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By Larry Kelley
The Westerly Sun

PAWCATUCK — Doug Holland spent most of his adult life beating himself up with alcohol and drug abuse.

After meeting a woman who would become his fiancée, the Pawcatuck resident decided to turn his life around four years ago.

The 31-year-old replaced addiction to drugs and alcohol with a passion for Muay Thai kickboxing after his fiancée, Brianna Wallace, a karate second-degree black belt, introduced him to martial arts.

Today, instead of beating up himself, he’s dishing out punishment to opponents in the ring as a promising amateur kickboxer.

He’s 4-1 to date and will face his biggest test Feb. 26 on a prestigious Lion Fight card, which includes two Muay Thai international professional championship bouts, at Foxwoods Resort Casino’s Fox Theater.

“I got a late start in kickboxing, but I said I’d give myself eight to 10 years to make something happen in kickboxing,” Holland said. “I’m four years into it. I’d like to become a United States amateur champion, fight on the international amateur level and become a pro. The fight at Foxwoods will be a defining moment for me.”

Holland encountered numerous defining moments growing up. Most of the moments turned negative because of his poor decisions.

Holland believes to understand where he is now — a well-conditioned 6-foot-2, 240-pound kickboxer who has performed in front of 2,000 fans — others might appreciate the story from wence he came.

He flunked off the Westerly High football team, transferred to Chariho, dropped out of school, and left for West Virginia with his girlfriend. They had a son when Holland was 17.

“I had a couple of good games for Westerly but stopped going to practice,” Holland said. “I didn’t have time to do the athletic thing because I was too busy doing destructive things.”

By age 27, Holland ballooned to 330 pounds thanks to his undisciplined lifestyle.

Soon after he met Brianna, Holland’s life took a 180 degree turn.

“It was the pivotal point in my life,” Holland said. “She convinced me it was OK to leave the past behind me.”

One of the stipulations for Holland to pursue martial arts was to get sober.

“I never thought I had the resources to afford joining a martial arts club,” Holland said. “I quickly found out that if you stop paying for drugs and alcohol you find money to do other things.”

Three years after going sober and tipping the scales at 330 pounds, Holland won an in-house kickboxing tournament at Pride Martial Arts in South Kingstown.

Holland trained to shape up to 240 pounds. Soon he entered local amateur kickboxing tournaments and found immediate success.

“After I trained with my fiance for a while, I attended my first kickboxing card at Westerly Armory,” Holland said. “I loved it and wanted to be part of it.”

After winning the Pride Martial Arts in-school tournament, Holland worked as a cornerman for a fellow member in an amateur fight.

“I went from the honor of being a teammate’s corner to saying ‘I’ve got to get in that ring.’”

Holland sparred once a week, the maximum allowed at Pride, but he crammed more training in by dropping in at other area dojos to spar three to four nights a week.

“I fell in love with it,” Holland said. “Nothing in the world takes you out of every other element than sparing. I’m at peace in the ring. It’s ironic that punching and kicking gives me peace. But when you’re in there, you absorb the moment and everything else goes away.”

Holland watched a Lion Fight card at Foxwoods two years ago.

“I saw a great heavyweight fight and said to my friend, ‘I’d like to fight that guy,’” Holland said. “One day I’m going to be in that ring. Ironically, he (Greg Muldrow) is my opponent next month at Foxwoods.”

Muay Thai kickboxing originated in Thailand. It is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking. It is known as “the art of eight limbs” because it is characterized by the combined use of fists, elbows, knees and shins.

“I’d say my kicks are the most dangerous weapons I have,” Holland said. “You have to remember I carried 330 pounds on these legs. I’m shaping up my boxing skills and I have a lot of heart. I’ll never give up.”

Holland’s fights are five two-minute rounds. He went the distance in his only loss to Joe Taylor, a WKA world champ and New York Golden Gloves champ who was fighting in front of nearly 2,000 fans in his hometown in Binghmaton, N.Y.

“His legs were pretty much torn apart at the end even though he outpointed me,” Holland said.

Andrew Cornell, a Westerly native who owns Pride Martial Arts and is a ranked amateur kickboxer, is Holland’s cornerman.

“Doug’s biggest strength is is the incredible amount of heart and determination he shows in the ring,” Cornell said. “He simply will not give up.”

Holland’s story inspires Cornell and his fellow Pride teammates.

“His journey has inspired others to make changes in their own life,” Cornell said. “He has proven that it’s never too late to change the direction of your life if you surround yourself with a great team and put in the hard work.”

Holland figures his days are too busy to think about drifting back on his old habits.

He wakens around 5 a.m. to get ready for his production supervisor job at Doncaster’s Precision Casting plant in Groton.

After work, he lifts weight three afternoons, eats and goes to the dojo for training at night. He takes his daughter to karate class two nights a week.

“Sobriety is a decision I make every day,” Holland said. “It’s a work in progress. The addiction will never go away, but I’m reallocating it, replacing it with the gym and training.

“In the past, the only thing I fought was myself with my destructive lifestyle. For the first time recently, I feel comfortable in my own skin.”

