Tyrone Spong vs Samir Bennazouz
January 25, 2009 by nopstar
When I first started watching the clip I thought the aspect ratio was completely effed. I kept think the stretched clip was making it look like Spong put on about 30 lbs.
Then I dug a little deeper and found out that this fight was at 95kg. When did that happen? I knew Spong was interested in moving up in weight but I thought that was going to be years from now. I think I still have him listed as 74kg. This was from the Beast of The East event that took place this past Saturday night in Holland. There were some other good fights which I’ll get up tomorrow.
Personally I think Spong has lost a little of his sting by moving up. I think at 74 Kg he was punching like a 90+kg fighter, but now that he’s with the big boys it’s seems to have diminished his advantaged a bit.
I think he’s still going to be fast for 95kg though. Take this fight; I don’t think standing toe-to-toe with Samir and trading with him was a great use of his time. I thought his best moments occurred when he used leg kicks to setup his punches. I absolutely cringed every time Spong landed one of his crisp inside leg kicks.
Many thanks to Patrbr for taking the time to share these with us.
I agree–Spong’s punching power is probably going to be relatively less effective now that he’s gone up in weight, but he still has fantastic feet and speed. Plus, his kicks are deadly accurate and perfectly timed. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in this weight class against more fit opponents.
I guess with Tyrone going to we’ll never see our dream Muay Thai cruiser fight against Carnage. I agree with Nop, I think Spong’s journey to heavy is going to leave him more vulnerable than he was at Crusier. He doesn’t have a lot of choice though for opponents unless he fights Corbett. Carnage in the mean time is keeping busy bum crushing at that weight.
Wow wow, I thought it was a tougher fight for Tyrone, but they threw in the towel!!!! I dont hope his speed and agility will suffer under the Weight Gain, But I cant wait to see him fight likes of Bonjasky and Hari and hopefully win it all. K1 heavies with someone worth watching, But MAX is still prefered!! Muay Thai as the Best.
I’ll take real Muay Thai over anything K-
! MAX or other wise.
K-1 MAX is to Muay thai what McDonald’s is to fine cuisine.
Sprong absolutely outclassed him. He landed at will but it did look like his blows – other than leg kicks – weren’t powerful enough to do serious damage to the big boys. You’ve gotta love the fast, crisp kicks though!
Still like him as 74kg. So I guess he won’t be fighting Carnage anytime soon. I can’t see him beating the top heavies though or even Melvin Manhoef.
I like Spong… he’s a smart fighter, technical, tough and respectful.
I wish him all the best, but I don’t think he’s up tho the task to go in with the big boys right now.
First time I’ve seen Spong, I didn’t catch him at 74kg, but damn, going up 16kg is a big change.
He still looked crisp, precise, and powerful. Loved the inside leg kicks, you could tell they were affecting Samir’s movements by the third round. He’s got a wicked right hook that didn’t land enough, too. I think he’ll be fine!
He would be insane at K-1 max, Can’t figure out why he’d want to at fight heavy weight.
FighterX-
Max? I don’t know how he’d get down to 155lbs. he was seriously lean at 174lbs. I think he’s way too big to get down to max weight.
Stack
I totally Agree :-D
I think Tyrone looked good, but you can tell just by looking at the way he moves he is not 100% adjusted to his weight. And no one can really expect him to be at this point. Every fight he’s gaining more and more weight…and he just needs to get comfortable in his new body.
I agree with BNMD about his punching power suffering. After he gets more comfortable and stops gaining weight, i wouldn’t be suprised if he reurns to the United States and work on his boxing more. Perhaps with Mayweather Sr. again.
I’m predicting that when he gets comfortable and settled in, he will do very well. But were talking about 6-8 months at leats i think.
the fat guy jumpin about trying to round kick makes me laugh.
H
it is sure that spong is a good fighter, however, if a good search would be done on his opponents ,it is also sure that he met only fighters which are only within his capasity…
he , his trainer, coaches are very clver in this game…however , he is never the appropriate guy of ” -100 kgs in k-1 “…