Doing things the easy and simple way is just not Joe Greenhalgh's style. And that ambitious, over the top style is exactly what has everyone talking about the New England Open martial arts tournament. Greenhalgh took over the event in 2007 and set a new standard with an outrageous night show, new divisions and lots of new ideas. It was another successful year in 2008 over the weekend of May 30-31 in Marlborough, Massachusetts as Greenhalgh added new features and attracted new competitors that made the event more over-the-top than ever before.
The most exciting part of the event was the attendance of a slew of competitors from Europe who brought a new level to the competition. Greenhalgh's ambition was matched by the desire of the European fighters who fought hard and with heart. The stand out from the group was 19-year-old Zsolt Moradi of Hungary. Moradi fought his way through a tough light middleweight division, defeating Alex Lane to take first, then defeated Jason Grenier of Canada for the middleweight grand championship. Next up was a scrappy Joe Fife, the winner of the men's lightweight grand championship. Moradi had no problem with Fife, defeating him by a 7-0 margin. The next hurdle for the men's grand championship was the always intimidating Raymond Daniels. Daniels, with countless grand championship wins, a full contact and World Combat League career and one of the most impressive fighting records in sport karate history certainly made Moradi gulp with nervousness but Moradi squared up and entered the ring ready to fight.
The Moradi versus Daniels match was one for the history books. Daniels was slow to start, perhaps not taking the Hungarian kid seriously but Moradi was deeply focused and ready for anything that Daniels threw. Defensive side kicks helped Moradi get a 6-2 lead with only 20 seconds left in the match. Daniels realized that he was actually facing a potential loss and started to go to work, scoring three fast blitzes to come within one point. Daniels launched a final attack that drove Moradi out of the ring just prior to the buzzer and an argument broke out when the scorekeeper threw in the time marker as the fighters walked back to their lines. After much discussion, one second was placed back on the clock and when fighting resumed, Moradi was able to avoid Daniels' last ditch blitz to win the coveted men's grand championship title. His teammates hoisted him up in the air, singing songs and celebrating this impressive win.
It was the USA all the way in most of the other fighting events at the New England Open. Returning for 2008 were the men's and women's superfights and men's team sparring divisions. New events were an international team sparring division that required each team to provide four men and one women for fighting. In men's team sparring, a whopping fourteen teams entered. Team All Stars, made up of Carlos Tearney, Leo Valdivia and Raymond Daniels eliminated the number one team - Paul Mitchell in a semi-final round despite Paul Mitchell's early 7-0 lead. Another huge lead of 6-0 was lost by Straight Up's Shane Baker, Damian Rodriguez and Joe Fife as Team All Stars came back to win 9-6 after Daniels' 7-0 defeat of Fife.
In the other bracket, Team WKF was back with Victor Suarez, Raymond Mendoza, Andrys Christopher and BJ Carnahan. WKF eliminated Victory's Willie Hicks, El Java Abdul-Qadir and Troy Binns first, then Team SAP A consisting of Zsolt Moradi, Morton Spissoy and Nicos Memmos next. SAP A did everyone favor in an earlier round by eliminating the Quebec Open men's team sparring champions of Wasuru Gold - Hector Santiago, Niko Negron and Jason Grenier. The final fight was between WKF and All Stars. Leo Valdivia and Andrys Christopher showed it would be a good match up ending with a 4-4 tie in the first fight. Carlos Tearney pulled All Stars ahead with a 3-0 defeat of Raymond Mendoza. In the final fight, BJ Carnahan couldn't talk himself out of the 3-0 win by Daniels. It was All Stars who would be crowned the victors.
The lightweight superfighters get the prize for most hard hitting and exciting matches for two years in a row. When the bell rang for the lightweights it was ON! As usual Chris Walker took great delight in punching the daylights out of his opponents, providing footage that will make for a sampler of epic proportions. Jason Holmes actually opened up the onslaught with some devastating shots on Ilija Salerno of Ireland. Although Hungarians Zsolt Moradi and Laszlo Gombos both won their first matches, they bowed out in the next round indicating they were not comfortable with the combat level. Shane Lynch of Ireland didn't back down however and ended up in a marathon match with Willie Hicks. Since you had to win by two points to advance, when the bell rang and the score was tied 4-4, the match continued in overtime. The judges were only prepared to call clean points and Lynch and Hicks were nearly too exhausted to even stand up as they exchanged points back and forth. Finally, Lynch managed to score a clean punch and knock Hicks down which resulted in two points to Lynch and the win. Lynch advanced to the finals. Chris Walker also advanced to the finals after a nice match with Jason Holmes that ended with Walker up 6-4.
