Thank You IKF

Can i just say a massive thanks to the IKF, in particular Carl Sams and Neil Holden very efficient and helpful.

If you are looking for sanctioning / insurance etc. these are your guys.

Thanks.

Thank you for taking the time to say so Liam.
Good luck with the show!

We're 100% in agreement with Liam.

Our decision to adopt the IKF as sanctioned body for the UNLEASHED brand has been more than justified with their effort, commitment and support absolutely superb.

Not only did they prove invaluable in setting up our first event but their performance on the day was flawless - thoroughly professional and totally organised.

Having a good sanctioing body is obviously important but its not the initials which count, its the people. Here again Carl, Colin and Dawn by far exceeded our expectations going over and beyond the call of duty to help us in so many areas and being readily available to offer help or advice at every juncture.

Liam, if you've got any of these guys behind you you're on to a winner!

i think theyre toss ... ;)

But you're from Matlock mate :-)

Besides which, if that was really the case why are you systematically brainwashing Colin (and apparently with some success) into coming over to the dark side?

lol @ Dave


im washin colins brain ... hmmmm i find that hard to believe lol

dont know anything about kickboxing or that side of things but from a thai standpoint they wanted quality officials and were very thorough with everything and met all deadlines

I've been working with Colin and Carl for some time now and I find them to be fair, honest and professional - the sport needs more people like them.

Liam ... i was at an IKF kickboxing show last weekend and it was spot on mate too

Dale, you've got geat taste when it comes to picking a night out mate.

what can i say wrong turn off the A38 lol

OUCH!

Great work by IKF Europe!
And all the Fighters, Trainers, Officials, Promoters and Fans associated with the IKF Around the World! Great work in representing the sport we love with such Professionalism and Responsibility!

"Forward March as we all Walk The Walk and BRING IT ON!"

do they do muay thai too?

Yes we do Sandy.

We are currently trying to work hand in hand with efforts being made by the Thai Boxing industry in the UK at the moment. It won't suit those who just want to buy a title for the night with no input but it is the way we will be moving forward, even at the expense of activity.
With many recognised and established Thai Boxing officials we alos hope to be able to work alongside them to ease the process.

here, here....;-)

I have always used ISKA and am happy with them. BUT I have attended a few IKF shows on a very novice level and found the officials : Mr H ,Dawn willock and Rob all from Birmingham to be fair and unbiased.

Just caught this thread and thanks to Liam for the post, its appreciated. Also nice to see the other comments we have received on here so thanks to them as well.

Carl and I along with Neil and Dawn had a definite agenda as to what we felt we could (and should) offer to the sport here with the backing of Mr Fossum at the IKF. All IKF promoters here would confirm that we do not make it straight forward to sanction with us, we expect certain standards and guidelines that we believe in to be in place and its probably fair to say some have decided thats not for them. However we are very appreciative of the support we have received from promoters who having listened to what we have to say have felt it was something worth supporting.

Thanks again

putting on a show is flippin hard work.

putting on a really good show, which combines great fights, credible opportunities for the fighters and covering your money too is an art within itself!

The great thing about how the IKF operate is that people can get support in achieveing this and developing the sport at the same time.

Its really nice that people recognise this, and thank you for the comments.

also good luck with the show liam!

Dawn

thanks guys. Carl/Neil do u want me to forward you the pictures of the IKF champions from the night? if so which email is best thanks.

So Proud of what my friends Colin and Carl are doing over the pond. The IKF will be stronger in Europe thanks to Mr. Fossum and these guys!!!

The IKF have also been very helpful to me i have my first show september and had help not just in sanctioning also in matchmaking and even setting up the venue in the right way

Thanks for the help

Darren

Sorry Dawn but 'support' can only be described as a serious UNDERSTATEMENT.

Darren, the best is yet to come. The IKF officials were tremendous on our first show covering weigh-in, medical supervision, all the paperwork, refereeing, officiating, time keeping etc. Quite literally the only thing they asked me was when the sandwiches were being served! For our next IKF event I'm buying a ticket and sitting front row :-)

In a typical British society where we pour scorn on the achievers, looking for reasons to bring them down and only ever mentioning the negative stuff - it's nice that people have taken the time to talk about the good. No one has been put up to this and no one has anything to gain from it as an individual.
Following some of the nonsense that has appeared on here over the last few weeks I am grateful to those who contributed to this thread. We will continue to do our best to move forward in a positive fashion, with those who wish to do the same.

