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Posts Tagged ‘Daniel “The Jet” Zahra’

Maltese, Professional, Martial Arts Fighter, Daniel “The Jet” Zahra has lost the second fight of his professional carrier in Marseille, France on points.

Daniel for the first time ever was competing in the ‘Savate’ style against top French professional fighter Laurent Debon.

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By Alexander Zammit

Yesterday night Malta’s number one Kickboxing champion Daniel “The Jet” Zahra, made history with a smooth transition from the amateur into the professional ranks and captured the WKN – European Light middle-weight title in the process, when he defeated in a convincing manner Jose “Bogas” De Oliveira, of Portugal , at the MFCC Conference Centre at Ta Qali, in Malta.

The event organizers, Noel Mercieca and Isaac Chetcuti of ‘Gladiators Promotions’ surpassed themselves, with a fantastic show which kept the huge crowd entertained from start to finish. The show it-self consisted of the main event and ten supporting bouts, showcasing kickboxing, K1 and classical boxing.

The main event of the evening had the crowd roaring their support for the popular Maltese fighter. Zahra, fighting out of the red corner who looked confident and wasted no time in taking the fight to his Portuguese opponent De Oliveira. By round two the superiority of Zahra was evident and De Oliveira often had a surprised look on his face as Zahra displayed combinations of kicks and punches which often found there mark. To his merit De Oliveira remained calm and was never flustered even after Zahra drew blood in the third round. De Oliveira had his moments but Zahra never allowed him to settle in. The Portuguese fighter showing true sporting spirit lifted Zahra’s hand in victory even before the judges had issued their majority decision. A well deserved victory for Daniel “The Jet” Zahra.

The last supporting bout for this memorable event was a K1 bout between Enwan Maillot of Malta THAI BOXING Club and Renald Tabone of the Red Dragon Kickboxing Club. Both fighters were aggressive but Tabone took victory in a workman like fashion building a large points advantage over his opponent.

The bout before that was an exciting 4×2 minutes traditional boxing match between Tyronne ‘EL TERRIBLE’ Borg of the Wu Shu Ky Kickboxing Club and Chris Debono of Ying Yang Kickboxing Club. The bout was crowd pleasing and what the boxers lacked in ring craft they made up for it with a courageous display of fearless boxing with both fighters exchanging and raining punches, relentlessly on each other. The judges awarded a narrow point’s victory to Tyronne Borg.

The other supporting bouts consisted of a number of Kickboxing matches of various levels and all the participants acquitted themselves with good performances. Most notable of these bouts was that of Isaac Chetcuti (Ying Yang) vs. Chris Lagana (Strike Kickboxing) which ended in a doctor’s stoppage in round three, with victory going to Chetcuti who was ahead on all the score cards at the time of the stoppage.

The only KO of the evening came about in the seventh bout between Tyronne Muscat of the Wu Shu Ky Kickboxing Club and Jonathan Psaila of the Ying Yang Kickboxing Club. The first round was balanced with both fighters testing each other out. In round two Psaila seemed to be getting the edge over his opponent when Muscat found an opening and floored Psaila with a beautifully executed right to the chin. As Psaila rolled over and struggled to get to his feet, Coach & Corner-man Noel Mercieca threw in the towel to save his fighter from further punishment.

A truly enjoyable fight night and as has been the trend for the last few years the Ying Yang Kickboxing club was the dominant force, however the improvement of fighters from other local clubs was evident and the gap is closing fast.

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By Alexander Zammit

Yesterday night Malta’s number one Kickboxing champion Daniel “The Jet” Zahra, made history with a smooth transition from the amateur into the professional ranks and captured the WKN – European Light middle-weight title in the process, when he defeated in a convincing manner Jose “Bogas” De Oliveira, of Portugal , at the MFCC Conference Centre at Ta Qali, in Malta.

The event organizers, Noel Mercieca and Isaac Chetcuti of ‘Gladiators Promotions’ surpassed themselves, with a fantastic show which kept the huge crowd entertained from start to finish. The show it-self consisted of the main event and ten supporting bouts, showcasing kickboxing, K1 and classical boxing.

