World champion kickboxer willing to go the distance

GALWAY kickboxer Paul Huish insists he does not care who he fights next after he accounted for Dutch Thai Boxing specialist Dwane Panka from Amsterdam to secure the vacant IKF World Lightweight K-1 title at a packed Clayton Hotel on Saturday night.

Huish, fighting out of Pete Foley’s Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing Club, took the victory on points ahead of his teak tough Dutch opponent who had a sizeable reach over the 5ft6’ Knocknacarra man. Huish had to use all his experience and guile to get behind the visitor’s defence.

“He was a bit taller but, then again, everyone is taller than me,” laughs Huish, who had dropped down to 60kg to challenge for the World title in what was also his 50th competitive fight. “That was the first time in 10 years I had fought at that weight.

“Usually when I am fighting someone heavier they are always taller so I was used to it. So, I have to stay close to everyone I fight but I am very flexible anyway so I can kick most people in the head!” he remarks.

As expected, there was nothing easy about Saturday night’s World title fight. His opponent Panka, how hails from the renowned Mejiro gym in Amsterdam, arrived in very good shape and caused Huish problems throughout the contest.

“He hit me with a body shot in the first round and it winded me. I thought he was going to keep going with that but he didn’t realise that he hurt me. And I didn’t let him know. In the second round, he hurt me with punches to the head.

“I was just kicking for the first two rounds but then Pete (Foley) told me to let my hands go a bit more. So, coming into the third round, he thought that I could just kick but then I started to box and when he was in close I started to trip him up and throw him to the floor as well. That put him off.

“So, any time the guy came in on top of me, I caught him with a kick. It wasn’t even hard. It was just to keep him away but he kept diving into the same kick over and over. I was frustrating him and, by the end of it, I could hear his corner shouting to finish the fight. He had to knock me out. I knew then I was ahead.”

The victory marks a remarkable couple of years for Huish. A former All-Ireland junior kickboxer, the 26-year-old has claimed multiple Irish titles in the various kickboxing disciplines and has the distinction of being the first person in this country to win national titles in four different disciplines.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.