Thanks again:)

thanks to the IKF I was tucked up in bed by 10.00pm on Sunday after a great first show for Kevin in Weston. Not like Saturday night. Did I tell anyone that I didn't get home till 3.30am?

LOL - private joke - but very funny.

Malcolm Martin & Carl Sams - growing their hair since 1966 - because they can:)

Malcolm Martin and Carl Sams - growing their hair into the style they had at 18 even though their in their 40's...because this is their last chance :-0

3.30am Malcolm you should have told someone ;-)

i'll have you know that at 18 my hair was like Billy Idol - it's all over facebook!

IKF sanctioned shows for me for the past couple years now. Wouldn't bother going
anywhere else for all the above reasons.
And Malcolm, would love to have you MC on my next show mate but I don't know
if I could spare the time for the niceties...3.30 am and all that.

Seems the IKF has really gone down the pan now, they still use decent refs and judges on some shows but no tape over nuckles now so u cant wrap a hand properly and people fighting for titles that a boxer won less than a year ago without contacting or vacating, shame as used to be decent.

or you try ISKA... 3 judges but 2 of them sit next to each other
(for a chat maybe or one of them needs a hand in deciding who won a round?) and even when you ask them to sit in the 3 corners refuse (AND the chairs/table are all laid out to accomodate this)

or saying EVERY round MUST be 10/9 even first "no such thing as a 10/10 in proper muay thai" apparently.... hmmmmmm


or a ref who when you point out that the neutral corner has about 8 mates in it all reaching into the ring and banging on it (ie under the ropes in the fighters surface during a fight) just shrugs his shoulders..

yes iska is very very poor too. 5x3 a class 1 min rest? LOL
only other choice is the dictatorship. better no association just insurance and get decent ref and judges.
WRSA are good, probably the best out there at the moment, you can use your approved ref and judges, use laceup gloves, your own if checked and also you can bandage a hand like its thai boxing.

Morning Liam.
Thank you for your comments. It's a shame you feel the way that you do but you are entitled to your opinion.
We have never fallen out so I don't intend to et into a public slanging match with so please lets not do that.

I would however like to address a couple of points.

1. You did arrive at the event knowing that the hand wrap rule was in force as you voiced your opinion at the previous event. The rule was also in force when you started this thread and we did have that conversation back then. I appreciate that you probably didnt like that being the case which is why we never moved forward and you are now happy elsewhere.
I accept that you don't agree with it but it's hardly the IKF going downhill and it's certainly not a case of the "Kickboxers Killing Muay Thai". It's there for reasons of structure and continuity, as is the rule that does not allow fighters to wear their own gloves.

2. Lace up gloves - totally agree. It is something we would like all promoters to embrace in due couse. We encourage all new promoters to start this way and established promoters to move to lace up gloves when replacing. It's not an over night thing as we appreciate the expense incurred.

3. Fighters competing for a title that already had a champion? Please clarify. There is no record of a current champion at that weight but if you feed me the info I would be happy to look into that straight away.

As I say, there will be no tit for tat response here from me. If you really feel strongly about anything, just call or mail me. Us
talking has never been an issue before.

Thanks
Carl Sams

I've always thought you to be pretty fair Carl but some of your representatives seem to think they know it all when really they know very very little and are rude.
I would like to know who is the current -69.5kg English champion please, the title that was won at Chicago Rock Cafe in a fight between Dan Theobold and Mason Harris, who now holds that belt please?

Find it very funny that one of your reps said to a fighter at least some coaches know how to wrap hands properly, not knowing that i had actually wrapped the hand for them the same as i di for fighters in USA and for UFC guys etc with a clear at least 1" of bandage showing nothing taped over knuckle.

give me a ring when u get a second Carl havent got your number, cheers

Hey Liam
Very surprised by your comments about the IKF ..
As you know we have "the pleasure ??" of working for all the sanctioning bodies & the IKF Is definitley one of the best..

The hand wrap issue comes up at most of the Muaythai IKF Shows & a few do object. But they are made aware well in advance of fight day..

Great point about your own lace up gloves tho..

