Di Rucio out-points Zuccala in yet another epic battle for the ISKA World Light-middleweight title
Sunday 15th July saw Kilkenny city become the centre of attention for the whole kickboxing world as O'Loughlin Gaels was the venue for a Professional World Title bout along with a full supporting undercard of Kilkenny's local talent from Dragons Lair martial arts. Ireland’s Vinny Di Rucio faced former two-times Champion England’s Fran Zuccala
The expectation of the main event gradually built up in intensity and stakes to get to this moment, the lighting sprung to life the crowd showed their respect and admiration for the first fighter to the ring , Fran Zucalla from Wolverhampton England, Zucalla is a two times Professional World champion and is here to try make the record books by becoming a 3 times champion in front of his travelling supporters and the Kilkenny fans. Next the lights dim music erupts the stage fills with smoke and as it begins to clear the imposing figure of a roman gladiator appears, the crowd explodes as Vinny “the assassin” Di Ruscio enters the ring in spectacular fashion, DiRusco a member of the Irish Defence forces has spent 20 years training, competing, sacrificing to get him to this moment, now it’s all down to the next 12 rounds. From the moment the fight begins these both legends exchange blows and defensive exchanges kick after kick ,punch after punch, this continues until round 4 when as DiRuscio ducks to set up his left hook collides his nose with Zucalla’s knee resulting in a crunch as bone meets bone, eyes water and blur and DiRuscio battles to the end of the round trying to evade the onslaught of Zucalla and receives a cut above his eye. Ding Ding round ends and DiRuscio gets back to his corner and the corner men get to work wiping his face clearing his eyes of the blood and sweet and stopping his nose from bleeding. Round 5 begins with Zucalla attacking trying to capitalise on the injury from the previous round but DiRuscio shows his class evading Zucalla’s shots and in return landings his own, round after round come and go these two warriors slug it out neither backing down both here to win, the fighters are spurred on as the English fans who travelled chant Zucalla , Zucalla, Zucalla and the home fans react with their own chant of DiRuscio , DiRuscio and it’s seems to spur them on to the 12 and final round , it’s a close fight so far and it’s still all to be played for in the final round and it shows as both men come out with the same intensity and pace as they did in round 1 , 2 minutes later it’s all over the judges results are gathered and the MC announces the scores judge A) scores it 114 to 114 a draw , judge B) scores it 114-118 DiRuscio , judge C) scores it 115-118 DiRuscio, the roar was deafening , Vinny is exhausted and emotional with this epic win but still manages to take the mic and thanks everybody who helped get him hear today ,family, friends,fans, coaches, club mates, sparring partners and of course his wife who supported him throughout his extensive training regime, but now it’s all paid off with the World Title Belt around his waste doing himself, his club Dragons Lair, Kilkenny and Ireland proud!
Included in the build up to the main event was the first of two title fight being a bout between Aaron Comerford from Callan and Deise man Shane McConnell. The bout started with some skill full exchanges between the pair both demonstrating a wide range of kicks and punches , as the rounds progressed Aaron’s kicking ability off both legs continuously found there mark on McConnell’s head to impress the judges and the full house of fight fans. Round 5 ends with the ring of the bell and both fighters stood in the centre of the ring awaiting the judges decision , with what had just gone before the judges had only one decision , Comerford wins and becomes the new I.S.K.A. Irish Champion to the delight of all his supporters and result of the Kilkenny College students months of perpetration .
Next up saw another of Kilkenny’s rising stars and already an 3 times undisputed Irish Champion Connor “the Hitman” Doyle challenge Spanish star Luis Antonio Vega Sanchez for the I.S.K.A. Amateur European Title. This was a fight packed with non stop action back and fort from post to post all across the ring where both fighters showed their abilities that got them this title bout, the young Spaniard continuously tried to intimidate young Doyle and keep him from setting into his usual explosive and precise rhythm , but credit to Connor he took the pressure and adapted his game plan to capitalise and score point by point whenever Sanchez made an error, the out ended with the two fighters after giving it their all and tough and all as the young Spaniard was he was unable to prevent Doyle from continuing his rise and become the new European Champion
20 July 2012
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