Offaly kickboxer wins national title at very successful event

BIRR K-1 kickboxing club held a sanctioned WKO fight night in the Marian Hall on May 24^th with 18 matched bouts along with two National titles to be contested on the day, with national title eliminators also confirmed.

Birr had three fighters competing for national status. Many more fighters from Birr representing the club, while many clubs from across Ireland attended, from Tipperary, Carlow, Offaly, Kilkenny, Waterford, Dublin, Cork, Laois, Limerick, all in the house and looking for wins.

Ross 'Bull' Buckley's opponent got injured on the Thursday before the fight night and couldn't compete and this was devastating news for Ross. But on the plus side of things he now advances through to the final against Oisin Biggane from Cork who won his semi final fight in Birr with a spilt decision victory. And will they will face one another later in the year for the WKO Middleweight k-1.

Filipe Bang Bang Nunes, at 15 years of age, has climbed the rankings with impressive victories on the mats and in the ring over the last two years and He earned his contender position. Filipe is currently undefeated in Ireland and has impressed with his maturity and attitude towards training over the last nine months and his commitment is paying off big time.

Filipe entered this fight with an injury which meant he couldn't use his right roundhouse kick. They had to keep this quiet and not let his opponent hear about this as it would have been targeted. And the sign of a champion is to just get on with things and not make excuses. Filipe won every round, dominating Round 1 and round 2. Filipe upped the pressure in round 3 and gave his very tough opponent Jack Fagan from Toppro Carlow a tough time and left the referee with no choice but to give Jack a standing count in Round 3 after delivering a series of devastating front kicks and spinning backkicks and powerful body punches to his opponent in the corner of the ring.

Round 4 was pretty much the same pure control and calmness from the young Bang Bang Nunes. Another round was secured in the bank.

Filipe was confident of winning the fight, but Jack is as durable as they come and also still very dangerous.

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And again in round five Filipe delivered a powerful spin hook to Jack's head and he was visibly hurt and the referee again saved Jack from more punishment and gave him standing eight count. To his credit he saw out the round and went the distance. Only the best in the country can reach national title level through dedication and hard work.

Filipe won a unanimous decision victory and claimed the precious WKO belt and has been selected onto the Irish kickboxing team to represent Ireland at the World Kickboxing Championships in Barnsley this coming August.

Conor 'Curly' Hynes stepped into the fight night as the main event against Kevin Kehoe, hailing from Kombat Kingdom from Waterford, who is currently two time MMA champ with 12 MMA fights behind him, and is the WKO k-1 welterweight champion and undefeated at kickboxing. Kevin is a fearsome opponent for anyone and carries power and timing in both his legs and hands.

But Conor is 3-0 in National title fights with two unanimous victories in 2024 and a KO victory in his previous outing in Derry last November.

Conor stepped into the ring to a huge cheer from the packed Marian Hall on the final fight of the night.

Kevin Kehoe came to fight and was looking for the knock out in round 1. Conor was keeping distance with his kicks but Kevin was evading very well and timing Conor with a few nice powerful shots.

This caught Conor's attention and he focused onto Kevin's chin with a crisp right hand and floored Kevin briefly and he took the mandatory eight second count.

Kevin wanted retribution quickly and came at Curly. This was a bad decision and the beginning of the end of the champ's undefeated record in kickboxing. Conor met fire with fire and out punched Kevin and had him in all sorts of trouble very quickly. For every punch Kevin threw, Conor threw three and was connecting nicely on Kevin's chin. The referee had to step in and give him another eight count.

The writing was on the wall for Kevin as Conor was determined to finish the fight off in the first round. Conor steppedin and let a final combination of punches off and dropped Kevin to the canvas and Curly became the WKO super welterweight champion to a thunderous roar from the delighted home supporters in Round 1. That's Curly's 4th national title victory in 12 months, three in the discipline of full contact and one in k-1 kickboxing.

They are looking for a rematch at Kevin's preferred weight class at 67kg in October. Curly is up for cutting weight and fighting him again in his backyard to cement his legacy of k-1 champ and best young man in the country.

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Birr K-1 Club would like to thank their fighters for all the hard training, pushing and helping one another leading upto this fight night. A big thanks to the assistant coaches Michael Hansbury and Conor O'Brien with all the help running the club.