Perhaps K - star can comment as they had a big IKF thai show yesterday ..
Pete

Will call you in the morn Liam - am now out of action for the rest of the day. carlsams@btconnect.com if you need to comment or want me to look into anything prior. I will look on my return tonight.

Mason still English Champion @ 69.5kg. Please let me know and send details if you feel that is not correct.

Thanks
Carl

Just seen this.
The IKF do a very good job and work hard to maintain standards.
I am always getting in trouble for not doing all my paperwork correctly!
They are very strict about who fights for titles, which I think is a good thing. Nothing drags our sport down more than people who have lost their last few fights fighting for titles, overlooking the real worthy fighters.
We have to have standards and accept them and help to move the sport forward.
As far as the lace up gloves thing, I personaly dont think you should be allowed to wear your own gloves and the promoter should always supply the gloves.
The reason that i use velcro gloves and glove the fighters in the ring on my shows is because in the past I have had bad experiences of fighters 'forgetting' to give the gloves back after the fight, then having to run around holding up fights to find more gloves. People taking the gloves too early and then gloves not available for the fighters that need them. idiots cutting the laces when they cut the tape off the gloves at the end of the fight. etc
Basically I do it to make my life a lot easier.

As far as the hand wraps go, I dont see the problem. I always used to do handwraps the thai way, and have been shown by several Thai's how to do it their way. One of my fighters, Damien Trainor had a lot of trouble, breaking his hand 3 times. I was shown how to wrap hands the way I do now by Paule Merchant of london thai fighters, when he wrapped damien's hands for him a few times. Damien hasn't had any problems with his hand since and we feel that this is partly down to the way we wrap hands now. It's basically the way pro boxers wrap their hands and is very safe for the fighters.

My last 2 shows have had an IKF official in attendance, checking all the bandages etc and on both shows there was a few knockouts. The knockouts were with velcro gloves and hands wraped to IKF guidlines, so neither effected anyones punching power. No one reported damaged hands, so i can't see the problem.

We all need to move with the times and continue to look for ways to improve our sport as much as we can.

Keep up the good work IKF.

im sure its not the ikf its a shame the sport is being further diluted but thats life and happy to accept it.
in your rules does it state juniors doing no head contact with body shields on need handwraps?
can you confirm how many ikf reps were at the tower sunday please as i think i was lied to.

There was one Chief Official with another in attendance. Why would you be lied to Liam?

Kids handwraps is a grey area. Would prefer to go with it as per adults but would welcome input. There is a arguement for allowing training wraps if preferred.

why did your reps boyfriend approach me like he was going to do something there was between 150-160 of us there.
why does your rep take interest in staring and smiling at me during rules talks given by tony myers as if i am going to disagree with the man and staring at me grinning while im trying to work a corner? Not my type but thanks all the same.

No idea where you are going with that, why don't you call me if there was an issue. You know i'll look into it. I have no axe to grind.

Do we need to further the query regarding Mason by the way?

no, i was told pindi v nathan couldnt be for english title as someone else other than mason had it but thats cool. ive always found you to be fair and decent Carl its not the IKF its a minority spoiling it for the others. when can we be sent the correct date and weight stickers for the belt? thanks.
by the way pindis hands were wrapped twice and checked 4 times, with the last time totally destroying the wrap as it was pulled to pieces to check for any tape over the knuckle of course there was none at all. it was bare skin to bandage for at least 1 1/2"

OK. Lets leave that one there then. Like I have just said on the other thread, if there is an issue, just contact me and i'll look at it no prob.

I have to say with regards to Pindi V Nathan, I do remember being asked the question before knowing which camps they were from. Therefore my response was that Mason was your first port of call. It never went further than that.
I might also add (as we are here) that Dan Theobald went on to contest the British title some time later and there is a proviso that Mason should be offered the defence if you are interested.

Oh yes - stickers. Will get on that straight away. I didnt realise the belt was without them. Will be with you by Friday.

sounds good who won the british? Theobald is good fighter, mason only interested in fighting full rules A-Class now so british sounds good.

Theobald won and it was the Full rules not the modified version.

I suspect this is scheduled about March/April time, so I will contact you or put it in the hands of the promoter to call and negotiate.

There we go. The end of the evening and all is calm once again in the stormy waters.
Wish I'd learnt to speak with such a civilised toungue when I was in my 20's - the following 20 years would have been so much less stressful:)

Good night all!