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If there’s anything kickboxing great Ray Sefo knows, it’s, well, kickboxing.
So when he says the Kickboxing Empire card Saturday, July 30, at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas was good, believe him.
“I thought the matchups were great and it ended up being a great turnout as well,” said the former heavyweight champion. “Considering it was its (Kickboxing Empire’s) first event in Vegas, it was good. Everybody put it all on the line that night.”
Overall, Sefo says he was very pleased with the Kickboxing Empire event and says it bodes well for the area’s future with the sport. “It was absolutely a step forward,” said Sefo. “In terms of what K-1 did and then Kickboxing Empire stepping up and taking it over. That was the best show outside of K-1 that I’ve seen in Vegas. Kickboxing is my passion and I support Kickboxing Empire 100 percent.”
Most impressive to him were the two Minsk natives, Pavel Turuk and, especially, Dzianis Hancharonak.
Turuk scored a dominant unanimous decision over Las Vegas fighter Shawn Yarborough and Hancharonak recovered from a hard knockdown in the second round against Amsterdam’s Sergiano Herbert Cairo to win by KO 2:06 of the third round.
“They were the two guys that I was most looking forward to seeing and curious about, based on the fact that they both had over 230 amateur fights,” said Sefo. “In kickboxing, amateur and pro, there’s no difference other than one gets paid and one doesn’t. It’s full contact. So I was very curious about what they’d bring to the table and I was so impressed and they are so young. With that kind of talent, the sky is the limit.”
Sefo says working with his broadcast partner, the legendary Al Bernstein, was also the realization of a dream. “What an honor it was to work with him,” said Sefo. “I’m a huge fan of his. I’ve watched him call so many great fights. Al was an awesome guy who made my job easy because he was so relaxed and professional. I’ve been a commentator for K-1 all over the world for probably the last eight years and normally you get butterflies to start out, but this time I was very confident and we just allowed the action to speak for itself. I was able to just put in finer points in what I thought they could improve. I have nothing but nice things to say about Al. We’re so comfortable working together. I would do it again and again if they’ll have me.”
Sefo continues to train and fight and has even dipped his toe into some new ring sports. “I’m also doing pro wrestling on the side as well,” said Sefo. “I had my first pro wrestling experience three weeks ago. I’m due back in Japan the 24th of August. When you’ve been in kickboxing, boxing and MMA like I have, it makes pro wrestling a little easier, but you still get thrown around. It’s very dangerous in that something can easily go wrong when you have big guys being thrown around. You have to be on point when you do it.”
For more information, visit www.Kickboxingempire.com.
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