Despite a winning display by the men's world champion, two women kickboxers had the most spectacular bout of the W5 Fighter tournament in Moscow. Kickboxing fans witnessed a treat at the seventh edition of the international W5 Fighter series.
In the first of the night's three main events, Russia’s Natalia Diachkova topped Slovakian Kristina Landtnerova on a point decision, despite fighting at what she said was less than her best.
“I wasn't really focused on the fight so I didn’t really push my limits,” Diachkova said. “I think I performed about 50 to 80 percent of what I can do. I'm not very happy about it. The coach told me what to do but, for whatever reason, I just didn't. I just panicked, because I didn’t start the fight the way I was planning to, and I just lost focus.”World and European Muay Thai Champion Ekaterina Vanderieva stole the limelight, proving her dominance against fellow Slovakian Mihaela Bonchakova.
The Belarusian was in control from the start, but despite heavy pressure Bonchakova managed to hold on until the end. Vanderieva won all three rounds on the score card, adding yet another victory to her name.
“It's really hard because I'm strictly a Muay Thai fighter,” she said. “That's where I have claimed all my world and European winning records but, in this fight, I couldn't use my elbows or the kicks that I'm used to. I used the last three weeks to completely revise my tactics. Overall, it worked out, but it's only the beginning, and there's still a lot of work to do.”In the final fight of the night, former world champion Vladislav Koshel blitzed Netherlander Leandro Tam of the Netherlands. Tam was saved by the bell in the first round, but the Ukrainian finished him off early in the second.“In the first round, I felt that he was scared, so I started to pick on him,” Koshel explained. “And also he didn't keep his arms up high enough. I noticed that he does this when I watched videos of his fights, so I focused on this and it seems to have worked out.”
Russia seems to be a lucky place for the 20-year-old fighter, who claimed his second confident win in as many visits to the country.