Holzken: “It’s going to be a hard night for Raymond Daniels at GLORY 23”

Nieky ‘The Natural’ Holzken (86-11, 45 KO’s) is promising “a hard night” for Los Angeles man Raymond ‘Real Deal’ Daniels (27-2, 17 KO’s) at GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS.

The two are set to meet in the main event to contest the vacant World Welterweight Championship. It is a rematch, coming five months after they met in the final of the GLORY 19 VIRGINIA Welterweight Contender Tournament.

Holzken was victorious, stopping Daniels to win the tournament and book himself a title shot. But when reigning champion ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini was forced to take a hiatus to deal with a health issue, the title became vacant. As runner-up in the Contender tournament, Daniels got the spot opposite Holzken.

“He didn’t really give me any problems in the first fight and I don’t see things being different in this one either,” says Holzken, a fighter noted for his high level of boxing skill. He hurt Daniels repeatedly with body-shots to stop him via multiple knockdowns at GLORY 19 and he plans on doing the same again.

“The first fight was only five months ago so I can’t see that he could now be some different kind of fighter. He may have changed some things but they will only be little things, he cannot have a completely new style,” he explains.

“But I have some changes also, I am stronger and my boxing has got even better. It is going to be a hard night for him I think.”

Daniels, a Tae Kwon Do and Kempo Karate black belt, has one of the most unique styles in professional fight sports. A natural athlete, his kicking game is both unorthodox and deadly. His timing and angles have led to all four of his GLORY wins coming inside the distance by way of KO.

At GLORY 19, Daniels landed one of his trademark spinning back-kicks to Holzken’s midriff and caused him to fall to the canvas. The referee gave Holzken a count, though Holzken maintains he was merely off-balance.

Either way, it served as an example of how Daniels can time his kicks to land flush even on the most experienced competitor. Despite this experience Holzken has not made any changes to his training arrangements for this fight, aside from having training partners play with a few things.

“I haven’t brought anybody in specifically to replicate Daniels’ style but my pad trainer [Sjef Weber] has been feeding me some things in padwork, for me to respond to things Raymond might do,” he says.

“And there is a young guy I work with at Siam Gym sometimes, a training partner, he copies some of Raymond’s style, a lot of back-kicks and stuff like that. But if I am honest, I don’t see myself doing anything different to what I did last time.”

Holzken only acknowledges Daniels as being a potential threat early on, due to his style requiring so much movement and energy. But he thinks he has the blueprint to beat the LA man again and finally capture the GLORY welterweight title.

If he does, who does he see as the next contender emerging in the division? Holzken doesn’t know, though he does know what he would like to see happen after GLORY 23, assuming he wins the title.

“I’m not focused on anybody else, I am just waiting for GLORY to tell me who to fight. But if I win this title, which I think I will, then I think the next guy to fight me has to come through a tournament. I came through two tournaments to get to this title shot so I think other people should have to do it also,” he says.

The accuracy of Holzken’s predictions will be tested on fight night, Friday August 8, when he and Daniels headline GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, live in the US on Spike TV at 11pm ET /10pm CT.