Ky: “I’m going out there to put a whipping on him”

In November 2012, San Francisco native Ky Hollenbeck (45-3, 23 KO’s) entered the ring at GLORY 3 ROME to face Giorgio Petrosyan in the quarter-finals of the lightweight (70kgs/154lbs) tournament.

It should have been a triumphant moment for him. Hollenbeck had smashed his way through the elimination stage and now had a chance to show who he was and to represent American kickboxers on the world stage.

Instead it turned into a disaster. His right ACL ligament snapped in the first round and had to be carried from the ring.

That was the last that the kickboxing world heard from Hollenbeck until September, when he agreed to step up on a few weeks notice to face the K-1 MAX winner Albert Kraus (73-17-3, 43 KO’s) at GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES.

Taking on such a high-level opponent after a long layoff was a very risky move but it paid off. Hollenbeck dismantled Kraus over three rounds in a career-best performance which put him right back on the map and earned him a reserve spot in this Saturday’s tournament at GLORY 12 NEW YORK.

“It was confidence in myself. I knew that with my new approach and my new training regime, I knew I could do it,” Hollenbeck says.

“Plus I had a year out and some complacency had crept in. When you don’t have a coming up it can take the edge off the focus a little bit. So when the opportunity to step in against Kraus came up I thought ‘OK, time to get back in there.’

“People know Kraus, he is a household name in the sport and any time you beat someone like that you take a bit of their shine. So I am very pleased with that, in coming back from the injury and performing as well as I did. So I am just carrying that confidence into this next fight.”

Hollenbeck approached Kraus with his usual trademark aggression. But this time it was tempered with maturity. Instead of being drawn into trying to beat the opponent in his own area, Hollenbeck went for his weaknesses and took the fight where he wanted it.

“I look at that fight as a jumping off for the new Ky Hollenbeck, the Ky 2.0 who came back from the knee surgery and the rehab,” he says.

“I got my mind right, figured out that it’s not just about out-athleticising people and being more aggressive than them. Sometimes strategy and gameplan has to come into it. I did that and I feel good about it."

“I wanted to take away his right arm because he has a big right hand, and I wanted to set the pace and keep it high because I know that he likes to control the pace. So I used a lot of left kicks, forced him to use that right arm to block instead of attack. That was the plan and it worked to a T.”

The win earned him a spot in this Saturday’s tournament, which takes place at Madison Square Garden and airs live on SPIKE TV.

“If Hollenbeck wins his bout he will be a reservist for the final and will step in should either of the victorious semi-finalists be unable to take their tournament spot.

“I might have to Nancy Kerrigan someone. I’ll be hiding round the hotel with a steel pipe ready to take one of them out!” he jokes, laughing aloud.

“No, I’m just happy to be fighting. If the opportunity to go into the tournament does come up then that’s great, but I am just happy to be here fighting for GLORY again.”

Hollenbeck’s 2013 theme of late-notice opponents continues.

He was originally supposed to facing the Swiss-Albanian veteran Shemsi Beqiri (72-9, 31 KO’s), a very clever and technical fighter. An injury pullout means he is now facing Warren Stevelmans (64-18-1, 20 KO’s) an Amsterdam-based South African who numbers Remy Bonjasky among his training partners.

“Shemsi Beqiri is very good, but so is Stevelmans. The big difference is that Stevelmans is a southpaw and they can be trickier,” says Hollenbeck.

“There are definitely things you need to do differently against a southpaw versus an orthodox fighter. I’ve had a few days to kind of dial that in, work on the adjustments that I will need to make. But the gameplan remains basically the same - go out there and impose my will.”

Albert Kraus beat Warren Stevelmans at GLORY 5 LONDON in March of this year, taking a decision after a fast-paced and very exciting fight. According to fight-maths, that puts Hollenbeck in line for a win this Saturday, but he isn’t buying into that.

“Even though I beat someone who beat Stevelmans, it’s no guarantee that I will beat Stevelmans. Styles make fights and fight-maths is the world’s most unreliable science,” he says.

“As far as I am concerned he is the hardest guy I’ve ever faced. This is the biggest fight of my career, and I am going to go in there and look to put a whipping on him.”

GLORY 12 NEW YORK takes place this Saturday November 23 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York. The event airs live across the US on SPIKE TV and will be broadcast in more than 170 territories around the world.