By Srithar Visuasam: The Australian Fight Series continued last Sunday afternoon at Grand Star Receptions in Altona North, Victoria which saw the second round of the eight man welterweight tournament continue.
Only three of the scheduled four bouts took place, with a number of fighters being unable to participate due to injuries. Matthew Paulley, had withdrawn from the tournament completely after the first round, with Faisal Fayad replacing him in the competition. The fourth bout scheduled will take place on another fight card at a date to be determined.
Of the three fights, the fight of particular significance to the tournament was the bout between Queenslander Todd Kidd (5-0, 2KOs) and New South Welshman Alex Ahtong (5-10-3, 4 KOs), who both recorded impressive stoppage victories over Jason Kanofski and Jimmy James respectively in the first round. The bout was an enthralling battle which saw neither Kidd or Ahtong completely dominate the bout, in which both fighters found it difficult to work out their opponents style.
Kidd though, controlled the pace of the fight and was able to land scoring punches with greater regularity. Ahtong, with former world title challenger Shannan Taylor in his corner, kept posing a threat throughout the contest and looked quite dangerous over the final rounds. It wasn’t enough to win the bout with Kidd recording a six round unanimous decision victory, with the scorecards reading 59-56, 59-55 and 60-54 in his favour. The result places Todd Kidd at the top of the points table, with four rounds to go before the semi finals.
In the other two bouts of the Australian Fight Series, Jason Kanofski recorded his first victory of the tournament by accounting for Brad Hemming over six rounds, outworking Hemming throughout the majority of the bout to record a comfortable victory, 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54.
The bout between Faisal Fayad (5-1), who replaced Matthew Paulley in the tournament and Mark Dalby (0-2), who filled in for jimmy James who was unable to participate, proved the most entertaining of the three tournament fights for the day. Fayad, came out aggressive and dictated the pace from the outset, using quick footwork and fast combinations to have Dalby against the ropes on numerous occasions.
By round six, Fayad had the fight in the bag, but Dalby, who had proved quite durable to last to this point, showed his endurance and landed a number of power shots on Fayad, who looked to be fading. Dalby won the round, but it wasn’t enough to deny Fayad of victory, with the scorecards reading 58-55, 59-55 and 59-55 in his favour.
In other bouts on the card, Diana Prazak captured the Australian female light welterweight title with an impressive six round stoppage victory over Malin Morgan. Frank Lo Porto proved too strong for Aswin Cabuy in their light middleweight bout, with Cabuy’s corner throwing in the towel midway through the fourth round of their fight. Other winners were Mark Quon and Matt Lytwynenko, with Ashley McDermott and Rex Regalado fighting to a four round split draw.
This fight card will be broadcast on Foxtel channel Aurora on Thursday 5 May 2011.