14 June 2008 - Leeds Town Hall Show. The best of Bad Company!

LIAM HARRISON, RICHARD CADDEN, ANDY HOWSON, JAMES FRANCE, CHARLOTTE WEBSTER, SARAH MCARTHY, DAVY MAC, KYLE FELLA, TOM BIRD.

Well done to all our fighters and thanks to everyone who took part, helped or attended.

This was our best show yet with a very strong card. The Town Hall was packed and there was a great atmosphere.

Results as follows:

1	5x2	55	Kyle Fella	Bad Company	v	Leif Taggart	Teeside
	Leif won on points
2	5x2	59	Davy Mac	Bad Company	v	Loz Reilly	Hanuman Darlington
	Davy Mac Won on points
3	5x2	59	Sarah McCarthy	Bad Company	v	Sam Mitchell	Phoenix
	Sarah Won on points
4	5x2	63	John Dennis	Spartan	v	Paul Kapowitz	Sitnarong
	DRAW
5	5x2	68	Tom Bird	Bad Company	v	Karl Stoddart	Jai Muay Thai
	Tom won by KO round 3
6	5x2	52	Charlotte Webster	Bad Company	v	Pam McArthy	Sitnarong St Helens
	Charlotte won on points
7	5x3	67	James France	Bad Company	v	Yatabare Kisma	France
	James Won on points
8	5x3	64.5	Richard Cadden	Bad Company	v	Rungnakorn Kharnpan	Thailand
			ISKA World Title - Rung won by TKO round 3 to keep his title
9	5x3	61.5	Liam Harrison	Bad Company	v	Sarmsamut Kiatchongkao	Thailand
			WMC World Title - Liam won by TKO round 4 to keep his title
10	3x3	100+	Craig Burke	Fight Unit-Barnsley	v	Ben Whitehead	Burnley
	Craig Won by KO round 1
11	5x3	55	Andy Howson	Bad Company	v	Weera "Spicy" Mingthon	Thailand
	Andy Won on points
12	5x3	64	Mark DeLucca	USA/Bad Company	v	Alix James	Studio 2000
	Mark won TKO round 4

REPORT ON THE SHOW BY DOMINIC LAVIN

Bad Company show 14 June report

Lisa and Richard Smith of Bad Company tonight lived up to their reputation as one of the premier centres for Muay Thai excellence by staging an excellently organised night of fights at Leeds Town Hall. The twelve fight card included two world title fights, two women’s fights and several A class fights.

On the undercard Davy Mac of Bad Company against Loz Reilly of Hanuman was a an evenly skilled and well matched bout with Davy emerging as winner and the Dennis v Kapowitz meeting which was given as a draw by the judges proved a good honest entertaining scrap with impressive use of the spinning elbow by both corners.
The first international fight of the evening saw James France of Leeds matched against Yatabre Kisma of France. As a fighter James shows a lot of promise and from round one took the upper hand with steady confident work and position in the ring. Yatabre wasn’t shy in attack but James absorbed his opponent’s efforts well and countered strongly with a full compliment of techniques. By round three James’s opponent was showing signs of tiredness and the Frenchman was forced to retire in round 4 when a strong roundhouse kick dislocated his shoulder.

Richard Cadden was the first fighter of the evening to put a title on the line in front of an audience of around 2200 people. Cadden has held the WPMF World, Wako Pro Euro and IKF European titles several of his 47 fights have been in Thailand and he has won 33 so far in total. His challenger was Rungankorn Kharnpan a UK resident Thai national that he has fought twice before, and with the aggeragate score at 1 each tonights match was billed as a decider with the winner to walk away with the ISKA World Title at 65 kg.

Richard is a very positive fighter and got to work early in round one, there were some good elbow exchanges that by the end of the round left Richard bleeding from the right eye. Rounds two and three again saw Richard pressurising his opponent suffering a knockdown but remaining undeterred and taking the initiative. In round four whilst helping Richard recover from a foul blow the doctor inspected his cuts and judged him unfit to continue. Despite leaving the ring without a win nobody can fault his guts and determination, luck can occasionally win fighters a single title but the several titles Cadden has held were won with the true heart and courage that make Cadden a credit to himself and his gym.

The main event of the evening was Liam Harrison’s defence at 62 kg of his WMC World Title against Sarmsamut Kiatchongkao of Chuwattana Gym in Bangkok. Prior to the fight Liam was confident and relaxed and to be fair made pretty light work of his fourth round stoppage of his opponent who is currently ranked number 7 at Lumphini Stadium. In the past Thais have been known to underperform outside their homeland and without taking anything away from Liam Sarmsamut was a little complacent in the early rounds. Harrison’s impeccable timing and accuracy gave him round s one and two with some strong low kicks and hooks, with a take down in each round. In round 3 the Thai felt the canvas four times however he did start to wake and find Liam with his right knee. In round four the Thai started to take the reins and improve his positional game however Liam retaliated with strong boxing and an elbow which cut him badly enough for the doctor to end the fight.

Andy Howson’s fight against Weera “Spicey”Mingthon of Ko Samui Thailand proved to be a value for money match at 53 kilos. Andy’s one of the top flight at Bad Company and Spicey (who hails from Hua Thanon near Lamai), is the current Chaewang Stadium Champion and Southern area Champion at his weight. Round one was a traditional Thai round with each man respectfully finding range. The second round saw some more exciting exchanges with Spicey attacking flamboyantly and Andy responding with strong hooks and noteably strong front kicks. Round three was fought out at mid range, with some well delivered elbows from both corners and in Round four Andy took a strong single shot left hook from Spicey but responded with some commendable long boxing combinations and sealed the round with front kicks that pushed Spicey back. At the end of round four Spicey nodded his approval at Andy’s efforts and despite landing a good right cross at the beginning of round five Spicey had very little to offer in reply to Andy’s handy work, when the decision came from the judges nobody was surprised to see Andy emerge the winner.

The final fight was between Mark DeLucca an American guest at Bad Company and Alex James of Studio 2000 in Derby, both are accomplished fighters who have spent time fighting and training in Thailand. Prior to the fight Alex (who fights at 64kg) said “He’ll probably slaughter me. I go into all my fights with that attitude and if I get anything else it’s a bonus.” Despite entering the ring dressed as Elvis there was unfortunately no bonus on the night for Alex. To be fair Alex was probably the stronger of the two, fighting well on his back foot and then switching to attacks that cornered Mark however the doctor judged a pretty minor cut that Alex received in round five enough to stop the fight and Mark left the ring with a winners trophy.

All in all it was a professionally run show at a first class venue with well matched fights, the highlight of which for me was Tom Bird (Bad Company 68 kg) knocking Karl Stoddart of Jai Muay Thai clean out in round five with what has to be one of the most beautifully delivered left hooks I’ve ever seen.

Click below for  promo videos/interviews about the forthcoming fights... 

RICHARD CADDEN

LIAM HARRISON

ANDY HOWSON