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Photo Above
Doug Holland works out at Pride Martial Arts in South Kingstown. Holland has lost 90 pounds since taking up martial arts.
Grace White/The Westerly Sun

With so many amazing athletes featured on our events this year, it was a tough choice…

But without a doubt, this fighter showed amazing talent, most improvement and exciting fights.

His accomplishments include:

• IKF National Champion
• WKA National Champion
• WKA Northeastern Regional Champion

We’re very proud to announce that the 2015 Lace Up Promotions Fighter of the Year is “The Golden Boy” Bryce Mills!

Congratulations to Bryce and Team Andrello on an amazing year!

The results are in, and after nearly 200 votes, the fans have spoken!

The 2015 Fight of the Year was Doug Holland vs. Steve Walker, which was the main event at UND1SPUTED on June 6, 2015.

From the opening bell this bout had the crowd on their feet as two of the best heavyweights in the northeast battled back and forth in a toe-to-toe war! Congratulations and THANK YOU to both of these warriors for putting on the Lace Up Promotions Fight of the Year!

By Nick Sabato, Sports Reporter
Lockport Star

Amer Abdallah has cultivated a large following in Lockport with his company, Lace Up Promotions, in recent years.

As a result, several young, promising fighters have also garnered a following, such as Lockport native Joe “Son of a Legend” Taylor and Liverpool native and knockout specialist Kevin Van Nostrand. Another fighter who has also become a fan favorite not only for the Lace Up Promotions events but in several fighting disciplines throughout Western New York is Buffalo’s Sean Felton.

“SuperFly” has become a crowd favorite in the last two events held at Lockport’s Kenan Center in the last six months, not only due to his ability in the ring, but for his flamboyancy and willingness to get the crowd involved in his matches.

Felton currently holds an amateur Muay Thai record of 8-1 and has gone 3-0 — with one forfeit — at Lace Up events held in Lockport, including a second-round knockout of Lockport native Mike Moyer at the Nov. 21 event.

Next, he is set to take on Kalen Pawkovic for the middleweight title at Kickboxing/Muay Thai at its Finest, presented by Castricone’s Martial Arts, Dec. 12 at F.I.T. Method Studio in North Tonawanda.

Along with Muay Thai, Felton has also participated in mixed martial arts, a discipline he holds a 5-3 record in. Bit fighting is a relatively new endeavor for Felton.

He grew up participating in a variety of sports — including gymnastics — before becoming a standout football player and track and field performer at Williamsville North High School. Felton also competed collegiality in the long and triple jump at Buffalo State.

It wasn’t until after college, once his athletic career seemingly had come to an end in 2012, that Felton decided to try his hand in the fight scene.

“Back in middle school I always used to watch UFC and MMA,” Felton said. “When I was done with my athletic career in college, I had to do something. I felt like a Joe Schmo just hitting the weights so I wanted see if it would work out. It’s working out pretty well right now.”

Many successful fighters have some sort of background in a combat sport, whether it happens to be wrestling, karate or boxing. Felton did not. He entered the sport completely raw.

Perhaps that is what has helped his young career get off to a successful start. Not only is he  long and athletic, but because he is still relatively new to the sport, Felton immerses himself in every training session in order to pick up different nuances to the sport.

Many fighters with a background in one particular discipline can often rely on that in fights — especially against a tough opponent — rather than use the new skills that they have been taught by coaches in the gym.

“Coming into mixed martial arts I didn’t have any of that,” Felton said. “All I had was God-gifted athleticism so I just try to use my athleticism and try to be like a sponge in the gym every day to just learn and grow.”

It took him a year of training before he competed in his first Muay Thai bout, and he has just one loss in that particular discipline. His only loss came after taking a fight on short notice to a larger opponent. In fact, Felton has lost just one fight in kickboxing and MMA within his natural weight class, which falls between 155-165 pounds.

He will be competing in North Tonawanda next week with less than a month of rest under his belt, but that does not worry him because his constant training prepares him to fight at a moment’s notice.

“I consider myself a mixed martial artist. I don’t consider myself a fighter,” Felton said. “I’m in the gym every day. I just don’t train when I have a fight. I like to stay busy; I don’t like to stand on the sidelines. I feel like it keeps you fresh and I love it.”

When Felton enters the ring Dec. 12 — likely led by the dulcet tones of his cousin and rap artist Louie Flame — he will surely have a large following in attendance.

His ability to end a bout with a swift kick in the blink of an eye brings the crowd to its feet. So does his ability to get the crowd involved prior and during the match.

It has made him a very popular draw on any card, in any area of Western New York. North Tonawanda is likely to be no different.

“I always have a big following from my friends and family,” Felton said. “It’s good. I love it. It makes my journey that much more special and it makes me compete better, too. Just to see people take time out of their day, take off of work or whatever just to get there means a lot to me.”

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Photo Above
Sean Felton tried several different sports throughout his life before discovering fighting. Photo by J Stoos Photography

Those Who Wanted to Fight Did Battle. Those Who Did Not Simply Stayed Home.

