archive05,06

Pictures from the recent World Championships in Hungary
Click HERE

For Pics on the Hungarian Kickboxing Federation site
Click HERE

Congratulations to TeamCopeland
11/12/2005

The second amateur fight of the night was Tim Carter 2-1/1 of the Team Copeland. Tim fought a latino fighter from Winston Salem. The fighters came out to the center of the ring moved a little. Bam Tim hit his opponent with a back leg round kick in the neck which knocked him out cold. The official time was 21 seconds of the first round.
Mike Harris fought David Lowery from Tampa, FL. David is a very talented fighter who is ranked #3 by the IKF in the amateur light heavyweight division. The fight started out with Mike coming onto David with some hand combos. David stayed calm and waited for Mike to make a mistake. All of a sudden bang a big punch caught Mike right on the chin knocking him to the canvas. This was the first time in Mike's 26 amateur fights that he had ever been knocked down. Mike got up like a warrior but could not regains him self. After a David turned up the heat referee Dale"Sunshine"Frye stepped in and called and stop to the bout mid way through the second round.

In my fight as you will read below I lost a 12 round unanimous decision. Not to take anything away from McRae I got an accidental head butt to the nose in the second round which cut my and left me with a bloody broken nose. My corner did a great job keeping the blood down to a minimum. Even so the butt was a big factor in the fight I bleed in my eyes and wiped a lot. Congratulations to Antoine McRae the new ISKA Super cruiserweight World Champion. I will take the experience and learn to become a better fighter. Below is the story from the sports page in the Greensboro News and Record. Some things are inaccurate. The ISKA title was vacant. And the under card fights mentioned were pro boxing matches and not amateur. Lastly the tournament in Hungary is the WAKO World Tournament. Tarah Holland did a great job on the coverage before and after the fight.

Kickboxer won't make fight

Staff report

Greensboro kick-boxer Ronnie Copeland lost Saturday to defending super cruiser weight champion Antoine McRae of New York in an International Sport Karate Association bout at The Venue in Greensboro.

McRae won a unanimous decision after 12 rounds to defend his world title belt. In the second round, Copeland was cut above his right eye and his nose after an accidental head-butt.

The cut will prevent Copeland from competing at the International World Association of Kickboxing Organizations tournament in Szeged, Hungary, in December.

The pro kickboxing match was the main event of the night, which featured four- and six-round amateur boxing matches.

Other results from Saturday:

Cruiserweight: David Na'il, Fayetteville, def. Robert Mohammad, Tampa. Fla., TKO, round 2; Paul Jeannette, Greensboro, def. Fred Johnson, Cincinnati, Ohio by unanimous decision (four rounds).

Middleweight: Joseph Washington, Greensboro, def. David Gogichaisvili, Columbia, S.C., unanimous decision (four rounds).

Welterweight: Augustin Morales-Velez, Raleigh, def. Brandon Farmer, Wilson, TKO, round 2.

Junior welterweight: Derrick Agbo, Greensboro, def. Victor Carmon, Wilson, TKO, first round. Pedro Tapia, Greensboro def. Robert Ganaway, Wilson, unanimous decision (four rounds).


