STAND 6 aim to bring boxing back to the forefront of Sabah

Recently there's a surge of interest back to boxing. Boxing seems to take a back seat in popularity a few years back with the rapid growth of MMA becoming the most popular combat sports. Of course the hardcore fans of boxing still follow it's development.

BJJ and grappling arts dominated MMA as from the first UFC shows that grappling can neutralize an opponent's striking game. But of recent development, strikers are making a comeback in MMA. Strikers such as Conor McGregor, Stephen Thompson, Robbie Lawler, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, are showing that to stand and strike can win the fight in spectacular fashion.

In the local Malaysian MMA scene, strikers caught the attention as they put on great display of skills and techniques. In MIMMA4 we saw Sabahan boxers, brothers Effendy and Eddie Kalai perform in the Grand Finals. Eddie showing great display of techniques in his memorable fight with equally great striker in Seah Zhang Yu.

We also saw the epic Grand final fight between Sarawakian Jace Law vs Hui Keng Fai of Selangor. Both gave a remarkable display of boxing techniques. Also in the middleweight, Muhd Meeraj, a pro boxer continued his dominance with his fist.

In July 2017 WBC Boxing Fest was held in Mid Valley Kuala Lumpur, pitting some senior and upcoming Malaysian boxer in a grand event. The event venue was packed and was followed closely from many in the social media too.

STAND which is a promotion base in Kota Kinabalu aim to bring back the interest to boxing in the local combat sports scene, especially for Sabah. STAND started off it's first edition in April 2016 with focus on developing the striking art by organising events that mixed amateur K1 Kickboxing Tournament and amateur boxing.

The hype and attention that McGregor vs Mayweather brings certainly does a lot of help to the sports of boxing, hence comes the time to have an event that specially cater for boxers.

This Saturday 14 OCTBER 2017 , happening at the KARABAW HQ GYM in Kepayan 88 Market Place, Kota Kinabalu, more than 50 boxers has confirmed their participations. This is the 6th edition of STAND

6 weight category for men and 4 for women will be competed. As for kids category, Super Fights are scheduled to go down.

This boxing bouts is sanctioned by ISKA and will be 2 minutes of 3 rounds.

Junior Super Fights category will be feature in STAND 6

Below are the participants list:

Women
1. Erda 46kg - Rhino Fitness
2. Sherry Bingku 52kg – Team Karabaw KK
3. Amanda Wang 56kg –Team Karabaw KK
4. Leyvonne Grace 46kg –Team Karabaw Tamparuli
5. Baeby 46kg - Borneo Red Lion

Men 49kg
1. Mohd Latip Sopian - Wira Amatuer Boxing
2. Ahmad Sharifful - Eagle Boxing Club
3. Dexter Alex – Team Karabaw Tamparuli
4. Rajinus Sadah – Kinabalu Fighters

Men 52kg
1. Zul -Tims Muaythai Gym
2. Arick Apar - Tlb33
3. Jearexson Jenus –Team Karabaw Papar
4. Aron Aguilar - Noypi Boxing Club
5. Edwin Aping – Team Karabaw Keningau
6. Matthew Thien – Team Karabaw Keningau
7. Along - Borneo Red Lion
8. Adi Erawan –Team Karabaw Tamparuli

Men 56kg
1. Franky - Tim's Muaythai Gym
2. Ahmad Khairuness - Team Karabaw Papar
3. Eric - Rhino Fitness
4. Lanloo - Team Karabaw KK
5. Zizul - Borneo Red Lion
6. Sonwil Juandiego - Noypi Boxing Club

Men 60kg
1. Willybrord Paul - Bts Tambunan
2. Frederick Well -Tlb33
3. Brian Owen Oswald - Team Karabaw Papar
4. D Mezander -Team Ug Zero
5. Junaydi Siyuti – Team Karabaw Tamparuli
6. Kenny Chong - Kalai Bros
7. Kevin Costner Albert -Teamkarabaw Keningau

Men 64kg
1. Daniel Eldon - Bts Tambunan
2. Nazree Salim - Tlb33
3. Azrullah Sulaiman –Team Karabaw Papar
4. Mc May - Wira Amatuer Boxing