By John D’Onofrio
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

Lockport’s Ali Kimmons, Tyler Rodier, Joe Taylor and Pat Thompson posted impressive mixed martial arts victories Saturday night on a Lock City amateur fight card tempered by the last-minute cancellation of the scheduled World Kickboxing Association light heavyweight championship fight between Lockport native Amer Abdallah and world champion Gareth Richards of South Wales.

The international fight card — a dozen fights in all — went on as planned before another massive crowd at the Kenan Arena, but the news of Richards’ no-show cascaded throughout the city and Facebook earlier in the day, putting a damper on an otherwise outstanding event.

Abdallah said on Sunday that he spoke directly with WKA president Brian Crenshaw on the matter. The good news is Abdallah will garner an immediate title shot — a tentative date of Saturday, May 14 has already been set — against an opponent to be named by the WKA.

“Brian said he’ll make an official decision shortly,” Abdallah said. “What will probably happen is Gareth will get suspended, but you don’t inherit the WKA world title. If I want the title, I’ll still have to fight for it.”

The undefeated Abdallah (16-0), now 39, said the slight was “devastating,” following a grueling training camp in both Las Vegas and Western New York, but added he’ll remain positive.

“Honestly, this training camp was probably the hardest of my career and I wasn’t expecting to turn around and start camp again in two months, but that’s what world champions do,” said Abdallah, the current WKA United States Light Heavyweight Champion and WKA Intercontinental Champion.

“Life doesn’t come with a remote. Sometimes, you have to change it yourself,” Abdallah said. “We have to stay positive. Everyone has been awesome and supportive and behind us.”

Taylor dominated fellow-heavyweight Doug Holland of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in Saturday night’s five-round main event. The judge’s scorecards across the board read 50 to 45.

Lockport’s “Son of a Legend” Taylor landed a wicked uppercut in the first round that set the tone for his unanimous-decision victory, but Holland was tough and weathered the storm, despite being out-matched throughout.

“Joe’s our superstar amateur — a tremendous heart and a tremendous man,” Abdallah said.

“The kids in the community look up to him and the adults do too. He’s just a great ambassador for our sport — a great representative of what martial arts can be.”

Thompson, known as “The Real Deal,” never looked better, returning to the ring impressively after a two-year absence, knocking out Rochester’s Ryan Nesbitt just 1:58 into the first round. A barrage of punches and kicks set up a solid right hook that sent Nesbitt to the canvass for good.

Thompson improved to 7-1 as a kickboxer and is 9-1 as a boxer.

“The real deal is back!” Abdallah said of his former sparring partner. “Pat said to me after the fight, ‘It’s good to be back.’ He’s a very smart fighter and a very durable fighter.”

Kimmons brought the house down with an inspirational knockout win over Rochester’s Chuck Jewell in their scheduled three-round heavyweight re-match.

Jewell TKO’d Kimmons in their first meeting, but the rematch on Saturday was a lot different with Kimmons landing a right hook that ended the fight just 59 seconds into the first round.

“The same thing’s going to happen to the next guy who steps into the ring with me,” said an emotional Kimmons after the fight. “I worked my butt off and trained with the right guys. The difference this time was I had more confidence.”

Rodier posted a split decision win over Buffalo’s Tyler Mesi, the nephew of former heavyweight contender “Baby Joe” Mesi. The judge’s cards were 29-28, 28-29, 30-27.

Mesi dominated early, but Rodier stayed the course, used his reach to his advantage, stayed patient and slowly wore down his opponent.

“I feel great!” Rodier said after the fight, while surrounded by family and friends. “I started three-and-a-half years ago and just kept pushing hard. People kept telling me to believe in myself. ‘Just believe in yourself,’ they kept telling me. I’ve had great trainers and they gave me great advice. I came out expecting him to be strong, and he was, but I stayed outside of him and then I caught him with a couple of good shots.”

Abdallah said Rodier has already come a long way in his young career.

“There’s just so much Tyler has faced in his life both in and out of the ring and I’m so proud to see him as the true champion he is now,” Abdallah said.

The Buffalo father-son combo of Sean Felton and Sean Felton Sr. both scored ring victories. Pops, 46 years young, earned a unanimous-decision win over Ian Niblett of Whitby, Ontario. The scores were 30-27 across the board.

His son earned a second-round knockout win over Lockport’s Mike Moyer. A leg kick to the head ended an otherwise close fight just 25 seconds into the second round.

Buffalo’s impressive Ayanna Tramont KO’d Vanessa Paniccia of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in the night’s only female bout. The time was 1:58 into the first round.

Other winners on the card were Buffalo’s Scott Skinner and Scott Renfro; and Michael Veith and Richie Ridgeway of Liverpool, N.Y.

Photo Above:

Lockport’s Pat Thompson, right, delivers a solid right hook to the jaw of his opponent, Rochester’s Ryan Nesbitt during their heavyweight bout Saturday night at the Kenan Center Arena. Thompson won with this knockout punch just 1:07 into the first round. Other fight night winners included fellow Lockportians Ali Kimmons, Tyler Rodier and fan favorite Joe Taylor.

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