Karaev, Sefo Highlight K-1’s Super Bouts
Battle At Bellagio Dark Bouts
In the evening's opening bout, young contenders Steven Steinbeiss
and Dustin Hanning entertained the still sparse crowd for three
full rounds.
As action-packed as any off-television can be, the battle came down to who wanted it more. The fight was about as close as one can get, but it was the slightly more aggressive game plan of Steinbeiss that caught the ringside judges' eyes.
The official scores favored Steinbeiss via tallies of 30-27 and 29-28 (twice), though the fight seemed a bit closer than that. With the win Steinbeiss kept his undefeated record intact and looks to eventually compete in the actual K-1 USA tournament down the road. Hanning has nothing to be ashamed of as he fought his heart out and did his best; it was just not his night.
Following the exciting battle that was Steinbeiss-Hanning, former WWE pro wrestler Sean O'Haire (Pictures) was granted another chance at K-1 glory as he was pitted against up-and-comer Justice "Zulu" Smith. The winner of the bout would possibly be granted entrance into the actual Grand Prix as an alternate, provided one of the winners became injured and could not continue.
O'Haire has had a string of bad luck in K-1 thus far, being knocked out in the first round by both Gary Goodridge (Pictures) and Chalid Arrab (Pictures), both eventual tourney winners, and he was looking to turn things around. The lurching Smith, standing at a towering 6' 9" was hoping to continue O'Haire's misfortunes and after a little more than a full round, his wish came true.
Smith and O'Haire took turns trading blows throughout the duration of the contest, but it was Smith's slightly better conditioning that allowed him to score the victory. Smith basically needed to score a knockout because he had two points deducted from his score for repeated low blows during the clinch and at the 1:33 mark of the second round the fight was halted.
O'Haire suffered a knockdown along the ropes after he was tagged by a flurry of strikes. After the muscular fighter battled back to his feet, his energy was completely sapped. Terribly exhausted was O'Haire and after a few moderate punches landed, the referee stopped the action, preventing the stumbling fighter from taking more punishment.
Jennifer Nguyen and Christine Toledo tore each apart in what the evening's lone female bout. For three full rounds the two fighters electrified all in attendance with their sheer intensity. In the end, though, the unanimous decision victory was awarded to Master Toddy fighter Toledo. The official scores favored the Las Vegas product 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards and the decision was just; too bad the crowd booed the official verdict.
In the fourth and final dark bout of the evening, the second tournament alternate bout, Sweden's Andreas Spang, who now resides in Las Vegas and trains with "One Kick" Nick, won a majority decision over the rugged Jamie Fletcher.
Spang, a relative unknown coming into the bout, wowed most ringside observers with his brilliant technical abilities and variety of strikes and won the fight decisively. However, due to a point being taken away from the Swede in the third round for repeated low blows in the clinch, he wound up winning via majority decision. The official scores were 28-28 and 29-27 (twice).
Fletcher gave it everything he had and might have been able to pull out the victory (because of the point deduction), but a sneaky right cross tagged him early in the third. The punch staggered the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native and he was unable to shake off the effects of it for the duration of the round. It was clearly the best of the dark bouts.
As action-packed as any off-television can be, the battle came down to who wanted it more. The fight was about as close as one can get, but it was the slightly more aggressive game plan of Steinbeiss that caught the ringside judges' eyes.
The official scores favored Steinbeiss via tallies of 30-27 and 29-28 (twice), though the fight seemed a bit closer than that. With the win Steinbeiss kept his undefeated record intact and looks to eventually compete in the actual K-1 USA tournament down the road. Hanning has nothing to be ashamed of as he fought his heart out and did his best; it was just not his night.
Following the exciting battle that was Steinbeiss-Hanning, former WWE pro wrestler Sean O'Haire (Pictures) was granted another chance at K-1 glory as he was pitted against up-and-comer Justice "Zulu" Smith. The winner of the bout would possibly be granted entrance into the actual Grand Prix as an alternate, provided one of the winners became injured and could not continue.
O'Haire has had a string of bad luck in K-1 thus far, being knocked out in the first round by both Gary Goodridge (Pictures) and Chalid Arrab (Pictures), both eventual tourney winners, and he was looking to turn things around. The lurching Smith, standing at a towering 6' 9" was hoping to continue O'Haire's misfortunes and after a little more than a full round, his wish came true.
Smith and O'Haire took turns trading blows throughout the duration of the contest, but it was Smith's slightly better conditioning that allowed him to score the victory. Smith basically needed to score a knockout because he had two points deducted from his score for repeated low blows during the clinch and at the 1:33 mark of the second round the fight was halted.
O'Haire suffered a knockdown along the ropes after he was tagged by a flurry of strikes. After the muscular fighter battled back to his feet, his energy was completely sapped. Terribly exhausted was O'Haire and after a few moderate punches landed, the referee stopped the action, preventing the stumbling fighter from taking more punishment.
Jennifer Nguyen and Christine Toledo tore each apart in what the evening's lone female bout. For three full rounds the two fighters electrified all in attendance with their sheer intensity. In the end, though, the unanimous decision victory was awarded to Master Toddy fighter Toledo. The official scores favored the Las Vegas product 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards and the decision was just; too bad the crowd booed the official verdict.
In the fourth and final dark bout of the evening, the second tournament alternate bout, Sweden's Andreas Spang, who now resides in Las Vegas and trains with "One Kick" Nick, won a majority decision over the rugged Jamie Fletcher.
Spang, a relative unknown coming into the bout, wowed most ringside observers with his brilliant technical abilities and variety of strikes and won the fight decisively. However, due to a point being taken away from the Swede in the third round for repeated low blows in the clinch, he wound up winning via majority decision. The official scores were 28-28 and 29-27 (twice).
Fletcher gave it everything he had and might have been able to pull out the victory (because of the point deduction), but a sneaky right cross tagged him early in the third. The punch staggered the Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. native and he was unable to shake off the effects of it for the duration of the round. It was clearly the best of the dark bouts.