The main event of the evening had the crowd roaring their support for the popular Maltese fighter. Zahra, fighting out of the red corner who looked confident and wasted no time in taking the fight to his Portuguese opponent De Oliveira. By round two the superiority of Zahra was evident and De Oliveira often had a surprised look on his face as Zahra displaying combinations of kicks and punches which often found there mark. To his merit De Oliveira remained calm and was never flustered even after Zahra drew blood in the third round. De Oliveira had his moments but Zahra never allowed him to settle in. The Portuguese fighter showing true sporting spirit lifted Zahra’s hand in victory even before the judges had issued their majority decision. A well deserved victory for Daniel “The Jet” Zahra.

The last supporting bout for this memorable event was a K1 bout between Enwan Maillot of Malta THAI BOXING Club and Renald Tabone of the Red Dragon Kickboxing Club. Both fighters were aggressive but Tabone took victory in a workman like fashion building a large points advantage over his opponent.

The bout before that was an exciting 4×2 minutes traditional boxing match between Tyronne ‘EL TERRIBLE’ Borg of the Wu Shu Ky Kickboxing Club and Chris Debono of Ying Yang Kickboxing Club. The bout was crowd pleasing and what the boxers lacked in ring craft they made up for it with a courageous display of fearless boxing with both fighters exchanging and raining punches, relentlessly on each other. The judges awarded a narrow point’s victory to Tyronne Borg.

The other supporting bouts consisted of a number of Kickboxing matches of various levels and all the participants acquitted themselves with good performances. Most notable of these bouts was that of Isaac Chetcuti (Ying Yang) vs. Chris Lagana (Strike Kickboxing) which ended in a doctor’s stoppage in round three, with victory going to Chetcuti who was ahead on all the score cards at the time of the stoppage.

The only KO of the evening came about in the seventh bout between Tyronne Muscat of the Wu Shu Ky Kickboxing Club and Jonathan Psaila of the Ying Yang Kickboxing Club. The first round was balanced with both fighters testing each other out. In round two Psaila seemed to be getting the edge over his opponent when Muscat found an opening and floored Psaila with a beautifully executed right to the chin. As Psaila rolled over and struggled to get to his feet, Coach & Corner-man Noel Mercieca threw in the towel to save his fighter from further punishment.

A truly enjoyable fight night and as has been the trend for the last few years the Ying Yang Kickboxing club was the dominant force, however the improvement of fighters from other local clubs was evident and the gap is closing fast.

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By Reuben Azzopardi

Malta - 2 December, 2010

This year’s Kickboxing activities are going to finish with a bang on the 7th of December at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali with “Gladiators 2″.

The climax of the evening is going to be a professional Kickboxing match between the Maltese champion Daniel “the Jet” Zahra and the Portuguese Jose de Olivera. They will compete for 5 rounds of 3 minutes for the World Kickboxing Network (WKN) European Title Belt in the 66kg weight category.

Together with this great match there will 10 more confrontations. The Fight Card for the evening will have one match of Boxing and another with K1 ruels where knee techniques are allowed. The other seven mathes will all be in Kickboxing. The clubs taking part in this event are Ying Yang, Tao Kickboxing, Strike Kickboxing, New Kickboxing, Wu Shu Ky, Malta Thai Boxing and Red Dragon.

Zahra is the first Maltese athlete that switched to professional Kickboxing. He already has various World and European WKN Title Belts. In the past month his instructor, Master Noel Mercieca, has been training him on a hard 3 times a day training regime.

On the same note of competing with foreign athletes, in November Reuben “the Wolf” Azzopardi won a K1 rules match. He competed with a Thai Boxer from Paris.

For more information regarding the night “Gladiators 2″ please visit the site www.yingyangkickboxing.com

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In the fight of the night, the tough-as-nails challengers Daniel “The Jet” Zahra, from the Ying Yang and “Super” Steve Martin, from the Wu Shu Ky did not disappoint the crowd and indeed went to war for the vacant Maltese middleweight WKN K1 title belt

By Alex Zammit

The Malta Kick Boxing and K1 National championships which were held on Tuesday the 28^th of June at the Stitch club in San Gwann, Malta, were a huge success. The ‘Gladiators Promoters’ delivered what they promised an exciting fight event which was easily one of the best .in recent years.

The large crowd of spectators and fans vociferously showed their appreciation and support for the event by being proactive all the way, often chanting the name of the fighters. The venue it self was excellent well lit and the organization was smooth and fault less. A truly enjoyable and memorable fight night.