For the heavyweights, Raymond Daniels did what he does best by plowing through his field of opponents having no problems eliminating Travis Plowden and El Java Abdul Qadir. Ross Levine was the other heavyweight to advance through the field after big wins over BJ Carnahan and Andrys Christopher. The two would first meet later during the day in the men's sparring grand championships for the heavyweight grands. In that match up Daniels launched and landed a beautiful spin kick that likely broke Levine's nose and sent Levine reeling. However, Levine would have one more chance against Daniels in the finals in the superfight championships.
Greenhalgh's new International team sparring division attracted nine teams and involved a whole lot more fighting. Although this division was developed specifically to attract the European fighters, it was two United States teams that ended up going into the finals. Team All Stars knocked out Straight Up and Team Wasuru to advance. Team Paul Mitchell eliminated Team Victory and Team AMA. The Paul Mitchell advancement was hard fought but included some controversy. Remember that the New England Open involved more sparring divisions than seen in a long time which meant that the SportMartialArts.com crew worked extra hard and was incredibly hungry by the time the International team sparring division began. In the AMA match up, Damon "Black Demon" Gilbert landed a punch that knocked Bobby Wallace out of the ring and right into the pizza box with the last piece for the SportMartialArts.com crew. Wallace hit his head on a chair and knocked himself out while the final pizza slice went flying. Eventually Wallace was pulled from the match by the medic and should be okay after some time out but Gilbert still owes us a pizza!
It wasn't all fighting at New England Open - there were a lot of forms and weapons performances too. Team AKA was out in full force with competitors we haven't seen for awhile in attendance - Seth Austin, Luke Broadlick, Evan Kay, Dayna Huor and Brendon Huor all made appearances. But what really made New England Open unique was the introduction of Superforms. This interesting concoction was invented by, of course, Joe Greenhalgh. Competitors basically spun a wheel to determine what type of routine to perform - creative forms or weapons, soft style, extreme, traditional - and then had to perform in that discipline. Highlights from the competition - Chris Walker performing soft style and Marc Canonizado with a three-sectional staff! In the end, Brendon Huor moved on to the finals for Superforms with little Samantha Smith as his opponent.
The Finals
A standard finals set up is not something that interests promoter Joe Greenhalgh in the least. He wants a finals full of entertainment that is an actual SHOW. In 2007 he set the standard with comedy routines, dance numbers and even an MC so he was definitely working to improve for 2008. His areas for improvement were on shortening the finals and bringing back the most exciting people from 2007!
Vince Johnson was show MC again and he opened with a sassy little music number that had him shaking his skinny behind all over the stage. Before the lip synch by Vince, the Fat Man from Japan was back as Joey Greenhalgh brought the humor to the show by trying to ride a miniature bike over a jump in an attempt to "jump over the stage". A cape and goggles would have completed his outfit as he managed to roll around the stage to the delight of the crowd. And Team Straight Up provided a multi-faceted opening demonstration that included hip hop kamas with Dre Rice and Marc Canonizado, traditional forms and some feats of strength by Sammy Vasquez. Billy Ledger donned a black suit with glowing lights to spin his bo around in complete darkness - it was like being at a Cirque du Soleil performance. The evening included dance numbers from Movement Specialists and Fusion II as well.
Instead of full junior grand championship competition, the New England Open highlighted the junior overall grand champions with performances and awards. Caitlin Dechelle took her first turn on the stage as the 14-17 year old weapons grand champion. Her extreme sword form was quite intense and the crowd cheered her on as she won her second title at this event in two years. In the 13 and under forms performance, Austin Crain showed off his clean moves with an extreme form. He stuck his stances and showed off some incredible moves before accepting his grand championship award.
Dechelle was back again later in the night to claim the 14-17 forms grand champion title. Again she was all over the stage with her extreme performance showing off her skills. Even though he is only 12 years old, Ryan Wells displays the intensity of a well-seasoned competitor. He was the 13 and under weapons grand champion and his traditional bo form was solid as a rock.
Adult forms and weapons were highlighted as well. The adult weapons grand championship was run during the daytime eliminations and the winner, Marc Canonizado, had a chance to show his stuff on the stage. He flashed his kamas around the stage and got the crowd into his performance before accepting his award and money. Another demonstration came from Andrew Cabilan who won the 30 and over adult weapons grand championship. He performed a traditional oar routine for the audience.
The men and women had a chance to compete and be judged in the forms grand championship. Lauren Kearney's intense traditional performance defeated the extreme routine of Krystle Retamoza who made a rare appearance. For the men's forms grand championship, it was lots of extreme and some traditional with Marc Canonizado, Steve Terada, Scott Wu and Matt Emig in the mix. Emig was working for a third grand championship title in the year to cut his 2008 goal down from 10 to seven and he was able to do it. He was all smiles as he received his award.
The Superforms finalists were also highlighted on stage. Brendon Huor spun the Superforms wheel first and had to perform a creative form. His poor opponent Samantha Smith rolled soft style weapons and was handed a broad sword for her final performance. Soft style is Huor's specialty and he looked on with amusement as Smith put on a passable sword routine. It was quite good considering she had no real experience in the discipline and she is only 10 years old! In the end, the judges preferred Huor as he became the first Superforms champion ever.
