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
