Lightweight contender Robin van Roosmalen (32-6, 19 KO's) cannot wait to take his shot at the GLORY World Lightweight Championship. He expects to face title-holder Davit Kiria (22-9, 7 KO's).
And while he looks forward to his own title shot, he is also keenly anticipating two other title fights, which will be taking place in the near future.
Nieky Holzken (84-11, 44 KO’s) is ranked #1 at welterweight and will be the first challenger to face ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini (12-2, 10 KO’s) for the World Welterweight Championship he took from Marc de Bonte (87-12-1, 28 KO’s) at GLORY LAST MAN STANDING in Los Angeles last month.
In the heavyweight division, Errol Zimmerman (103-11-1, 44 KO’s) win in the Heavyweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 14 DENVER looks likely to make him the first challenger to face Rico Verhoeven (44-9, 10 KO’s), the newly-crowned World Heavyweight Champion.
“Valtellini’s fight with Holzken in the final of the GLORY 13 TOKYO welterweight tournament was really close until the last ten seconds, I think the lack of experience [cost] Valtellini,” says Van Roosmalen.
“I saw some of his earlier fights as well and I am impressed, he is a good fighter. Especially when you consider that he has so few fights as a professional. He is quite a Dutch style, good hands and good low kicks. So I think this rematch is going to be a really good fight.”
Valtellini’s fight with De Bonte in Los Angeles was also very close. It went the five-round distance despite both scoring big knockdowns. Valtellini nearly scored a KO by head kick in the third round and had the favor returned by way of flying knee in the fourth.
At the end, the judges had the first three rounds for Valtellini and the last two for De Bonte, making the Canadian the new World Welterweight Champion.
“Valtellini made more points in the first three rounds and De Bonte definitely won the last two. It was a close fight and the result depends on what the judges see,” says Van Roosmalen.
“They are both very good fighters. I think De Bonte maybe could have thrown longer combinations earlier in the fight; Valtellini was getting away with the points. But it was a great fight to watch, I really enjoyed it. That is the kind of fight that GLORY is about.
“And the fight between Joe Schilling and Simon Marcus at LAST MAN STANDING was great as well. Schilling is a warrior, I like his style. Levin won the tournament because he is a different level, he is too slick.”
Verhoeven won the World Heavyweight Championship by taking a decision over Daniel Ghita (50-11, 39 KO’s) at LAST MAN STANDING. Their first fight, at GLORY 11 CHICAGO, was an all-out war but their second encounter was a more strategic affair.
“The fight with Rico and Ghita, to be honest I expected more. It was a little bit of a boring fight,” is Van Roosmalen’s opinion.
“Now it seems Errol Zimmerman is the next to challenge for the title. I think if he is disciplined he can win but if he takes it easy… Well, Rico is always in good condition, he trains hard all the time.
“It depends on Errol. If he is serious about it and trains hard he will be a strong challenge, otherwise I think Rico wins it on points.”
