Fight Night at the Fox

By Matt Lucas

The two light contestants stepped into the ring. The bell rang. The first round began. The crowd was quiet with the sounds of the boxers bodies ringing out into the theater. You could hear Rudi Ott,  Marc Toledo’s corner man voice from the upper balcony of the theater. “Let’s go buddy,” Ott would cry, encouraging Toledo to attack Fight and Fitness’ Eric Alignay. “You be first,” Ott continued. Alignay timed his punches and leg kicks against the Unlimited Kickboxing fighter.

The crowd filled in the seats of the downtown Redwood city venue. The Theatre was is located in the heart of a pedestrian plaza. The neighboring businesses a healthy mix of bars, restaurants, and other amenities. The theater itself had two levels for seating with punters filling the lower levels, and the upper. The VIP tables were set up near the raise staged, and were accompanied by various energy drinks and accoutrement. The ring itself was on the stage, raised from the ground floor by six feet. The spectators on the lower levels craned their necks up to see the action while the cheaper punters in the balcony looked down on the entire ring. The fights started promptly at 7pm and the bouts ran smoothly with little to no delay between the matches.

While the venue was classy, all the bouts were not. The second bout of the evening, an inserted match at last minute was a near bar room brawl as two heavy set fellow contended not only to survive the duration of the match but to pummel each other with swinging blows that would work better on a cornfield than in a boxing ring.  The two fearless fighters slapped at each other for 6 minutes straight as if it was a pancreas match or they were engaged in patty cake perversity. While the technical ability of the two was abysmal the fight WAS entertaining.

The card had 7 undercard amateur bouts and six Amateur belt fights. John Kusaba (from FSA) fought Kevin Arceo (from Team USA) for the California Super welterweight championship. The bout began with vocal fisticuffs between the fighters gyms. Each group of supporters tried to call out more support from the balcony to their fighter in the spotlighted ring. Kasuba fought with his hands the entire bought. His body was tense with anticipation between every blow he threw to smite Arcero. Kasuba feinted and twitched, acting the aggressor the entire four rounds. He looked as if he desperately wanted to catch Arcero with that one good hit that would not only knock out Arcero but send him to the motherfucing moon. Arcero in the mean time used a variety of weapons to deal with Kusaba. When Kasuba got to close Arcero would work in the clinch, pulling back his knees and slamming them into Kusaba. He fought using his footwork attempting to fight from the outside. Arcero was able to pull the win with a majority decision.

The next championship bout was between Caley Scott from Team Tsutsui and Robert Cornejo from Unlimited Kickboxing. The two contended over the West Coast Middle Weight Championship. Scott won a deserved decision to win the vacant title. He followed his corner’s advice of “jab, jab, low kick,” and his previous training in the clinch. While Cornejo attempted to damage Scott in the clinch with small rabbit punches, Scott came out with strong knees.

The West Coast Cruiser weight Championship bout between Tarek Azim from Fairtex and Andres Salas from FSA was more of a lesson in football than one in muay thai. Tarek came out and within the first thirty seconds of the bout had knocked Salas to the ground with a solid high kick. He followed that high kick with a soccer player’s goal scoring kick to Salas’ shoulder. While there is always adrenaline racing through the blood of fighters they are always assumed to be in control. It looked as if Azimi’s mind had shut off and their was only blood thirst as his shin connected with the shoulder. Azim was disqualified, deservedly for his momentary lapse in judgment, while Salas moaned in the ring for several minutes. Azim quickly realized his mistake and attempted an apology.

The semi main event had Skylr Penna from Team USA fight Aaron Swenson from Striking Arts Academy. Penna started off the bout with a wai khru to techno lao music, the drum and bass beat of the music would surely offend the muay thai gods, while his actual performance of the ceremonial dance was competent. Penna controlled the match with long straight knees and superior technique beating his more kickboxing oriented opponent with Muay Thai.

The last bout of the evening began and ended quickly as Jenna Castillo stormed out the gates pressing Gina Reyes with a flurry of punches and leg kicks. The bout was ended after the second round with Reyes corner appropriately throwing in the towel.

Here is a list of the complete match ups and winners.

Erik Alignay                               Marc Toledo

0-0                                            0-0

135lb                                        135lbs

Fight and Fitness                      Unlimited Kickboxing

Unanimous decision

Isaac Boyd                               Aaron Oreb

0-0                                            0-0

170 lbs                                     170lbs

North Bay Martial Arts                Francis Farley

Knock Out in 2nd round

Brended Del Grado                   Ezequial Barrita

0-0                                            0-1

175lbs                                      175lbs

World Team USA                       One World Fitness

Knock Out in 1st Round

Leizel Beliso                              Jackie Lacap

1-1                                            2-0

110 lbs                                     110lbs

Unlimited Kickboxing                 Pacific Ring Sports

Unanimous Decision

Matt King                                  Vince Urruty

1-0                                            0-2

225lbs                                      240lbs

Art of War                                 FSA

Unanimous decision

Alexsander Naumoski                Vince Hernandez

1-1                                            1-0

155lbs                                      155lbs

AKA                                         Undisputed Boxing

Unanimous decision

Roy Boughton                           Derrick Williams

5-0                                            4-1

220lbs                                      235lbs

Team Black                               Team Voodoo

Unanimous decision

Kevin Arceo                              John Kusaba

3-1                                            6-1

147lbs                                      147lbs

World Team USA                       FSA

Majority Decision

Caley Scott                               Robert Cornejo Jr

4-3                                            6-1

165lbs                                      165lbs

Team Tstutsui                            Unlimited Kickboxing

Majority decision

Andres Salas                            Tarek Azim

4-0                                            4-1

195lbs                                      195lbs

FSA                                          Fairtex

Disqualification

Bryan Padilla                             John Duenas

5-2                                            4-0

153lbs                                      153lbs

Unlimited Kickboxing                 Team G Force

Technical Knock Out

Skylr Penna                               Aaron Swenson

6-0                                            11-3

153lbs                                      153lbs

World Team USA                       Striking Arts Academy

Unanimous decision

Jenna Castillo                           Gina Reyes

5-1                                            4-1

122 lbs                                     122lbs

Fairtex/Undisputed                    American Boxing

Technical Knock Out