Fists of Fury wraps up 18th bout

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on May 2, 2023.

sports@medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

Medicine Hat’s Fist of Fury 18 put on a show Saturday night.

SACA Kickboxing hosted the 18th rendition of its Fist of Fury kickboxing event over the weekend, welcoming fighters from across Western Canada.

There were 14 fights on the card for the night, with seven featuring local talents.

The first local in the right was Jesse Sandberg, the youngest of the bunch at 13 years old. SACA coach Jamie Droeske says Sandberg took some time to get going in the match but turned it up in the third round. Sandberg fell short on the decision.

Christian Breingan was next in the ring and the fighter new to the Hat stepped into the ring for the second time, first match under SACA Kickboxing. Droeske says he started strong and had success in round one but faded in rounds two and three, taking a loss by corner stoppage.

The third Medicine Hat fighter was Kathleen “The Machine” Haskayne. Droeske says she was as relentless as always and overwhelmed her opponent to the point of exhaustion, taking home her third win.

Droeske says Jordan Larochelle had a rough go fighting his first ever Muay Thai rules match. She says after a few low shots back and forth he was unable to continue during the second round. It went to the scorecards due to the stoppage and with his round one win, he took home the trophy.

Next in line was Deven Weisbeck, who Droeske says put on a striking clinic, pushing the pace against a tough opponent before adding a win to his record.

Konnor Smith fought a technical fight Droeske says but after a weight cut he faded out and the coach called his fight in the third round.

The last local fighter was none other than Droeske, who has fought locally for 13 years and had the crowd going wild in support of her final match. She says she was patient and took advantage of the calm demeanour by countering everything that came her way. She came out with an unanimous decision win to finish her fight career.

Droeske says the night was a success and credited their corporate sponsors and fans for making an event like that possible.