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CHANTELLE CAMERON UNIFIES
ANOTHER BRITISH TITLE WITH WAKO BELT WIN!

Sometimes a fight is announced that splits opinion down the middle on who will be victorious. That was the case when WAKO announced the challengers for their -65kg British title fight between 3 times British Champion Chantelle Cameron from Birmingham's USKA Kickboxing and current ISKA European Champion Lydia Durkin from Paragon gym in London. The fight was to take place in Sleaford on the 3rd April 2010 as chief support on the Total Impact kickboxing card.
The fantastically schooled Lydia from Stuart Lawson's camp was riding high following her European Title win in Rome Italy late last year and Neil Kelly trained Chantelle Cameron was the name on everybody's lips after a career best performance over Fulham's Danielle Kudmany to retain her 5 nations title in March.
The girl's both weighed in comfortably under the agreed 62kg limit for the bout and all was set for an action packed fight.
Both fighters looked confident on their way to the ring and on the sound of the first bell it was Chantelle who pressed the attack and landed first going forward landing a nice lead leg side kick followed by a barrage of punches showing her strength from the offset.
Chantelle's strength, accuracy and boxing ability seemed to be causing Lydia trouble getting off anything significant and it was a clear first round the Chantelle as they made their way back to their respective corners.
Round two and three followed the same pattern with Chantelle growing more and more in confidence and going through the gears and clocking up the points with hurtful and extremely skilful combinations.
Lydia to her credit was taking the shots well and firing back with shots of her own but could not seem to find her target cleanly and make a dent in the USKA fighter.
Round four was a quieter one which wasn't surprising after the ferocious pace both girls had set for themselves in the first three. Chantelle was still edging the action but Lydia was doing better avoiding the really big shots fighting defensively a better fight.
The last round with the finish line in sight saw Chantelle again put her foot on the gas and move through the gears putting Lydia back under pressure. At no point did it look that the tenacious Lydia was going to go but it was clear on the sound of the final bell that there was only one winner on the judges scorecards.
The decision was announced as such with a unanimous decision for the new WAKO belt holder Chantelle Cameron that was met by nothing but gracious respect from the immensely professional Lydia and her coach Stuart.
A great fight highlighting the very best of Women's amateur kickboxing that I'm sure pulled in a few new fans for both girls from the appreciative audience.
Chantelle now will look to try and Unify the division and is actively looking for matches for both the WKA and ISKA versions of the title to add to the IKF, WAKO and EFK versions that she already holds.

UPDATED ON 17TH MARCH 2010

TWO MORE TITLE WINS FOR USKA,
AZAD WINS THE ENGLISH
AND CHANTELLE RETAINS HER 5 NATIONS CROWN!

On the Undercard of Qasim The Dream's IKF British title fight against Ronnie Clark on Unleashed III two other USKA fighters were in action both in title fights of their own.
First up was Azad Khan stepping in against highly rated Raffa 'Cool Cat' Ali from the IFA Kickboxing camp.
The match for the IKF Featherweight title carried extra interest as Raffa was one of only two people to beat Azad in his ring light continuous career. The loss was avenged but still Azad and Raffa had a score to settle with each other this time under Full Contact kickboxing rules.
The bout was fast and furious with Azad looking the stronger but Raffa showing good resilience taking heavy shot after heavy shot. As the fight progressed it looked like Azad was wearing down his man particularly to the body where he had stopped his man in his tracks for an eight count with a hard low section straight leg round kick. At the start of the 5th round Azad hurt his man again and Referee Wayne Rodrigues stepped in for yet another count. After reading Raffa's body language he waved the fight off despite protests from the IFA corner. Raffa had taken a sustained beating throughout 5 rounds and had no way at that point of winning the bout, it was a good decision.
Azad was announced IKF Midland Champion and awarded with his first full contact title belt.
Next up for USKA was Chantelle Cameron defending her 5 Nations Light Welterweight title. She was in against the experienced Southpaw Danielle Kudmany from Fulham Kickboxing gym.
Chantelle who usually campaigns at the lower weight but takes fights at Light Welterweight to stay active looked the smaller of the two girls but looked in good condition and was unfazed by the apparent size difference.
Chantelle found her range straight away and showed good skill and patience on the outside apparently hitting Danielle at will. Showing excellent combinations Chantelle outboxed and outkicked Danielle showing great defence and movement as well to turn in her careers best performance to date.
Dropping Danielle with a well timed shot and hurting her on many other occasions with big punches Chantelle forged ahead and never looked in any trouble at any point.
Five counts later and referee Wayne Rodrgues had seen enough waving off the fight in the 4th round.
A terrific performance from one of the sports rising and ever improving stars.
Chantelle will now try and add the WAKO British title to her trophy cabinet on 3rd April when she faces her toughest test to date taking on the current ISKA European Champion Lydia Durkin from Paragon Kickboxing gym in London.

UPDATED ON 16TH MARCH 2010

AND THE NEW IKF LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION
OF GREAT BRITAIN......
QASIM 'THE DREAM BEG!

