A crowd of around 400 were treated to four hours of entertainment through 16 kickboxing and boxing bouts on Saturday evening.
The Ring Wars event returned on March 12 at Lincoln Fight Factory with fighters from Lincoln welcoming fighters from boxing and martial arts gyms across the country with Lewis Urquhart travelling 8 hours down from Elgin in Scotland to compete in a British title fight, in which he became the new ISKA Amateur British K1 champion.
Photo Credit – Jack Macdonald
The event was organised by Shawn Burton, the owner of Lincoln Fight Factory and CEO at Takeover Promotions and was sanctioned by the International Sport Karate Association.
Burton enjoyed a successful kickboxing career winning five British titles and two European titles but said “nothing compares to watching my guys who have started to try and lose weight or learn a hobby who are now fighting at a high level”.
The night kicked off with two junior K1 kickboxing bouts, K1 referring to a form of kickboxing with incorporates various forms of mixed martial arts.
Riley Anderson from Combat Academy, Barnsley won on a unanimous decision before Jacob Cody from Lincoln Fight Factory took on Ayat Mahmood of Contender Gym in Stockton-on-Tees in a fight which saw both fighters knocking each other down over the three rounds with the judges awarding the victory to Mahmood.
After two defeats for Lincoln Fight Factory, the first adult fight and first boxing bout of the night saw Nathan Haymer-Bates defeat Derry Fearnley from FK fox gym in Leeds in devastating fashion. Haymer- Bates forced Fearnley into going to the count in the first round followed by landing significant body shots throughout the next two rounds in a win from a unanimous decision.
Kimmy Fells was looking to make it two in a row for the Fight Factory in his junior K1 bout against Contender Gym’s Kai Bell, but he couldn’t maintain his undefeated record in a very close encounter.
The fifth fight of the evening saw the second Lincoln win as Renars Veicmanis continued his undefeated boxing record beating FK fox gym’s Jak Harrison. As with most fights during the night, due to the short rounds both fighters started extremely fast. In a relatively even contest Veicmanis came out on top, most notably drawing blood from his opponent with a strong right hook.
The only female bout of the night saw a split decision draw between Rose Price and Irina Staff in by far the closest fight of the night.
Followed by a K1 bout victory for Fight Factory’s Jamie Stinton who was a clear fan favourite. The crowd certainly helped the youngster Stinton who nearly finished the fight off in the final round after a combo of kicks and punches, but Ipswich fighter Otis Lahav survived the count before the majority decision for Stinton.
Another Lincoln fighter but this time from Lincoln Battleground, Liam Brown couldn’t get a win against Kieron Faulkner of Leicester KBC who won in dominant fashion. The next fight was the first to not go the distance when Lincoln Fight Factory terminated their boxer 46 seconds into the third round giving the win to a deserved Zak Holland.
Two youngsters took to the ring next, and Lincoln’s Alfie Conner won by TKO in a dominant display against Headley Lock landing strong right hooks before the stoppage after 1 minute and 32 seconds in the final round.
In his final preparations before his K1 debut, Joe Peter-Lee told The Linc “I’m feeling good, it’s just a fight and some people get nervous, but I’m calm and ready to work”. Peter-Lee lived up to those words winning in a close fought contest, showing no nerves boxing into the ring before knocking Ali Stanbridge of Rutland Kickboxing down three times in the first two rounds and pushing through to the end as Stanbridge started to land more punches.
Having just seen a well contested fight go the distance, Ben Smith of Lincoln Fight Factory won by TKO against Portsmouth boxer Dan Smith, with a strong body shot leading the referee to call an early end to the contest after 34 seconds.
Taking inspiration from Smith, in the penultimate bout of the evening, Finn Cross repeated the feat, knocking down his opponent twice early on with the second body shot forcing an end to the contest after 1 minute and 19 seconds to the delight of the majority Lincoln Fight Factory supporting crowd.
The main event of the night saw Marcus Frisby of Eagle kickboxing in Birmingham aiming to defend his British K1 title against Lewis Urquhart, who had travelled 8 hours from Elgin, Scotland to compete. The crowd were clearly on Frisby’s side celebrating every hit in an exciting fight with both fighters going blow for blow. The five rounds were very even with Urquhart sending Frisby to the ground with a low kick and Frisby troubling the Scot with some knees to the chest.
The judge’s scorecard revealed that there would be a new ISKA Amateur British K1 title holder, in Lewis Urquhart in the end to an enthralling night of boxing and kickboxing at the Lincoln Fight Factory.