The opening of this fight was possibly the craziest twenty or so seconds that the GLORY ring has witnessed. Muhareb (68-22-0) was crackling with intensity as he and Chorr (33-6-0) were announced in their separate corners. When the bell rang for the start of the first he came out like a man possessed, charging headlong across the ring and hitting Chorr full-force with everything he could think to throw.
Pretty and technical it was not, but it was not ineffective. Most fighters have a feeling-out stage at the start of their fight so Chorr was most likely not expecting to find himself in an instant war. He was off-balanced and lurching as he sought to cover up and stay safe while mentally clicking into the right gear.
Pretty soon he got the distance he wanted and was able to stave Muhareb off. Chorr started to pile his own shots in and Muhareb's breathing indicated that throwing the early barrage had taken some toll on his cardio. Chorr was able to take control and start landing heavy punches; towards the end of the round he dropped Muhareb with a big right hand and made him take a count from the referee.
Attempts to finish him off on the restart were unsuccessful, Muhareb as wild in his defense as in his offense. Muhareb was still gassed at the start of the second and Chorr piled the pressure on. He nearly scored a second knockdown a minute in but Muhareb was able to stay up. Chorr stalked him around the ring, picking his shots, but Muhareb's unorthodoxy makes him hard to create clean openings on.
Chorr's second-round efforts took their own toll on him and Muhareb was able to rally in the third. Chorr still looked to be in control of the fight but Muhareb made real scrap of it. To give you some idea of his style, in this fight he has almost certainly set the GLORY record for 'superman punches' and spinning backfist attempts. Despite those crowd-pleasing antics, it was Chorr's cleaner work which won him the fight.
Abdou Karim Chorr def. Rhassan Muhareb, Unanimous Decision, R3 3:00 (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
