YARRA Valley fighters took the ring by storm during the latest Fight Night in Lilydale.
Lilydale’s Fight’n’Fitness had seven men and women fight on Saturday 10 November.
Trainer Nick Lundh said they all went exceptionally well but the fight of the night went to Jake Gathercole against Matt Morely from Corowa.
“This bout was a full Thai rules bout which meant punches, kicks, elbows, knees and grappling,” said Lundh.
“Jake was rocked in the first round with a knee to the head but came back very strong nearly knocking Matt out in rounds two and three.
Lundh said Matt was exceptionally tough and managed to cut Jake on the top of his head with a series of elbows.
“In the end though Jake held on to win a unanimous points decision,” he said.
Gathercole was supposed to fight in Thailand during October but became sick and Lundh had to replace him, so this was a great victory for Gathercole to be able to fight and win in a full Thai rules fight not long after the Thailand trip.
In amateur boxing, Tiff Van Horick gained a gold medal in the Women’s Amateur Boxing Welter Weight Title, Sam Rogers got a gold medal in the Amateur Boxing Light Weight Title and Jordan Campbell earned a silver medal in the Amateur Boxing Light Heavy Weight Title.
In the professional ranks, Ariki Meroiti lost a close decision to Albury’s Andrew Jones in the heavy weight Muay Thai Division while Brandyn Corso also lost a close decision to Werribee’s Omar Dib in a welter weight kickboxing match.
Brandyn went up a division to take this fight.
Terry Dehaan fought for the East Coast title against Dinh Tran but this bout was stopped short under controversial circumstances by the referee with a rematch likely.
