JESTERS GYM AND SHOWSPORT INTERNATIONAL
PRESENT
CHAMPIONSHIP KICKBOXING

With the cancellation of the November Emerald club show in Birmingham three USKA fighters were transferred and matched on the Jesters / Showsport card at the Pav Nightclub in Matlock Bath Derbyshire on Sunday 9th December 2006.
It was to be quite a benchmark in two of the threes careers so far with 15 year old Light Continuous star Tyler 'Steppin Razor' Shakespeare making his Amateur full contact debut and unbeaten Qasim 'The Dream' Nisar attempting to pick up his next title belt challenging for the I.S.K.A Amateur Lightweight English National Title.
Along with those two unbeaten Cruiserweight prospect Qasim 'The Terminator' Ali would continue his learning curve in his second professional full contact fight.
A packed coach of USKA support made the journey down to Matlock knowing that if previous shows were anything to go by they were about to witness something really special.

A late change of opponent for Tyler presented the USKA management team with a bit of a dilemma. The replacement that was found was 18 year old Kallum Smith from Barnsley Dragon Foot gym and was bringing with him a record of two previous full contact fights.
Age and full contact experience against us it was decided that we would still go ahead with the fight and on the scales it was revealed that we would have a significant weight advantage which we felt would close our other disadvantages significantly.
A confident Tyler made his way to the ring to his now customary ring entrance music seemingly unfazed by the occasion to meet his shorter opponent Kallum Smith who was already in the ring.

The Steppin' Razor steps up to his first Full Contact Challenge.

Tyler 'Steppin Razor' Shakespeare (USKA)
Vs
Kallum Smith (Dragon Foot gym / Barnsley)

ROUND ONE

The first bell sounds and it is Tyler who first tries to assert his jab landing cleanly and following up with his lead leg round kick to the body. Kallum covers up but it is evident that he is going to struggle to find his range against his taller opponent.
Keeping Kallum on the end of his technique Tyler lands a nice lead leg push kick to the body that knocks Kallum back to the ropes and follows with the lead leg round kick to the head to show him it is not just the body kicks he need worry about.
Tyler is dictating everything beautifully at range and Kallum looks bemused at what he needs to do to get a foothold in the fight even at this early stage.
Tyler lands his first hard right leg straight leg to the body of Kallum and straight away the discomfort registers on his face. It seems as though the kicks to the body are the key and Tyler knows this as he powers in another right body kick flush to target.
The combination of hard jabs upstairs and hard power straight legs to the body is not allowing Kallum to stay out of trouble and a hard right round kick to the body of Kallum in the neutral corner sends Kallum down gasping for breath and looking in serious trouble.
Just managing to beat the count Mike Bellgrave does not look over convinced that he wants to continue but gives him the benefit of the doubt as he lets the action continue.
Just as Tyler goes in for the kill and lands another jab the bell sounds and Kallum is given a lifeline in the one minute rest to try to shake of the effects of the body kick.

Tyler's round kicks to the body doing all the damage in round 1 of the contest.

ROUND TWO

Tyler is told in his corner to be patient and to continue with his so far successful formula.
Kallum opens up the second round with a lead leg side kick trying to beat Tyler to the kick but the kick just falls short of it's target.
Tyler steps in with a hard jab that draws Kallum's guard up and again he slams in the hard straight leg to the body this time of the leading left leg.
As soon as it connects Kallum signals his discomfort wincing in pain and turns his back.
This is all that Ref Bellgrave needs to see and he steps in without hesitation to signal the end of the fight at only nine seconds into the second round by TKO victory.

Kallum holding his damaged ribs after a 2nd round TKO win for Tyler Shakespeare.

This was as good a full contact debut that anyone could have wished for Tyler and a great start to the USKA's fighters night.
Next up was the USKA main event with Qasim 'The Dream' Nisar challenging for the I.S.K.A Amateur English national title against Andy Godbold from the Norwich Kickstop gym.
Qasim was unbeaten in 14 fights going into this with only three of his previous opponents hearing the final bell and was being touted as being one of the countries top amateur prospects so knew he couldn't slip up and come up short tonight.
His opponent Andy Godbold came with a good reputation and promised to be the stiffest test to Qasim that he had faced so far being a big mature guy in his mid 30's.

I.S.K.A Amateur English National Lightweight Championship
Qasim 'The Dream' Nisar (USKA)
Vs
Andy Godbold (Kickstop Gym / Norwich)

ROUND ONE

Qasim gets straight down to business finding his range with his round kicks and jabs, not over committing but not allowing Andy to find his first connect.
Andy looks a little bit like he is caught in the headlights but bearing in mind this is only the first round of a potential 5 rounder Qasim is remaining to be cautious and not mixing it up too much with the older man.
Qasim lands his first significant hard connect with a left hook to right leg straight leg that catches Andy flush to the side of the body.
Qasim is also now finding the straight right hand over the top and the good connect has brought up a nasty swelling under the left eye of the Norwich fighter.
Another bolo right hand catches Andy over the top and he stumbles back against the rope and for a moment looks in distress before moving off the rope and circling out of trouble.
Qasim is now in forward gear with Andy looking to find position to get out of the firing line but not offensively throwing anything back himself.
With all the range he needed Qasim puts together a vicious punch combination that sees Andy reeling back and having to take a knee to get out of trouble after a right straight leg of Qasim finds it's target.
Andy is up after the respite but looking bloodied, bruised and beat up in a fight that had so far gone less than two minutes.
The action is resumed and Qasim is straight back in for the kill landing a cobra right hand that sends Andy again crashing to the canvas in the neutral corner.
The bout looks over but as the referee picks up the count the bell rings to end the round and saves Andy from the dreaded first round knockout.