Main Event K1 – Steve Martin vs Daniel Zahra (Middleweight)

Round 1 – Both fighters came out of their corners hard, fast and vicious and engaged directly at close quarters exchanging several low kicks and blows, with the action going back and forth. Martin suffers a cut to the forehead over his right eye.

Round 2 – Martin got the upper hand in the opening minute with two beautifully executed front kicks, which had Zahra down on the canvas momentarily, in this round both fighters landed several kicks and blows but Martin seemed to have the upper hand in this round.

Round 3 – Zahra came out strong with flurries of kicks and punches; Martin picked up the pace and responded. Both fighters showing no fear exchanged blow for blow and kick for kick but neither could quite connect a KO blow with the knee.

The last two rounds added to the drama in great fashion. Zahra continued his incredible assault, while Martin increased his output, himself looking for the knockout. Zahra looked like he was close to getting it when he battered Martin in the last minute of the fifth round.The closing seconds of the last round definitely belonged to Zahra,a well executed round house kick missed Martin by inches and the plucky Martin although being battered on the ropes held on and found the strength to block the onslaught of blows and kicks unleashed by Zahra.

In the end, neither one scored a KO but they still delivered a brutal and thrilling middleweight war, a candidate for the Maltese “K1 Fight of the Year”. It was a close fight and the judges had to decide who would leave the ring with the prestigious local WKN belt. Zahra got the decision but it is without a doubt that both fighters showed true mettle and proved themselves as true warriors in the ring.

Co Main Event – K1 – Renald “Ice Man” Tabone vs Reuben “Wolf” Azzopardi Tabone for the Red Dragon and Azzopardi for the Ying Yang - battled for the Maltese light heavyweight WKN title. This was a three round contest; both fighters came out fighting from a distance and avoided engaging in close combat, both using jabs and high kicks trying to find an opening for a KO blow. The end came for Tabone in the third round when Azzopardi locked him in the corner and delivered a beautifully executed knee strike to the side which send him down to the canvas. Tabone could not regain his feet and referee Demis Sicluna waved it off with one minute to go.

Undercard – Main

MaltaHeavyweight Kickboxing Title – Sean Cutajar (for the Wu Shu Ky) vs Kevin Cassar (for the Ying Yang). The first round opened with heavy punches and some nicely place kicks by Cutajar but the tide soon turned as Cassar upped the pressure and Cutajar startd to absorb some heavy punishment from the faster Cassar. While Cutajar had his moments there was little doubt as to the outcome of this encounter and the judges had no problems in declaring Cassar the winner.

MaltaCruiserweight Kickboxing Title – Tyron Borg (for the Wu Su Ky) vs Nicky Ellul (for the Ying Yang) – A balanced fight in the first two rounds, with Borg showing slightly superior punching power. The tide turned toward the end of round two when it seemed that Ellul had run out of steam. Borg took the title on a points win.

Malta Super Cruiserweight Kickboxing Title Belt – Eman Zammit (from The New Kickboxing Club) vs Elian Mallia (from the Ying Yang) – Both fighter started very aggressive and exchanged flurries of low kicks and punches, round 2 was more of the same, with Mallia showing signs of settling down and edging ahead, round 3 Mallia found his range and started landing better kicks and blows – Mallia became champion on a points win.

Malta Welterweight Kick Boxing Title: Terence Cilia of the Ying Yang defeated a game but outclassed Tyron Muscat of the Wu Shu Ky – Cila came out fast and furious, to his merit Muscat rallied against the onslaught to answer back with some well executed kicks and punches but Cilia showed superior ring skills and the judges gave him victory on points.

Undercard – Non Title – Full Protection Gear.

• Alan Ellul of the Ying Yang defeated Clayton Portelli of the Wu Shu Ky on points.
• Lorna Mifsud of the Wu shy Ky defeated Jessie Davey of the Yin Yang on points
• Andrew Hillsden of the Ying Yang defeated Joseph Fenech of the Wu Shu Ky on Points

The Hillsden vs Fenech fight is worth noting because Hillsden is 50 years of age and he was taking on an opponent half his age. Andrew Hillsden sporting a good physique and a good level of fitness started training kickboxing at the late age of 49 and considering his age his skill level is quite good, his fitness was also tested to the full when the judges ordered two extra rounds of one minute each as they could not decide on a winner.

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