Congratulations to 17-year-old Ryan Meredith from Pro Taekwon London on successfully winning the ISKA Kickboxing Southern Area Title at 60kg! Ryan put on an outstanding performance over 5 x 2-minute rounds against a heavier and aggressive opponent in Taylor Rogers of BKA Kickboxing in Braintree.

Round 1 and it was clear both fighters were looking to use it to feel each other out and to work out the distance, only a burst of work towards the end of the round tipped the scores in Meredith’s favour.

Round 2 opened with a far more aggressive start from Rogers, it was clear he had been instructed to force
the pace and take the fight to Meredith throwing heavy hand and roughing him up against the ropes! A round for Rogers and bloodied nose for Meredith!

Rogers, just like the round previous started very aggressively, only this time, the ring craft and superior
skills were showcased by Meredith forcing Rogers to walk on to a variety of shots, the most eye-catching being a big side kick that landed cleanly to the face of Rogers causing a heavy nose bleed! Meredith returns to the corner another rounds up and with a newfound confidence.

After a quick check from the doctor, Rogers was cleared to continue into the championship rounds despite
the damaged inflicted to his nose by Meredith. Round 4 and the fight was certainly not yet in the bag for Meredith. Rogers continued to press forward and rough up Meredith at any given opportunity. However, the standout work for sure come from Meredith with his quality footwork and devastatingly fast Taekwon-do style lead leg side kick!

The fifth and final round and boy was it spectator friendly! Rogers, with everything to fight for launched a desperate attack to try and force a stoppage win over Meredith! Unfortunately for Rogers this played right into Meredith’s favour allowing him to display his Taekwon-do skills, landing all sorts of techniques rarely seen in full contact kickboxing. The final bell sounds and Meredith raises his hands, confident that he has got the victory! This was confirmed when the judges score caused revealed a unanimous win in Meredith’s favour and he was awarded the title belt!

Exhausted yet oozing with confidence Meredith can now focus solely on his next challenge of winning the ITF European Taekwon-do championships in Cork, Ireland the following week!