Brute Force features Soren in WMC show in Melbourne

Thursday, September 1, 2005

Melbourne was recently host to a great night of fights when some of Oceania and Thailand’s fighting warriors stepped into the ring for Brute Force 7 put on by Oceania MuayThai Federation promoter George Kovolos in co-operation with the WMC and IFMA.

The main event was the Australian star Soren "Mongkongtong" King taking on the Thai athlete Vuttichai Jeansiri, the Thai fresh from battles in the Chinese Cup. With a really strong pedigree behind both boys, this was an eagerly anticipated fight. Although weighing the same, Soren came into the fight with a definite height advantage which he used to good effect in the first round, sending in a some great punch combinations putting an standing eight count on the Thai and everyone thought it would be an early night. The second round was slower with both boxers seeming tentative and searching – this picked up dramatically in the 3rd round. Vuttichai really worked on the grappling with his trademark knees, doing his best to tie Soren up and being sent back by a continuous barrage of punching , some accurate elbows coming from both and the Thai charging forward . An exciting 5-round war with Vuttichai taking a points victory and a great performance by both boys who left the ring to a standing ovation.

Another highlight was Australia’s Joel Fisher stepping up against New Zealand’s Sone Vanathy at 63 kgs (IFMA Silver medal winner). This was a great battle with both boxers really powering it up right from the off with powerful leg-kicks. Sone took the second round with a very accurate elbow cutting Joel who fought on with great spirit, giving as good as he got. Incredibly the pace stepped up in the last 3 rounds with both working hard on the grapple, Sone pulling out his trademark jumping knees to the crowd’s delight. It all went down to the wire, both having to pull energy out of nowhere for a thrilling finish - Joel taking a points victory. What a great match between Australia and New Zealand with a rematch already in the pipeline.

A really solid undercard, with fighters from Queensland and New South Wales travelling to take on the Victorian boxers, filled out the night. All the undercard fights were sanctioned by the IFMA with IFMA judges ensuring fair results for all the athletes.

A great international show ,once again showing the talent of Australian fighters and another fantastic event in one of Australia’s major cities – full credit to the Brute Force team, the Oceania MuayThai Federation the WMC and IFMA !