Team AKA cleaned up in synchronized teams and demo team with Brendon Huor and Luke Broadlick winning for synch and the entire group of men and boys on the team winning demo team. Then, the whole group came back, adults and kids, for a nice karate and a dance number to entertain the crowd.
The forms and weapons and demo routines were fine and dandy but the New England Open definitely has a fighting vibe to it - with as many fighting categories as it did, what did you expect? The fighting started with a continuous sparring match between junior boys Justin Ortiz and John Chiaradio. They both were hitting and relying mostly on hand techniques but it was Ortiz who was the most aggressive which was reflected in the judges' unanimous decision in his favor.
The adult superfight finals were punch-crazy. For the women, Nancy Price and Claire Cocozza faced off. Cocozza had already won the women's point sparring grand championship during the daytime eliminations and had even fought Price during the semi-finals for that competition. This time Price was defending her 2007 Superfights title and was not going to back down easily. Price is a scrapper and had strong punches but Cocozza was just too tall for Price and Price could not get past Cocozza's legs. Cocozza may appear nonchalant but when it comes to the money-match, she steps it up and gets the job done. Round two between these women ended with a Cocozza side kick to Price's face and a final score of 12-7 in favor of Cocozza as she proved she is the woman to beat at this point in the season.
The lightweight men's superfights brought Chris Walker to the stage. Walker lost in superfights in 2007 to Hamed Firouzi and he was back one more time and looking for a win. He faced Ireland's Shane Lynch. Both fighters are aggressive and Walker certainly likes to hit hard. Partway through the first round, Walker caught a kick to the throat that stopped him for a bit. Once he got his breath back, the fight resumed and it stayed plenty close. Lynch never backed down and matched Walker point for point until the very end when Walker was able to get up by two points and stay ahead to finish with a 12-10 score and his first superfights win.
In the heavyweight superfights match for the men, Ross Levine was looking to avenge his loss to Raymond Daniels in the men's heavyweight point sparring grand championship. The match started with Levine looking strong and looking like he might be able to pull off a win when the first round ended with Levine up by 1 point. In the second round, tragedy struck as Levine's face mask suddenly filled up with blood. He had been injured by the mask and his chin was a bloody mess. The fight had to stop and the medic attempted to stop the blood flow. The fight resumed and Daniels scored two unanswered points but it had to stop again when Levine again started to bleed. This time the medic put on more of a bandage and the fight resumed but Levine had lost his momentum as Daniels scored all the points needed to win and get the superfights' title.
The International Team Sparring championship finished the New England Open finals. Team All Stars faced Team Paul Mitchell to see who would leave with the title. The women fought first as Regina Thompson of Team All Stars faced Nicole Pelland representing Team Paul Mitchell. Pelland has been steadily improving and fought strong against Thompson but Thompson was able to get All Stars into a healthy opening lead with a 6-1 win. All Stars then put Leo Valdivia into the ring and he faced Travis Plowden of Team Paul Mitchell. Plowden opened with 3 unanswered points and Valdivia was never able to get his rhythm which brought Paul Mitchell within 2 points as the score moved to 6-4 in favor Team All Stars. Chris Walker had already shown he was ready to bring the heat in the superfights and he stepped into the ring next to face the long and lean Alex Lane of Paul Mitchell. Walker responded to the 3-0 routing by Plowden with his own 3-0 win over Lane to give Team All Stars the big advantage once again, finishing with a 9-4 team score.
Paul Mitchell next handed the reigns to Elias Lemon to work on a come back. Lemon faced Carlos Tearney. Tearney can be on the ball or totally lose it all at times but this round, he kept his head in it despite Lemon scoring four points. Tearney managed his own two points to assure a 3-point lead for Paul Mitchell going into the final round.
In the final round it was Raymond Daniels working to hold onto a lead as he faced Damon Gilbert of Team Paul Mitchell. It was all on the shoulders of the Demon and he was ready to win. Gilbert didn't back down in the least and was not all intimidated by Daniels' style. Daniels got the first point but Gilbert kept the match even throughout, but this was not enough since Paul Mitchell needed a three point win by Gilbert. It was not to be as the bell rang before Gilbert could complete his task. He managed to outscore Daniels with a 3-2 final point tally but the All Stars were still up by two points to finish with a final 13-11 score. A disappointed Gilbert watched the All Stars celebrate their win.
After the finals, it was back to the hotel for a party and to chat with friends in the bar. This reporter actually overhead people saying they felt that the judging at the New England Open was fair overall and everyone seemed to have a great time at the event. It's rare these days to hear such unsolicited compliments from competitors and parents. Since Joe Greenhalgh is always coming up with new ideas and is ready to try and make them work, who knows what will be in store for 2009 - but you can bet it will be exciting!