	Sports Thursday, November 10, 2005 Local kickboxer prepares for weekend contest By Tarah Holland Staff Writer GREENSBORO -- It wasn't long before Ronnie Copeland grew tired of being dragged into after-school fights. Timid and overweight, he did what he could to avoid grade-school bullies. Now the 32-year-old picks his own battles as a world champion kickboxer. And for Copeland, the payoff is far greater than playground bragging rights "Ever since I started, I knew I wanted to have all of the world titles," he said. "I don't like getting hit, but it's part of the game." This week the High Point native is training for another chance at a world title. On Saturday he'll face Antoine McCrae of New York in an International Sport Karate Association super cruiserweight bout at The Venue on Randleman Road. This will be the first time Copeland and McCrae have fought. "Sometimes you get nervous until you get into the ring," Copeland said. Copeland began martial arts classes at age 7 to gain self-confidence. At 11, he studied a Vietnamese martial art known as Vo Lam Kung Fu in High Point under master Thanh Tran. With the goal of becoming a professional fighter, Copeland earned his first black belt at 14. In 1990, he competed in his first professional match at age 20 -- earning him the nickname "The Kid." "His strength is his kicking ability, but with his boxing skills, he's also good with his hands," said Cheryl Nance, the promoter for Saturday night's card and a former fighter herself. Nance has known Copeland for close to 10 years. The two met through various martial arts schools and kickboxing events. Much of Copeland's success comes from his passion for the sport, she said. "He has a kickboxer's heart," she said. "He loves being in the ring fighting, and he wants to put on a good show." An insurance agent by day, Copeland says his three-days-on, three-days-off training regimen includes weightlifting, running, bag work and sparring. At 202 pounds, he weighs in at the max of the super cruiserweight class. In the course of winning six titles, Copeland has competed internationally in Brazil in 1994 and in France in 1998 as a member of a U.S. kickboxing team. In December, Copeland will fight among 1,000 others at the international World Association of Kickboxing Organizations tournament in Szeged, Hungary. "When I was younger, I didn't have the self-confidence, but this is what changed that," Copeland said. "This is what I know." Contact Tarah Holland at 373-7080 or tholland@news-record.com
	Ronnie "The Kid" Copeland PROFESSIONAL KICKBOXER Age: 32 Hometown: High Point Resides: Greensboro Day job: Insurance agent Height: 6-feet-4 Weight: 202 pounds Rank: Fourth-degree black belt in Vo Lam Kung Fu; fifth-degree black belt in the Joe Lewis Karate system Record: 23-5-2 (19 KOs) Titles: 2003 KICK world heavyweight champion; 2003 KICK world super heavyweight champion; 1998 U.S. kickboxing team; 1997 KICK U.S. heavyweight champion; 1994 PKF world heavyweight champion; 1993 WKA N.C. state heavyweight amateur champion Family: Wife, Stacy
	Want to go? What: Ronnie "The Kid" Copeland vs. Antoine "The Joker" McCrae When: 7 p.m. Saturday Where: The Venue, 2401 Randleman Rd., Greensboro Tickets: $15 general admission, $25 ringside in advance; $20 general admission, $35 ringside at the door Also on the card: Seven professional boxing bouts and several other amateur bouts

Taken from the High Point Enterprise 11/10/05

Ron Hilton, a fireman at Station 10 on Whites Mill Road, dropped 60 pounds during training and won a U.S. amateur title and silver medal at the world kickboxing championships.

SONNY HEDGECOCK |HPE
Getting his kicks
BY JIMMY TOMLIN
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
HIGH POINT – In only seven months, Ron Hilton went from a huffing, puffing bag of stuffing to a lean, mean kickboxing machine. “I was really overweight and out of shape,” the High Point native says. “I knew I needed to do something about it.” What he did was take up kickboxing, and he’s already claimed a U.S. amateur title and won a silver medal at the world championships – and he dropped about 60 pounds in the process. “I like the combat element of kickboxing – it’s very tough, very real fighting,” says Hilton, who used to study jujitsu many years ago. “I get an adrenaline rush when I’m doing it – it’s like I’m hooked on it.” Ronnie Copeland, a professional kickboxer who trains Hilton, says his student has come a long way in a short amount of time. “He went into the (world) tournament with only two fights under his belt,” Copeland says, alluding to the world amateur tourney held last month. “He won his first fight, but lost in the finals against a fighter from Texas who has a lot more experience than he does. For the amount of experience Ron had going in, he did extremely well.” More importantly, though, the 39 year-old Hilton – a firefighter for the city of High Point for 17 years – says kickboxing has made him a new man. “When I started, I was about 80 pounds overweight,” Hilton recalls. “I was on asthma medicine, I was on acid reflux medicine, and I was about to go on medicine for high blood pressure. “Now, the only thing I’m on is vitamins, my weight is down to 245, and my blood pressure is perfect.” Stress, too, has been almost eliminated from his life, he says. “(Firefighting) can be a very stressful job,” Hilton says, “but when I leave from my (kickboxing) workouts, my mind’s free and clear.” Kickboxing has also made Hilton a better firefighter, he says. “I don’t tire out on the calls, so I can go in and do searches,” he explains. “Fighting fires is very physically demanding. It’s indescribable how fatigued you get doing that, especially when you’re not in top shape. When you’re fatigued, your mind doesn’t focus, and you can get confused in a house that’s filled with smoke. So this has made me a better overall firefighter for the community.”
jtomlin@hpe.com |888-3579
‘I was really overweight and out of shape. I knew I needed to do something about it.”

News taken from IKF newspage 11/05/05
written by Steve Fossum
Baines Puts A ROCKIN End To The
Joe Lewis Fighting Systems Conference & Kickboxing Event
Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

IKF Virginia, USA: What a weekend this has been! The combined efforts of Craig Smith, Clark Walters and Mike Allen of the Joe Lewis Fighting Systems can rest easy tonight after Charles Baines put a DYNAMIC finish on a great weekend of martial arts seminars and Kickboxing.

