No professional fighter starts out as a professional. Every fighter on the face of the earth was once an amateur. To find out what’s available for an amateur fighter in Montreal, we went to Club Kozak in Verdun. Club Kozak holds regular amateur pancrace fights for martial arts enthusiasts who want to take their game to the next level.
For those who are unfamiliar, pancrace is an old style of fighting that originated in Greece. These days pancrace is MMA with some restrictions on closed fist punching to the face. The rules vary from country to country. It’s a great way for amateur fighters to test their metal.
Club Kozak is a small martial arts school. However they provided a good ring for the fight. The match was conducted professionally and fairly with two judges and a referee.
The fight was two three minute rounds with a one minute break.
For this fight we followed Justin Etheridge, a fighter from H2O MMA. Justin dominated the fight and had an answer for everything his opponent could dish out. We spoke with Justin’s coach Richard Ho about why his performance was so strong. Richard told us that he trained Justin as if this were a big time professional event. This may seem simple but in terms of training it can be a real nightmare for a fighter. It means several hours of training in stand up and ground technique, as well as physical conditioning, every day, for several months. It means learning to listen to your coaches in order to implement a game plan.
The bottom line is, to be a successful amateur fighter you have to train like a professional.
Feel free to watch highlights of the fight and interview here:
Amatuer Pancrace Fight Featuring Team H2O
Comments
Just to clear confusion, Pancrase is an MMA organization in JAPAN. Pankration is the martial art originated from Greece.
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