The Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing club had four fighters in action at the German Open Kickboxing championships in the beautiful picturesque town of Simmern, near Frankfurt at the weekend.
The German Open is the fifth biggest open Martial Arts Tournament in the World and it was the Galway’s clubs first time to enter it.
Alex Fitzpatrick entered both the Full Contact Kickboxing and the K-1 cadet divisions and took first place in both.
The young Tuam warrior knocked out his opponent in the -70kg Kickboxing final with a blistering head kick which dropped his German opponent to the canvas and the referee called it off giving Alex a TKO victory.
He entered the -70kg K-1 division but due to no other entry in it he opted to fight in the -75kg section instead and after a war with another tough German, his hand was raised as the winner making him a dual champion at the prestigious event.
Indeed just after the fight, a German promoter came up to Alex’s coach Pete Foley and offered Alex an all expenses paid big International fight in Munich in December.
Whitney Sheppard from Knocknacarra, (who was kindly sponsored by Headmasters Barber Shops) was originality due to fight at -50kg and had been cutting weight for several weeks to qualify for that division, however, due to a no show by her opponent, she was offered a straight final in the -55kg section.
Although she was immediately at a disadvantage as her opponent was bigger and heavier, she took the fight.
The first round was all action and midways through she was barely clipped with a right hand and slipped to the floor and received a very questionable standing 8 count.
The Galway girl was now facing a big uphill battle but managed to come out strong for the remaining two rounds and the judges gave her the win by a split decision.
Damien Creavin from Ballybrit had the toughest test of the whole team after having three fights in the same day.
Damien entered the senior men’s -60kg section, notoriously one of the busiest and was matched with a fighter from Munich in his first bout.
The Ballybrit brawler quickly took control and took the German out in the second round with a barrage of punches, winning the fight by TKO.
His second fight was against a fighter from Frankfurt and he ended this one in the first round as he caught his German opponent with a savage roundhouse kick to the chin and put him to sleep towards the end of the round.
The referee didn’t even begin the count as the Frankfurt fighter was out cold on the canvas.
Thankfully he was fine and Damien advanced to the final.
He met a teak tough Afghanistan in the final and after a solid, very well matched contest over the full three rounds, the Afghan was awarded a majority decision.
Second place in the busiest division on the fifth largest championships on the planet - not too shabby.
Sean Ryan from the Neale, Co Mayo (sponsored by Rymc-construction UK & Cemfloor by McGraths, Cong) and who travels in to the Galway Black Dragon gym several times a week to train, was entered into the cadet -60kg Full Contact kickboxing division.
Sean took out a tough fighter from Italy in his first fight, winning a unanimous decision and then met a fighter from Munich in the final.
The Mayo man/adopted Galweigian took the fight straight to the tough German and fired off some excellent punch combinations followed by well placed kicks to take the decision by all three ringside officials.
In total, the four Black Dragon fighters won four German open titles and on second place.
The next big outing will be more local as the club is planning a big International fight night in the Clayton Hotel in Galway on Saturday 1st September.
Pic shows from L-R: Peter Sheppard (Knocknacarra - photographer/Videographer), Whitney Sheppard (Knocknacarra - German Open -55kg K-1 Champion), Alex Fitzpatrick (Tuam -70kg German Open cadet Full Contact Kickboxing Champion and -75kg German Open cadet K-1 Champion.
Damien Creavin (Ballybrit - Second place German open senior men’s -60kg Full Contact kickboxing division),
Sinead Fitzpatrick (Tuam - assistant coach), Sean Ryan (The Neale, Cong - German Open -60kg cadet Full Contact Kickboxing Champion), Pete Foley (Annaghdown - Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing Gym Chief coach).