While Smith and Clark organized tonights fights, Mike Allen hosted over 80 participants for the conference and stopped nothing short of a top quality gathering of Martial Artists from around America. Mike's experience in organizing the yearly conference for the Joe Lewis Fighting Systems organization proved to be key to it's continued success. He organized seminars on Friday and Saturday that featured kickboxing and grappling skills by of course Joe Lewis (Right) along with instructors Danny Dring, Dr. Gyi, Richard Ryan, Matt Hamilton, Walt & Charlie Lysak, Roger Greene and Dr. Beasley.

Along with the seminars each day was the testing of several Joe Lewis system black belts which included 2004 IKF NAC FCR Middleweight Champion Steve "The Pirate" Mann (Right, Cheesapeake, Virginia, USA, 25-5/6, 160, 5'10", 1-10-68, Steve Burns). The testing included technique drills and plenty of sparring action, and these guys ROCKED when it counted.

At tonights grand finally hosted by Smith and Walters, the two top trainers and promoters matched up their best Super Heavyweights in the ring to go toe to toe. It was 2005 IKF FCR North American Tournament Heavyweight Champion Charles Baines ( 25-1/6, 219, 5'11", Team Smith) vs 2005 IKF FCR North American Tournament Super Heavyweight Runner-up, Rafiel Bayona, (9-3/5, 238, 6'2", Team Walters.) However, the toe that spoke loudest was the one attached to Charles Baines leg as he "Rocked the House" and landed not one, but two strong ax/hatchet kicks on Boyona in the opening round. Both brought on 2 standing 8 counts on Boyona. Within moments of the end of the round, it would be yet another Baines kick that would put Boyona down for the third and final time as referee Trey Wyatt stopped the bout due to the three knockdown rule. Baines one round kicking clinic would have made former IKF Pro FCR Heavyweight World Champion Dennis Alexio excited! The main Event win brought a BANG of an ending to the weekend conference and brought Baines yet another Joe Lewis Conference event title belt.

Here are the results of the other bouts on the night.

Jr. Boys, Sanctioned 12 year olds: Brian Rector (Richmond, Virginia, 1-0/1, 104, 12, Roger Dabney) defeated Mason Vensland (Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1-2/0, 104, 5'3", 12, Craig Smith) by TKO at 1:10 of round 2. The end to this bout was due to Vensland dislocating his shoulder. After one round, the scorecards were 10-9 Vensland, 10-9 Rector and 10-10 even. The stop of course was a great disappointment for Vensland who exploded with 17 kicks in round 1 to Rector's 9.
Adult Men Super Middleweights: Bobby Withdrow (Richmond, Virginia, 3-1/2, 168, 5'11", Steve Mann) defeated Mark Gallagher (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 0-2/0, 175, 5'9", Dennis Tosten) by majority decision, 30-27, 30-28 & 28-28. Withdrow exploded with 20 kicks in round 1 to Gallagher's 7. However, he allowed Gallagher to make it close (But not close enough) when he only delivered 20 kicks total, in the final two rounds.
Adult Men Heavyweights: Jeff Gilman (Richmond, Virginia, 2-0/0, 208, 6', Steve Mann) defeated Rob Swaim (Wilmington, North Carolina, 0-1/0, 210, 6', John Maynard) by unanimous decision, 30-25, 30-25 and 30-23. Swaim barley got his kicks in all 3 rounds and it was questionable if he got them in round 2. Of course, the standing 8 counts didn't help Swaim either.
Adult Men Super Middleweights: Joe Hathaway (Fredricksburg, Virginia, 1-0/1, 165, 6', Chris Manuel) defeated Patrick Crowe (Norfork, Virginia, 0-1/0, 170, Team Karate for Christ) when referee Danny Dring stopped the bout by TKO at 1:58 of round 1.
Adult Men, 183 lbs- 187 lbs: Kent Vensland (Virginia Beach, Virginia, 1-0/0, 191, 6', Craig Smith) defeated Boomer Dulin (Charlette, North Carolina, 0-1/0, 196, 5'10, Trey Wyatt) by unanimous decision 28-27 on all 3 judges cards. This bout was a draw but due to the fact that Dulin lost a point in round 2 for missing his kicks (only got 3), the one point deduction cost him the bout. Both fighters took standing 8 counts in the bout that saw some hard hitting action.
Adult Men Super Heavyweight: Victor Milbourne (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1-0/0, 222, 6', Dennis Nackord) defeated Brandon Williamson (Virginia Beach, Virginia, 5-5/0, 350, 6'2", Craig Smith) by majority decision 30-28, 29-28 & 29-29. This was a battle of big guys who both found it a challenge to get their 6 kicks per round in. Although they made them in every round, it doesn't get much closer than only 6 or 7 for each round.
Adult Men Super Middleweight: Dave Thomas (Fredricksburg, Virginia, 12-4/2, 146, 6'1", Chris Manuel) defeated Norman Greene (Virginia Beach, Virginia, 4-5/0, 149, 5'8", Craig Smith) when referee Trey Wyatt stopped the bout after Greene took a spinning side kick to the stomach, ending the bout by TKO at 33 seconds into round 3. Thomas came out in round one with a massive 15 kick attack to Greene's 6. After two of the scheduled 5 rounds Thomas held the lead at 20-18, 20-18 and 20-19. This bout was scheduled for 5 rounds because it was for a Joe Lewis Event Title.
Adult Men, Main Event, Super Heavyweight: Charles Baines (Virginia Beach, Virginia, 25-1/6, 219, 5'11", Craig Smith) defeated Rafael Bayona (Cheesapeake, Virginia, 9-3/5, 238, 6'2", Clark Walters) by TKO via the 3 knockdown rule at the end of round 1.