Well, it was worth the wait, Almost two and a half years in fact.
On the 13th March the undefeated Professional English Champion Qasim 'The Dream' Beg from the USKA Fight Factory in Birmingham climbed through the ropes to face his long time nemeses and first Professional opponent Ronnie 'The Shark' Clark from the Paisley Kickboxing gym in Scotland in a Rematch this time to contest the IKF Lightweight British Championship over 10 hard rounds of Professional Full Contact Kickboxing.
The bout was top billing at the Bai Lang promoted Unleashed Primal Instinct event at the Telford International Centre and lived up to the hype of being a true Superfight between two of the finest fighters at the weight in the country.
Ronnie since his first loss to Qasim in 2007 had remained undefeated and had swept aside all his opposition mostly before the distance and had gained a reputation of being a ferocious puncher within the sport.
This would be Qasim's 13th Professional kickboxing bout and some were saying it would be unlucky for him predicting that Ronnie would just be too strong for him and forecasting that Qasim would not see the final bell.
Over 700 spectators turned up to see the clash with passionate kickboxing fans from the whole of the UK gathering to witness a fight that promised to deliver fireworks and drama by the two combatants who were harvesting a lot of bad blood between each other for various things that had been said in the media in the build up and indeed since their first meeting all 26 months earlier.
The entrances to the ring from both fighters were highly charged and the atmosphere could truly be cut with a knife, Ronnie to the ring first cheered on by his Scottish faithful's followed by Qasim to an amazing ovation from his 200+ crowd of supporters.
In the customary centre ring stare neither fighter blinked as they eyeballed each other intensely listening to the referee's final instructions before the battle.
Ronnie started the fight sharply showing good movement and variety not letting Qasim settle.
Qasim seemed happy to use the first as a feeling out round and never once took his eyes of The Shark as both fighters feinted and faked their way through a round that never seen much of significance land.
The second saw a few more exchanges with Ronnie going to the body more and again seemingly taking Qasim out of his stride and breaking his rhythm.
The Third saw a sway in proceedings with both fighters clashing heads that left Ronnie cut over his left eye. The cut looked to be bothering Ronnie and Qasim was able to land more stepping up the gears to land the cleaner work to take the round.
Ronnie's coach Lex Easdon did a great job on the cut in between rounds and seemed to stem the flow of blood successfully by the start of the next round.
From the 4th round a pattern seemed to be set with Ronnie leading but getting intercepted by the hard left jab and lead hook that was stopping the Scots man in his tracks. This seemed to be breaking his rhythm and as a result he was failing to meet the minimum amount of kicks required in a Professional contest that saw him get deducted a total of 5 points over the course of the fight.
With such a huge gap to close on the score cards it looked like Ronnie by the 9th would need a KO to win the contest and the urgency crept into his work stepping up the pace and putting Qasim under pressure.
At the end of the 9th round Ronnie landed a big right hand that seemed to momentarily stiffen the already tired legs of the The Dream but it was not enough to put the focused Birmingham fighter over.
Qasim applied good movement in the 10th and final round again getting back into his flow and intercepting the now laboured attacks from the Paisley fighter to win the round and surely win the fight.
Both fighters raised their hands but it was clear that Ronnie Clark knew that he had not done enough to win and that he had failed to exact revenge onto his old rival.
As the score cards were been collated Ronnie Clark grabbed the microphone from the MC and announced to the crowed that he had lost the fight to the better man on the night giving Qasim Respect and showing good sportsmanship and showing real class. The bad blood seemed to be behind them and both men embraced after sharing the experience of going ten hard rounds together.
The score cards were announced and as expected Qasim was announced the winner by a unanimous decision by score totals of 96-90, 96-91, 97-91 and was awarded the British title belt by the former British Champion Stacey Godson who vacated to move on to European and World level.
Qasim will now turn his attention to the all the other British title belts on offer by the other Associations in an attempt to unify the division. If successful he will then look to move into European Class early next year.
At only 20 years old The Dream has the World at his feet and knows what is required for him to be successful and to take his career to the next level.

His coach Neil Kelly said this about the fight and where The Dream goes next ............... 'It goes without saying that I am exceptionally proud of Qasim, the fighter he has become and the way he performed in a tough and dangerous fight against Ronnie Clark, He needed to keep disciplined and focused throughout and stick to the game plan and that I think he did well. We want all the belts at British level now and will fight ANYONE domestically to get them. Once the British title has been Unified it will then be another step up in class in Search of the European title and then Inshallah (God Willing) a World title somewhere down the line. He has the ability and we have the belief in him all he needs to do is stay focused, train hard and he will reap the rewards no doubt'

Qasim a very proud new holder of the IKF British belt said 'After all the hard work I am now the new British Champion, I love it, It's onwards and Upwards from here for me. I would like to say a big thank you to all my family at the USKA Fight Factory, I couldn't have done it without you guys. Every muscle is aching the bruises have come out to play, my ankle is swollen and I have a stiff neck and the best thing of all is I love it! The things people do to become a British Champion eh!
I would also like to say a big thank you to my equipment sponsor Cimac Martial Arts in Birmingham and also to my general sponsor The British Pakistani Youth Council. I hope I did you proud!'