World Championship Kickboxing returns to Northern Ireland this coming Saturday, November 27 with “Knockdown Lockdown” taking place at Stormont Hotel in Belfast. The “Made in Prokick” event features a series of WKN title bouts with the A-list representatives of the country-host up against international opponents from three different countries.
On the top of the fight-bill Bangor’s Johnny “Swift” Smith squares off against Lee Sung-hyun of Korea. The pair battles it out for a prestigious World Kickboxing Network welterweight title.
“Swift” Smith (9-0, 6 KOs) is coming off the win by knockout in the second round against Shuhei Sone. Prior to that he stopped Lee Ji Hoon in Round 5 to win WKN InterContinental welterweight belt. Earlier in his career he held the amateur world title.
Lee Sung-hyun (55-9-1, 17 KOs) is a two-division champion of Asian kickboxing promotion “RISE”, most recently taking the middleweight strap by unanimous decision against Shintaro Matsukura. In 2013 he earned Gold at lightweight via fourth-round stoppage against Yuki Taguchi.
A pair of WKN European amateur title bouts support the five-round World Championship headliner, as featherweight Jay Snoddon takes on Ranieri Cingolani of Italy, and super bantamweight Grace Goody meets Kubra Akdut of Germany.
The promoter of the event is Billy Murray, who has been credited with helping popularising kickboxing in the UK and Ireland. Over the course of his fighting career “The Man” himself lifted world kickboxing titles in four different weight classes.
Belfast is no stranger to accommodating the world-class kickboxing, having held numerous events, including the historic World Kickboxing Network light welterweight championship between “The Prince” Mohamed Samir and “Belfast Boy” Gary Hamilton at Ulster Hall on December 19, 2005 with boxing legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler in attendance.
Prokick: Knockdown Lockdown fight card
WKN World welterweight title
Johnny Smith (Northern Ireland) vs. Lee Sung-hyun (Korea)
WKN European featherweight amateur title
Jay Snoddon (Northern Ireland) vs. Ranieri Cingolani (Italy)
WKN European super bantamweight amateur title
Grace Goody (Northern Ireland) vs. Kubra Akdut (Germany)