A Great Job by all involved. There are simply far too many who made this weekends conference and kickboxing event a success to list them all. If you are interested in future Joe Lewis Conference or seminar information, please contact Mike Allen (Sorry, no photo on file... Mike, send us one please...) at (813) 625-7291 or at MikeAllenAKarate@aol.com
For more info on this event or Virginia promotions, please contact Craig Smith (Right) at (757) 491-1733 or by e-mail at kickingboxing@aol.com or Clark Walters (Sorry, no photo on file... Clark, like Mike, send us one please...) at (757) 548-9550.

www.kickinternational.com

The 2005 KICK International World Invitational Tournament was a good time with some great fights. The numbers were hurt by the rocky start in the planning stages of the event. Originally the event was to take place in Rockford, Illinois. The initial promoter had some problems and called KICK International headquarters and informed them he would not be able to promote the tournament.
After some searching Master Bob Schermer agreed to put on the event with only three weeks notice. I think he did a heck of a job on such short notice. Master Schermer actually promoted the event in his school which is a sports facility built around 1900 with a two full gymnasiums, locker rooms, weight area, and a pool (that was not in use). The building was more than adequate to hold events in.
I do not know the exact number of fighters registered but I can report the number of bouts. On Friday there were 18 bouts and on Saturday there were 30 bouts. There were even some international fighters on hand. The prince of Qatar was in attendance with a team mate representing Qatar and Lebanon. The names of all of the fighters are all a blur. I did see some of the best skill on juniors that I have ever seen. In my opinion the norm is the little guys come out throwing non stop but and show more heart than the adults but do not show the defense and ring generalship of the adults. But not here! I remember one fight in particular between two twelve year old boys. These guys were smoking! They both were snapping some fast technically perfect kicks with great boxing skill. Alot of fighters can do hands and feet separately but these guy put them together. To put the icing on the cake they had great defense, head movement and angles. It was a pleasure to watch these boys in action.
On to the report! Ron "The Lumberjack" Hilton of Team Copeland came out and won his first fight by close decision against a younger hard hitting opponent from Bob Shermer's Combat-Do. Ron's second fight was against Terrance Hannon from Midland Texas. Terrance a great guy as well as a fighter came out using his dominant hands and caught Ron a few times throughout the fight. Ron toughed out the first two rounds and seemed to be putting together his game plan when Terrance caught Ron with a hard left hand stopping the bout early in the third. Hats of to Terrance for being a great guy, great fighter and the 2005 KICK International World Havyweight Champion.
Ron did a good job after only 8 months of kickboxing training was the silver medalist at 39 years of age.
From Kernersville m North Carolina Team Sportsplex coached by Frank Price had two Champions. The first was Tyler Price in the Junior Low kick division ( The only low kick match of the tournament). Tyler fought a tough and skilled young man from Team Thump. In the first round nether young man took a backwards step with both fighters scoring a knock down in that round. In the second and third the momentem shifted to Tyler Price and giving him the fight and the Title. Tyler not only won the KICK Tournament this year but also won the IKF North American Tournament tile in Orlando a few months back. Next up from Team Sportsplex was DeeJay Jones who also won the IKF Title this year. Dee jay fought a tough and experienced fighter from Team Extreme of Plainview Texas. Dee Jay used his speed and atleticism to stick an move his way to another championship in the same year.
All of the fighters did a great job. The event was rum smoothly and professionally. Some other familiar names that were in attendance were Rob Zibilisky, Craig Monyelle, UFC fighter Shonie "Mr. International" Mitchell, World Champion Tommy Bach. I was proud to be in attendance.