“Ky Hollenbeck will be back.”
That’s the message from friend and Can’t Stop Crazy team mate Joe Schilling (18-6, 11 KO’s) following Hollenbeck’s loss to Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie at GLORY 17 LOS ANGELES this past Saturday.
Hollenbeck (46-4, 23 KO’s) and Ristie (42-4-1, 21 KO’s) were facing off in a title-shot eliminator. Ristie stopped him 35 seconds into the bout with a left hook that is fast becoming one of kickboxing’s most lethal weapons.
“I think it was just bad luck for Ky. He had an extremely bad training camp. His gym shut down a couple of months before the fight, his trainer had a lot of stuff going on, he had a hard time getting sparring partners,” reveals Schilling.
“These are things that I know because I am his friend but you won’t know because Ky is not the kind of person to make excuses. The guy has three losses in his career: Nieky Holzken, Giorgio Petrosyan and now Andy Ristie.
“I think Ky can get in there with anybody at this level and do well. I think it was just bad luck with his training camp and Ristie being an extremely talented fighter. But we haven’t seen the last of Ky Hollenbeck.”
And if Hollenbeck wants to take his mind off of fighting for a while, Schilling says he has plenty of ways to do so.
“He can pick up a guitar and play any song you ask, he can sing, dance, play piano, he is extremely talented. And he is now a trained firefighter as well,” he says.
“Ky will be OK, it is just going to take some time. He takes losses hard.”
The loss to Ristie snapped Hollenbeck’s two-fight winning run (victories over Albert Kraus and Warren Stevelmans) and leaves him needing a good win or two to get back into the title picture.
Ristie has emerged as the lightweight division’s danger-man, a tricky switch-hitter who can end a fight in one shot.
In his last three fights he has knocked Giorgio Petrosyan, Robin van Roosmalen and Ky Hollenbeck out, all via the same trademark left, which falls somewhere between an uppercut and a hook.
