Offaly kickboxing coach becomes first WKO Veterans national champion

BIRR k-1 kickboxing club travelled to Ardmore County Waterford and made history again as Raphael Creamer, Head coach and 2nd degree black, won the WKO veterans k-1 kickboxing Irish title.

Birr had four fighters, including head coach Raphael Creamer, Sean Cooke, Alan Ginson and Sean Agbenisi, competing on Gloves & Glory 8, a sanctioned WKO kickboxing event held annually in around April of each year.

First up was Sean Cooke in a demonstration fight against Leon Dorron for 2x2minutes of high quality action. Both fighters hands were raised and the fight declared a draw.

Next up was Alan Ginson in a super tough fight against Eamon Markham, the current double Irish champion in full contact and low kick kickboxing, in a sanctioned non title fight. This was a great fight and proves Alan belongs with the best in the business. Alan had his moments and gave the champion a tough and competitive fight and definitely had Eamon under pressure at times. Eamon won a unanimous decision after 3x2 minutes of very competitive kickboxing.

And with a performance like Alan showed in the ring he will be challenging for an Irish title by 2026.

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Sean Agbenisi made his full contact debut for Birr in a low kick style kickboxing heavyweight bout. And wow what a fight.

Round 1 saw huge bombs coming from Sean Agbenisi and had his opponent badly hurt and looking like a stoppage was on the cards. But Matty used his experience and saw out the round.

Round 2 started at a high pace again for two big men. Sean began to tire slightly and Matty upped the pace and Sean hung in there.

Round 3 had the packed community hall had the roof lifting off of the rafters with the support both fighters were getting. It was a back and forth final round and by the end Matty Mikols won a very close and hugely entertaining fight.

Both fighter were awarded fight of the night later on in the show and were presented with their trophies in the ring, both fighters receiving a thundering applause from the supporters.

Raphael Creamer was the main event and the last fight of the night. This was a huge honour and privilege and with the added pressure of coaching three fighters during the night and then having only three fights to prepare for his biggest fight of his life against Joe Iron-man Hart.

Joe is a super fit man who regularly takes part in triathlons and Iron Man events and cycled over 2,600 kms at the beginning of January, along with his regular kickboxing classes, to be in the best shape of his life coming into this Irish title fight.

Raphael started back training properly for his title challenge on St Stephen's Day with a tough 90 minute session followed by a 5km run. Training didn't run as smoothly as he would have hoped going forward.

A new baby with his fantastic partner Roisin Dowling was the 5th newest family addition to the Creamer household and put a stop for a few weeks of hard training. A close friend Thomas Conneely's wedding was attended and another close friend's child's confirmation was attended but good discipline was demonstrated for the most part by Raphael at those special occasions.

A few niggles came at him during training and sustaining a minor injury on fight week was a very challenging moment physically and mentally.

Joe was first to enter the ring in and Raphael followed to a packed community hall on a sunny Saturday in Ardmore, County Waterford.

Raphael was supported by 40 plus friends and club members travelling from Birr. This was 200 mile round trip and will never be forgotten.

Right from the off in Round 1 Joe was going for big leg kicks and big right hands. Raphael weatherd the early storm covered up when needed and did not get caught with the big shots and used the space in the ring and controlled distance and got the cleaner scores in and knocked out his opponent's mouthpiece and won a good close round.

Round 2 was more of the same with big shots coming from Joe. Raphael would cover up or slip the shots and counter with simple 1-2s and good front kicks. He used good uppercuts and hooks in close to let Joe know Raphael was here to fight. Joe lost his mouthpiece again, while unfortunately Raphael received an injury to his chest at the end of round 2.

Round 3 was a smarter round from Raphael, good footwork was used along with flurries of combos to rack up the points followed by good head movement. This frustrated Joe as he knew he was down another round. Raphael knocked Joe's mouthpiece out again and the referee let the fight continue without it to the end of the round and gave Joe an official warning.

At the very start of Round 4 Joe pushed a high pace and was putting everything into his shots. This left slight openings for the Birr man to capitalise and return with sharp combos which did catch the judges' eyes and he knocked out Joe's mouthpiece again and received a -1 point from the referee. Raphael won another good round.

In Round 5, Raphael used the ring very well and evaded most of Joe's big powerfull shots as he knew he needed a knockout to win the title. Raphael used good leg kicks and front kicks to keep Joe away. Joe is a true warrior wanting to fight for every second of every round.

At the end of the 5x2 minute rounds Raphael won a unanimous decision victory and was declared the first WKO Veterans k-1 kickboxing national champion.

Raphael got great support from the locals who appreciated the five rounds of war on display, even after beating a local Waterford man, and he got a great reception outside of the ring, which was a special moment he'll never forget.

Raphael was cornered by Michael Hansbury, Conor O'Brien and Conor Hynes and got valuable cornering on the day.

Conor 'Curly' Hynes and Jack 'Rocky' Kirwan warmed up Birr's fighters and Raphael on the day and did a good job.

Raphael has greatssparring partners at the club - Jack Kirwan, Ross Buckley, Alex Hough, Alan Ginson, Dean Brummell, Conor Hynes, Filipe Nunes, Sean Cooke, Adrian O'Donoghue, Sean Agbenisi, David Delaney, Paddy Kelly, Conor O'Brien, Michael Hansbury and a few more. Every one of these lads helped push him in the right direction on good and bad nights at training.

The two other coaches at the club are Michael Hansbury and Conor O'Brien and are both 1st degrees black belts and are very experienced kickboxers and good coaches are always available for Birr k-1 kickboxing club and are very important members to their recent successes.

A big thanks to Midland Attic Stairs for sponsoring Raphael's  title fight. Contact Pawel to transform that valuable space!

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