for every fighter.
The fight card had something for everyone and started with a junior kickboxing bout and had boxing and female kickboxing bouts, a heavyweight Vale Tudo contest that was a great spectacle provided by two big and willing competitors.
Matt Toa of Dunedin up against Layten Karatiana of Invercargill in this heavy weight vale tudo bout gave the crowd a glimpse of another combat sport that has plenty of action to offer. The bout lasted less than two rounds but in that time period there were some big hits, heavy takedowns and some punishing ground and pound periods.
At the end of the first round it could have gone either way and judging it I had round one as a draw but in vale tudo outcomes can change in seconds and the tide can turn in an instant and in round two Matt had weathered the storm and had the conditioning to achieve his objective and took a submission over a powerful and willing opponent in Karatiana.
The main event of the evening was for the South Island middleweight title and it was a great encounter between two fine combat sports athletes.
Nick Taylor of Dunedin and Brian Ellison of Queenstown both showed great skills and determination and as the saying goes styles make great fights and this was the case here. Nick a taller rangy fighter and Brian a shorter superbly conditioned fighter made the strategies and clashes even more exciting.
The result was a points win to Nick but he had to work for it and use every extra cm of reach he had over his ready and willing opponent.
The hospitality showed to us by Wayne and Lynn Vaega by their attention to detail to ours and everyone’s needs made a great night even better.
The South can’t wait for another such event and this proves you don’t need big name fighters or big cities to host first class fight promotions.
Results
| Winner | Decision | Round | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Burford | win by KO | 3 | Ou Kemoneaut |
| Kallan Gregory Crawford | win by points | 3 | David Pickworth |
| Jake Parker | win by points | 3 | Brett Oliver |
| Shannon Foreman | win by points | 3 | Phil Matia |
| Justin Ellison | win by disqualification | – | Ben Van den berg |
| Mark Barnes | win by KO | 1 | Samuel Luscombe |
| Claire Hughes | win by KO | 2 | Charlie Frandell |
| Brice Ritani-Coe | win by KO | 2 | Walter Vaha |
| Matt Toa | win by submission | 2 | Layten Karatiana |
| South Island Middleweight Title | |||
| Nick Taylor | win by points | 5 | Brian Ellison |
Fight Photos