Men 69
1. Joachim Sinti –Team Karabaw KK
2. Adrian Junior -Tlb33
3. Oliver Ehan – Team Karabaw Papar
4. Mohammad Hudzaifah -Wira Amatuer Boxing

Men 75kg
1. Michael John - Noypi Boxing Club
2. Lee Jian Wei - Wira Amatuer Boxing
3. Samuel Johnson - Eagle Boxing Club

Men 81kg
1. Muhammad Irfan - 9x Boxing Club
2. Tristan Jimidol - Noypi Boxing Club
3. Mohd Hisyam - Team Ug Zero
4. Stanley David - Tlb33
5. Shamir Naim - Eagle Boxing Club
6. Andrew - Borneo Red Lion

Kids Fight
1. Daniel Tornado 40kg -Borneo Phoenix
2. Anwar Ridwan 29kg - Skas
3. Asyraf Danial 44kg – Revolution Gym
4. Daniel 44kg - Team Karabaw Papar
5. Azman 30kg - Team Karabaw Papar
6. Eddli 50kg - Revolution Gym
7. Adolf 50kg - Team Karabaw Papar
8. Kawai 40kg - Team Karabaw Papar
9. Affudin Sabi 32kg - Team Karabaw Tamparuli
10. Larry 32kg - Team Karabaw Papar

Junior Superfight
1. Oyan 60kg - Tim's Muaythai
2. Akmal Aizal 60kg – Team Karabaw Papar
3. Hamdin 47kg – 66 Unicorn
4. Siang-Siang 47kg – Team Karabaw Papar
5. Izzat Zachery 50kg – Team Karabaw Tamparuli
6. Mohd Shazwan 50kg - Eagle Boxing Club

According to Johnny Nguyen of Expertboxing.com
"Boxing is called the sweet science because you have to find this perfect balance, this mythical perfect place, between hitting and not getting hit.

The special requirement of this simultaneous contrast is what makes boxing so amazing. It requires technique, obviously, but so much more beyond that. Finesse? Slickness? Swagger? Art?

If it was just technique, they would call it science. But because there’s a little something extra that you have to put in with your technique, and something that’s hard to put a finger on, they call it a sweet science.

I guess I would say boxing is called the sweet science because puts on display the art of the counter-punch. You are evading a dangerous attack while at the same time landing that knockout shot. And it’s beautiful when you see it again and again."

The highlight of STAND will be the junior category where, young athletes are given an opportunity to execute the sweet science.

Borneo have many talents that need to be bring to the forefront. With platform such as STAND, amateur boxers can hone their skills and gain experience through many amateur fights. Let's hope STAND can unearth potential Champion one day

Coach Randell (middle) with his Team Karabaw preparing for STAND 6

Check out STAND FB page for fight card

WBC BoxingFest : Dawn of A New Era for Malaysia's Boxing

After 42 years of absence, finally pro Boxing returned to Kuala Lumpur. WBC BoxingFest by BoxRanx ( read about the pre-event write up here ) was held over last weekend 8-9 July 2017. 1st day was 10 bouts of semi-pro boxing and day 2 was another 10 bouts; pro boxing.

9 JUL 2017 full results

The hi-light of the night (day2),  albeit a very very short one went to bout no.6, featuring 19 year old Malaysian upstart Theena Thayalan, in his pro debut, KOed his Indonesian opponent Rudy Hartanto in a swift 25 seconds in round 1. Theena started boxing at 17 and he has amassed an impressive record of 95 amateur bouts. This win was definitely a good start for his pro career.

Theena enroute to his swift victory ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

The UBO Asia Pacific Welterweight Champion,  Hui Keng Fai, whom is also amateur MMA (Malaysian Invasion) Lightweight Champion 2016; In this 3rd pro boxing outing met fellow MMA stylist Sam Chan, who’s making his pro boxing debut.

