Eersel, Barlow Retain Titles in Dominant Fashion at Lion Fight 34
Regian Eersel is well-known to muay Thai aficionados but he’s not yet a household name to casual fight fans. After watching him defend his Lion Fight super middleweight title in highlight reel fashion Friday night on AXS TV, that could change.
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Iman Barlow stormed into Lion Fight last year and captured the women’s super bantamweight title. Tonight, she proved her worth yet again by completely dismantling an old foe in Meryem Uslu, easily winning a lopsided unanimous decision over five punishing rounds. “The Pretty Killer” did whatever she wanted against the German: kicks and knees to the body, punches to the head, sweeps and head kicks. Barlow hurt Uslu, whom she defeated six years ago, with a knee to the midsection in the fourth but couldn’t put her away.
Uslu was never allowed to get into a rhythm as the Englishwoman controlled the pace from the outset. Uslu (62-12-1, 16 KOs) never gave up, though, even when an elbow split her forehead wide open in the final round, but Barlow was amazing. In the end, even the Las Vegas judges couldn’t mess up the scores and turned in verdicts of 50-45 across the board, allowing Barlow (87-5-3, 25 KOs) to retain her title.
Local fighter Anthony Njokuani returned to his kickboxing roots after struggling mightily the past two years in MMA and his decision paid off. Aussie Chris Harrington was as tough as nails and opened up a gash on Njokuani’s left eyebrow in the second, but “The Assassin” turned the fight completely in his favor in the third. Njokuani rocked Harrington with a sizzling right to the head early on and then floored him with a follow-up flurry. Harrington (21-3, 4 KOs) was felled again moments later from a similar volley of punches and then Njokuani finished him off with several unanswered blows to the head. Mazzagatti intervened when Harrington crumbled along the ropes, ending the fight at 2:44 of the third, allowing Njokuani to remain unbeaten; he improved to 23-0 with 8 KOs.
Nick Chasteen travelled to Thailand to improve his overall game and it paid off, at least in terms of how well he fought against fellow super welterweight Gabriel Mazzetti. Chasteen stormed out of his corner and seized control of the action with an endless torrent of strikes. But his high volume of offense was offset by Mazzetti’s harder strikes after five grueling rounds of pure action, it was up to the judges as to which style they preferred. As it turned out, the officials opted for the Peruvian’s heavy punches and gave Mazzetti (14-2, 5 KOs) the unanimous nod with scores of 49-46 (twice) and 48-47, much to the chagrin of Chasteen (6-4, 3 KOs) and the crowd, who felt the judges robbed him.
Thailand’s Kronphet Phetrachapat nearly had Kevin Burmester out cold in the waning seconds of the first when he floored the German with a perfect spinning back elbow to the head. Burmester beat the count and forced Phetrachapat (75-18-5, 35 KOs) into a heated battle for the remainder of their welterweight showdown, making for a terrific fight. Burmester (70-8-1, 34 KOs) was the busier striker while Phetrachapat landed the harder, cleaner strikes but in the end, that knockdown cost Burmester the fight. The bout was declared a majority draw with scores of 47-47 (twice) and 48-46.
In the opening bout of the telecast, super lightweight River Daz and Diego Llamas (8-3) let everything go for five full rounds, electrifying the still-filling venue. While each man gave as good as he took, it was Aussie Daz who landed the harder, more telling blows throughout and won a unanimous decision. Each round was close, but Daz (13-0-1) was the clear-cut winner and took home the win via tallies of 49-46 (twice) and 50-45 to stay unbeaten as a pro.