Other winners were: James Hartnett, Limerick Combat Gym; Jake Walsh, Wolfhound Muay Thai Cork; Denys Melnuk, Next Generation MMA Dublin; Pavel Volk, Fenix Muay Thai; Evan Finn, Toppro Carlow; Geariod Truman, Budo Dungarvan; Oisin Biggane, Irish title Eliminator - Wolfhound Muay Thai Cork; Aidan Mooney draw, Portlaoise MMA & Muay Thai; Rory Mulhearne draw demo, Budo Dungarvan; Andrew Duggan draw demo, Budo Dungarvan.

Fighters representing Birr k-1 kickboxing were: Pualis Mikuzis (age 9), Demonstration draw; Rian Smit (age 12), Demonstration draw; Ben Ginson (age 13), Demonstration draw; Adrian Sniper Neddy Donoghue, Demonstration draw; Alan 'Magic' Ginson, Demonstration draw; Alex 'Hitman' Hough, low kick light spilt decision win; Cormac 'Machine' Creamer, corner stoppage round 2 loss; Ondroj 'Tough' Turkak, fought to a draw; Jack 'Rocky' Kirwan, unanimous decision loss; Dean 'Real Deal' Brummell, spilt decision win.

Sean 'Hammer' Agbenisi had a unanimous decision win and was awarded fight of the night along with his opponent Arek Zapart from Toppro Carlow.

Filipe 'Bang Bang' Nunes, WKO light heavyweight low kick National champion.

Conor 'Curly' Hynes, WKO super welterweight k-1 National champion and awarded fighter of the night.

A big thanks to all of the sponsors for the Battle of Birr 2. None of this would be possible without their support: Michael Hennessy ecotec insulation; Brendan Nolan construction; Topline Hassetts Crinkle; Nolans pub; DR Tyres; Midland Attic Stairs; Stephen O'Toole Garage; Whelahan's pub & Aaron's Barbers; Marian Hall Committee; Chestnut Bar; Crimefitness gym; Talbot Motor Factors; Kelly's of the Green Bar; Ronan Mugan; Henley Enterprises.

And thanks to the sponsor of both title fights, Craig Hynes Block/Brick Contractor.

None of this would be possible with out your support. Please support these locals businesses where possible.

And their spot prizes sponsors were: Kelly's CEOS office supplies Birr; Butler's Haven Pharmacy Birr; Buckley's Super Valu Birr; David Cullinane Victualler Birr; John Smyth Barbers Birr; The Villa Cafe Birr; DLA Cleaners Birr; Mulrooney's Gala Birr; Birr Leisure Centre Birr; Organic Shop Birr; Horan's Daybreak Birr; Fox Life Pharmacy Birr; Loughnane's Centra Birr; David O'Meara Pharmacy Birr; Barbers 21 Birr; Scissors Birr; Market House Tavern Birr; Birr Fones Centre Birr; Emma's Café Birr.

And big thank you to these locals businesses for their continued support of our National event. Please support these local businesses wherever possible and If you were lucky enough to win a prize on the night can you please tell the sponsor in your words of your experience of watching the Birr kickboxers perform with the best in the business and the electric atmosphere that you witnessed on the night.

Kids kickboxing classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5pm.

Teens/Adults Kickboxing Monday 7pm, Wednesday 8pm and Friday 7.30pm.

Kick fit classes Wednesday and Friday and 10am.

New members are always welcome

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Many of their members train for the fitness benefits of kickboxing, such as learning how to hit the pads correctly, toning up, losing weight, building lean functional muscle, building stamina, becoming more flexible, building mental and physical toughness of a fighter without actually fighting and they have many members with no interest in entering light contact competition or full contact competition.

The club places a very high emphasis on respect and discipline that each member must adhere to.

Learn from an experienced coach that is part of the WKO Irish kickboxing Team and has trained Birr's fighters to win six Irish titles in three years and are undefeated in the amateur national title fights on the kickboxing circuit in Ireland.

The club has set up a gofund me.

They have selected 10 fighters onto the Irish kickboxing team for the upcoming WKO World Kickboxing Championships in August. They fly out from July 30th to August 3^rd.

Fighters have to fund flights, hotels, buses and food while trying to compete against the best in the world.

They don't receive any funding or sponsorship from the government. Any donations, no matter how small, will be great appreciated.