Chan has been away from competitive combat sports and was a huge underdog for this fight as Keng Fai's first two pro outing was with impressive KO victories. But Chan managed to beat the odds by putting up a fight, he kept coming back after each massive blows that knocks him down.

Despite the resilience of Chan, he failed to answer to the referee’s count after he was dropped with Keng Fai’s signature liver shot at 2 seconds shy of the end of Round 3.

Keng Fai is a real fighting machine. A day before this boxing bout, he still got into the MMA cage for MIMMA 5 league, winning the fight with rear naked choke.

Sam Chan eating punches from Keng Fai  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

 The smiling assasin ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

SEA Games boxing veteran, Eddey Kalai made his pro debut against American Jonathan Clemons . Clemons, unofficially has at least 3 professional bouts previously so he’s being recorded as being a pro debut as well by WBC.

Kalai was taunting his opponent with smiles and flashy dodges which didn’t deter Clemons for a knock down and Kalai responded with a knockdown of his own. The back and forth last throughout the whole 4 rounds but in the end Clemons hands was raised, although there was a short-lived smile by Eddey as ring announcer made a blunder of announcing him as the victor in the initially.
Clemons won the bout via Split Decision.

Jonathan rockin' the ring with his Apollo Creed boxing shorts  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

Jonathan receiving his trophy from Datuk Nazifuddin accompany by BoxRanx Vice President AK Salvador

In the WBC Cruiserweight category between Bukit Aman Boxing Association's Mohd Hanafi and Sarawakian Stephen Onn Jenggieng. Hanafi being the headhunter has been charging Stephen’s head while stalky Stephen was not intimidated as he charged towards Hanafi. Soon, at after 2:40 in Round 3, the ref stop the fight and Stephen was declared the winner via TKO.

Representing Vladimir Boxing, Stephen now also trains at Rebel Fitness in Kuching.

Nothing stops the Headhunter from Sarawak ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

Stephen's compatriot from Sarawak, Daeloniel McDelon Bong faced Jackson Lee Jackson whom usually fought amatuer MMA was on his pro boxing debut. He darted in and out and circle around with karate like stance, but Daeloniel with orthodox stance kept it calm and compose and was able to land shots. Daeloniel secured his 3rd pro fight via unanimous decision win.

Delon, as he is fondly called mentioned that he will always wear his Baju Burung (a vest with Dayak motifs). He explained that the vest is wear by Dayak warriors in the pass and he wants to showcase this and wants to live the spirit of his warrior ancestor in his heart whenever he steps into the ring. Delon will not rest much after this win as in end of July he will take on another match in Indonesia.

Delon: "where you runnin' to?" ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven ) 

Delon (L) wit his coach Fred Madangi & Stephen (R) - Picture credit Ghaz Ghazali

Asia busiest fighter, Will Chope fought in bout 5. His initial opponent of Rudy Petrus was replaced by Alfred Leko. The last minute replacement did nothing to throw off Will's game. His lanky frame and great reach managed to give Alfred lots of trouble. Alfred being the more muscular frame could not close the distance to connect much shots.

Will took the win via TKO in round 2.

Alfred trying his best to connect  ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

Sabahan Lesley Dulamit pro debut started well in the early round 1, connecting with a hard straight left and he rushed in with another shots that backed Gerald to the ropes, but Gerald countered and drops Lesley, in the scuffle, a downward strike hit the back of Lesley's head and the ref breaks the two apart.

After the restart, Lesley rushes in again, Gerald countered and got Lesley on one knee but he swiftly got back up and continue to exchange but the ref came and break, as Lesley walk to the red corner, the ref oddly gave him a standing count. 

Moments later, it was Gerald's turn on the offensive delivering flurry of shots and dropped Lesley, ref gave count but Lesley didn't recover.

Lesley got caught rushing in ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven )

The main event saw the WBC OPBF Featherweight Silver Championship Bout between Pinoy boxer Carlo Magali (21 Wins, 9 Losses, 10 Wins via KO) and Indian national Sandeep Balhara (4 Wins, 0 Losses, 3 KO) battled their way with a lot of back and forth for the vacant Championship Title. Magali managed to put a stop to Balhara’s perfect record in the 10th Round with a TKO victory.

