The Hellenic Muaythai Federation met with great success following the Ionian Muaythai Tournament “Battle of the Titans” between Hellas and England, in the famous island of Corfu. The fights took place in Sidari village, one of the most popular tourist destinations on the island. Due to bad weather (heavy rain) the event didn’t take place on the seas shore as planned, but inside the village in Olympia Palace. The venue was full of spectators, with over 1000 people, both Greek and foreign cheering on. Most of the foreigners were English tourists on the island that came to support their fighters. The Greek fighters, members of the Greek National Team included: Mouzakitis George, Mouzakiti Emilia, Christodoulou Stratos, Michailidis Athinodoros, Pagidas Dimitrios. On the opposition, the National British Team were represented by the following athletes :Danny Hendle, Amanda Helly, Tom Berrington, Mason Harris and Stephen Hunt. The fights were held according to the rules and regulations of the World Governing Body of Muaythai, IFMA, and most of the fighters brought along their IFMA boxer book, as they had fought in previous IFMA World and European Championships. Each fight was 4 rounds, 2 minutes each, wearing all the protective equipment, except of the junior fight, which had 3 rounds two minute each. The juniors, both 10 years old, were the first fight of the event, with the Greek fighter taking the win. The second fight was a female fight in the weight division of – 60kg. Amanda Helly was in the red corner facing Mouzakiti Emilia in the blue corner. Both athletes did their best, and the British fighter managed to come out on top. The next fight was in the male 63.5kg., with the British Champion Tom Berrington in the red corner, an experienced fighter having participated in many IFMA world and international championships. In the blue corner representing Greece was Christodoulou Stratos, national champion and bronze medalist of 2004. The spectacular fight ended with the Greek fighter winning by point decision. The penultimate fight was more or less the same. Two experienced fighters faced each other in the ring, in the -67kg. In the red corner from England was Mason Harris national champion, medalist in a previous world championship, faced Michailidis Athinodoros in the blue corner national champion and 5th place in the world championship of 2005. The fight was a true “battle of the Titans” with the Greek fighter winning the fight on points. In the last fight of the event, in the heavy weight division -81kg, Stephen Hunt in the red corner faced Pagidas Dimitrios in the blue corner. Both of them did their best with the Greek fighter taking the championship. Officiating all the fights was 6-time World Champion in muaythai, san shou and boxing, Avramidou Maria. The Ionian Muaythai Tournament was a great test of heart and skill for all the participants for the upcoming World Championship 2009 in Bangkok Thailand. Source: http://www.ifmamuaythai.org/HTML/09_0922_Titans.html
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