Cooktown “Art of War”, October 2007
The Shire Hall was once again packed to the rafters for the Full Boar Thai Boxing Club’s Art of War event on Saturday night.
Fighters were flown in from as far as Perth and Brisbane to make up the evenings fights, which began at 7pm and finished just after 11pm.
The first Full Boar fighter was Stevie Collier, taking on gym-mate Jake Stevens.
Both fighters were keen to prove themselves, and did not back down an inch, but Stevie’s height and reach advantage showed, as Jake struggled to get in close.
But Jake didn’t let that, or the 6kg weight difference, bother him, as he gave it his all.
In the end Stevie came out victorious.
Up next for Full Boar was Ethan Ross, against Brisbane’s Jacob George.
It was Ethan’s fight from the first round, but to Jacob’s credit he walked forward and gave everything he had, but in the end Ethan took the trophy.
Next was Clayton Cook matching self-trained Jastin Ford-Collier – who had taken the fight on only two weeks’ notice – in a four round fight.
Clayton’s experience showed as he picked his shots to make points, while Jastin threw some big ones, but didn’t connect.
Time out was called three times, as Clayton suffered from groin kicks, but he managed to stay ahead on points in the first two rounds.
In the third round, Clayton came out blazing, convincingly winning the round and almost knocking Jastin out.
Despite a gutsy effort, Jastin could not match Clayton’s fitness and decided not to continue for the fourth round, throwing the towel in and automatically handing the win to Clayton.
The fourth Full Boar fighter out was Courtney Bird, rematching Jess Pranklin, who she beat on the last Cooktown show in March.
Although Pranklin was hungry for a win, Bird’s strength and fitness could not be matched, and Pranklin took one standing eight count in the second round, before her corner threw the towel in, giving the fight to Bird.
Next was a war between Cooktown’s Joel Mitchell and Brisbane’s Chadd Collins, with Joel going in to the fight nursing an injured rib.
Both boys came out hard, with Chadd on the warpath, taking the fight up to Joel.
It didn’t take long for Chadd to find Joel’s injury, landing some good shots and giving Joel a standing eight count.
Joel came home in the third round with big knees and leg kicks, but missed out on the decision, as Chadd had won the first two rounds.
The main event was former Full Boar fighter and Cooktown resident Ayde Walker, now the trainer of his own gym, Intense Muay Thai, in Cairns.
Walker took on Cairns professional fighter Frank McDonald in a five round fight under full Thai rules – knees and elbows to the head allowed.
It was a one way mission for Walker, who systematically took McDonald apart with head kicks and elbows, landing him with two standing eight counts.
McDonald chose not to continue in the third round, giving the win to Walker.
All proceeds from the event go to sending Joel Mitchell and Clayton Cook to Thailand in November.
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