Magali victorious, hands raised by OPBF & ISUZU officials ( pic credit to David Ash of Singapore Maven ) 

President of OPBF, Juan Ramon R. Guanzon said
“It is a great honour to welcome and support the Malaysian WBC association to the big league” 
during his speech right before the main event.

Boxing fans at home were treated with live streaming in Facebook. In a last minute impromptu arrangement by Jack Low of BoxRanx, he managed to get Jon Nutt, the well known emcee / announcer for MIMMA & founder of Full Metal Dojo, to be the commentator.

According to Jack, they are planning for more shows in Malaysia, with probably a few smaller events to help grow the talent pool and get the interest growing and build it up towards a bigger show.

He also mentioned that crowd response was better than expected. He thanked all the boxing and fight fans that supported the show. And the support of sponsors from big brands such as ISUZU, EVERLAST, JOHNSON FITNESS and MONSTER that truly made it a historic night for Malaysian Boxing.

BoxRanx partnership with the Health, Fitness & Beauty Expo requires them to work in a very tight timeline which leave them much time to market the event. But from the learning this time, he promise that BoxRanx will progress forward and improve on upcoming shows.

Raymond Lew the president and founder of Boxranx, also the  President of WBC Malaysia is the person instrumental in making this historic event a reality in Malaysia.
" I wish with the existence of WBC Malaysia, it would revive the interest of the public towards the sport of boxing, at the same time serve as a legitimate & sanctioned platform for the local boxers to step up their game and eventually bring their skills to the international level" : Raymond Lew

Raymond Lew - President of WBC Malaysia

Warriors of Borneo hope this WBC event will be the dawn of a new era for Malaysian boxing, not only in terms of having better boxing events but also to be able to develop local boxers to excel as a pro.

" Majulah Sukan Untuk Negara "

Get to Know Your Local Fighter: LESLEY DULAMIT

If you are on the way from Kota Kinabalu to Mt. Kinabalu national park in Sabah, you will pass by the town of Tamparuli. A quaint town of mostly Dusuns population with lots of greenery & beautiful hills surrounding the town. This is also where Team Karabaw Tamparuli gym is located.

Team Karabaw is a local Sabah martial arts & fitness gym founded by Sensei Rayner Kinsiong, ex national karateka & MMA athlete. Team Karabaw has 6 branches in Sabah namely KK, Papar, Keningau, Sipitang, Putatan and Tamparuli.

The Tamparuli branch is led by ex state karateka and also MIMMA alumni, coach Vallerio Gumbilai.
This is also the gym where Lesley Dulamit is training at.

Lesley or fondly known as Guguh by his friends will be among the first few Sabahan debuting as a pro boxer in the much anticipated BoxRanx WBC BoxingFest this 9 July at Midvalley Megamal Convention Center ( read about the pre event write up here ).

Weigh in done, time for war!

Let's get to know Guguh.

Originally from Tuaran, a town 10km away from Tamparuli, his martial arts journey began at 13 when he picked up TaeKwon-Do. This gave him a good foundation but he did not participated in tournament, instead he took part in Track & Field competiitons.

3 years ago, from his late uncle Jay Banding's encouragement, Lesley picked up Boxing by joining TUBA ( Team Tuaran Boxing ). Uncle Jay was an important figure in shaping Lesley's mind and heart as he always gave him support and motivation.

One of his sweetest memories in Boxing was winning the Gold medal in 2015 President Cup.

Lesley (middle in yellow) with Tuaran Boxing Team (TUBA)

Lesley (R) winning bronze medal in his first boxing match in Ranau.  Here with his late uncle Jay Banding (L) and his best friend since childhood Dexter Ales (middle)

Winning Gold in the 2015 President Cup

To further sharpen his skills and keeping himself active, Lesley joined Team Karabaw Tamparuli. He was one of the pioneering students under Coach by Vallerio Gumbilai. Vallerio began to expose and train him in other martial arts, such as Muaythai and grappling.

