Marc De Bonte (86-11-1, 28 KO’s) is GLORY’s welterweight world champion.
The Belgian fighter won the title after a close five-round fight with Karapet Karapetyan (44-9-2, 4 KO’s) in the main event of GLORY 16 DENVER.
De Bonte and Karapetyan are two of the most technical fighters in the division and that was clear from the opening minute of the fight as they probed each other’s defenses and sought openings.
“I am a boxing-based fighter but I had to change things a little bit for this fight,“ says De Bonte.
“Karapetyan is very good at using kicks to counter-attack punchers. When you go to punch him he puts push-kicks and round kicks on the body.
“I tried going that way in the first round and he was able to counter me so I said OK, we will play the kicking game.”
Having changed plans, De Bonte deployed his world-class Muay Thai skills and the fight became something of a chess game as the two tricked each other into leaving openings which could be exploited.
At times there were heavy exchanges and De Bonte almost found a home for his trademark knee to the head, with which he has KO’d many an opponent, but Karapetyan ultimately proved too tight defensively.
Things were very close throughout; one fighter would score points only to have the other immediately fire back and score points of his own to keep the scores level.
It was a difficult job for the judges. After five rounds they came back with a split-decision; two judges had it in favor of De Bonte while one had it for Karapetyan.
Afterwards De Bonte wasn’t sure the judges had been right.
“I think I won the first four rounds clearly and maybe Karapetyan took the final round so to me it didn’t seem like it should have been a split-decision,” he said.
“But I won the title and that is what matters. It is the high point of my career, one of the best nights of my life. I have been fighting since I was a boy and this win and this title mean everything to me.”
No sooner had he won the title than talk was already turning to who would be his first defense. Nieky Holzken is ranked #1 in the division but is injured. Canada’s Joe Valtellini is #2 and has already called De Bonte out for a fight as soon as possible.
“That is fine by me. I have to beat both Holzken and Valtellini anyway to prove I am #1 in this division so we can have that fight whenever GLORY wants to make it,” says the new welterweight champion of the world.
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