Qasim knowing too much in every department for the game but outgunned
Andy Godbold.

ROUND TWO

The advise from the corner was that the end was nigh and Qasim not known as being one to take prisoners was focused and knew what he needed to do in the second stanza.
Qasim is stalking and looks menacing looking for his moment to pounce.
Andy is not firing anything back and at this point it looks like only a matter of time before Qasim finds the shots to bring the curtain down on Andy's English title challenge.
Just as we were thinking this Qasim backs his man up and drops an axe kick that lands flush and again introduces Andy to the canvas.
Although not looking over hurt Andy rises only to be met by Referee Mike Bellgrave's waving arms calling an end to the action.
This I think was i good move because Andy was at this point getting outclassed and looked like he had been mugged. All this and Qasim was still only in 1st gear with the game plan being to step it up from the 3rd round onwards.
The TKO time announced at 29 seconds into round two and a new English National Championship belt for Qasim who adds to his already fearful reputation.

So much damage in such little time. Andy's face shows his war wounds.

Andy and his coach Martin Lamb with the new champ Qasim and USKA coach Neil.

So another one bites the dust as Qasim improves his record to 15 fights unbeaten with 12 ending early.
Two out of two for the USKA crew (hey that rhymes lol) and a chance of making it a hatrick and yet another clean sheet of victories as USKA's final competitor Qasim 'The Terminator' Ali made his way to the ring to face house fighter Dave "Headcase" Keeling from Jesters gym in Matlock. With a fight between 'The Terminator' and 'The Headcase' billed you didn't have to be a brain surgeon to work out what kind of fight this was going to turn out to be.
This time it was a change of corner for the USKA crew finding ourselves in the away corner making way for the house fighter.
The centre ring instructions before the fight shows a shorter stockier Dave with what looks like to be a height and reach advantage to the USKA fighter.

Qasim 'The Terminator' Ali (USKA)
Vs
Dave "Headcase" Keeling (Jesters Gym / Matlock)

ROUND ONE

The opening bell rings and Qas is straight out to centre ring as he tries to take first blood with a high right round kick to the head which bounces of the tight guard of Dave and causes Qasim to lose his footing as he stumbles to the canvas.
Unfazed Qasim jumps up has his gloves dusted down and the action is resumed.
Qasim like the other two USKA fighters before him is trying to assert a straight punch, round kick policy but Dave is looking very dangerous with a big right hook to the head that twice just misses it's target by inches.
Qasim's natural instinct in the ring is to go forward but Dave's big punches are giving us reasons for concern in the corner as they look like with a good connect that they could bring down a house.
The action is back and forth between the two with Qasim landing better with his legs but Dave still extremely dangerous with his big right hook swing.
Qasim is starting to establish a nice range landing well with his shots but is eating up too many of those big Dave Keeling hooks for our liking that every time seem to be clipping Qasim around his guard.
The bell rings to end the round and a distressed looking Dave makes his way back to his corner seemingly having trouble seeing out of his eye and looking like he is breathing very heavily indeed. Qasim in comparison is quite calm and listening to instructions attentively in the corner.

Ali and Keeling mix it up in a terrific scrap in round 1.

ROUND TWO

The second rounds bell rings and it is seconds out for another intense segment.
Qasim again starts by pressing the attack this time with his hands. Dave is covering up but swinging out of his defensive shell with that big nightmare right hook that Qasim is ignoring and trying to walk through.
Qasim throws a right straight leg round kick to the body but on it's return drops his hand that unluckily for him was the same time that Dave was bowling over one of his haymaker right hooks. The punch catches Qasim flush on the chin and sees him crash down heavy in what looked like a fight ending knockdown.
Qasim in his credit is straight back up but needs the eight count to find his composure and convince the Referee that he is alright to continue.
Calls from the USKA corner to 'Keep you hands up' were answered by Qasim when the action resumed as he went back to his long straight punch offence to stay out of the way of that damaging big right hook.
In this new range it was Qasim now who found a damaging shot with his straight right hand that seen Dave stumble back and look in distress.
Dave is looking very tired and is going for gold with every gig bolo hook but they are increasingly being thrown out of range and further from the desired target of Qasim's chin.
The bell rings and again it is Qasim who looks the fresher going back to the corner despite being knocked down heavy in the round.

Qasim finds his range in the second and gets his kicks off

There is a commotion in the Jesters corner and unbeknown to us Dave is requesting to his cornerman Dale Wood that he pull him out and looks is distress not only with his eye but now his breathing.
Dale assessing his fighters condition decides that that is enough and calls the Referee over and expresses his wishes to end the fight.
The Referee of course obliges and crosses to the USKA corner to raise Qasim's hand in victory.

A dejected looking Dave Keeling concedes defeat to Qasim 'Terminator' Ali

So a few hairy moments for Qas but credit to him for getting through them and coming out on the other side with a stoppage win keeping his unbeaten record going.
Three out of three for the USKA boys and a happy coach journey home with the usual victory speeches and Qasim The Dream stand Up comedy show.
So in closing a great end to the competitive full contact year that has seen us go right through almost without a loss.
This is a testament to preparation and hard work and a work policy that is God willing sure to see us successful again in 2007.