Team Karabaw sent a huge team to the MIMMA3 tryout in KK in 2015, to expose their students and newcomer to MMA. Lesley was one of them. This exposure gave Lesley a good taste of many aspect of martial arts and also to learn to be composed under pressure as judges eyes are constantly on you.

Lesley (2nd from left) with his brother Ashley (3rd from left) flanked by The Kalai Brothers

In MIMMA3 tryouts

It wasn't his time yet for MMA as he wasn't selected for MIMMA3. To quench his urge for fights, Coach Vallerio enrolled him in Muaythai competition organised by the Youth & Sports Ministry and it proofed to be good investment as Lesley brought back a silver medal.

Victorious in his Muaythai debut

with his brother Ashley Dulamit

Lesley trains regularly but an injury causes him to slow down. After it healed and couple with good conditioning work, Lesley was back to training. In 2016 he again took part in MIMMA4 tryout in KK.

This time he was paired with Muhammad Hasbullah, the 2015 Jesselton Fight League Bantamweight Champion and also his Team Karabaw team mate from Team Karabaw Keningau. Hasbullah brought out the best in Lesley and Lesley was able this time to convinced the judges to select him.

At MIMMA4 tryouts vs Hasbullah

He progressed to the ladder match won it by rear naked choke but lost to fellow Sabahan Joel Nickolson in the quarter-finals.

This year he put his focus on Boxing and began training when he got fight confirmation for WBC Boxing Fest. It's definitely a dream come true for a boxer to compete in a WBC sanctioned event, let alone debuting as a pro.

As head coach, Vallerio began planning carefully for Lesley's training program. Regular sparring session was done with the Tuaran Boxing Team, sparring with Team Karabaw Tamparuli seasoned fighters; lots of pad sessions with Dylon Gumbilai and once a week Team Karabaw head Boxing coach, Ryandell Joe Kitingan will work with Lesley on tactical game plan.

Lesley with Vallerio (R) with Kent Tham (2nd from left) and Ryandell J. Kitingan (L)

with padmaster Dylon Gumbilai

with Team Karabaw Tamparuli

Debuting as a pro this Sunday, Lesley's will be facing another pro debutante, Gerald Salvador. This is a change from his initial opponent, Yuvant Mitadevar. This does not throw off their planning. As Vallerio pointed out that they prepared Lesley to face any opponent. Focusing on Lesley's strength rather than his opponent's style.

Vallerio has been a pillar of strength for Lesley. Lesley has the utmost respect for him. To Lesley, Vallerio is a great charismatic coach that provide him and his team mates plenty of motivation and encouragement.

After each hard session of training, Vallerio always ends it with team briefing and some morale boosting words. This is an important aspect of the fight game where mental preparation is as crucial as the physical part.

Vallerio Gumbilai, Team Karabaw Tamparuli head coach

Most fighters chooses a high tempo and fast music to boost their mood for training. Lots of the time young newbies full of raging adrenaline always goes into a fight with all guns swinging early on but looses steam half-way through the fight. Lesley's way of dealing with this is Raggae music.
He would immerse himself in Raggae and R&B music, during training and before he sleeps. Lesley felt that this type of music calms him down and enable him to think better during fights.

For leisure when he is not in hard training, Lesley love fishing. Rain or shine if the weekend comes he will filled his time fishing. Lesley said fishing teaches him patience and it's also a time for him to do some catch up and strengthen his relationship with his younger brother and girlfriend.

Foodwise, being a genuine Tuaran boy, definitely the famous fried Tuaran noodle ( a locally produce eggy noodle ) is on top of Lesley's  all time favorite.

Accompanying him in this weekend WBC Boxing Fest will be his Karabaw Team mate Tham Yaw Kent, whom will fight semi-pro today.

Lesley (R) at KK Int Airport leaving to KL for WBC Boxing Fest with Ryandell (Middle) and Kent Tham (L)

Lesley vs Gerald will be the 1st pro bout on 9 July 2017

Kent debut in hi semi-pro boxing on 8 July 2017

Warriors of Borneo wishes Lesley Dulamit and Team Karabaw a successful outing this weekend.