Mwekassa and Cavalari talk tactics ahead of Dynamite showdown

Zack ‘The Black Warrior’ Mwekassa (13-2, 12 KO’s) says he will have some new things to show fans when they watch him in action against Saulo Cavalari (31-2, 19 KO’s) at ‘Dynamite’ on Saturday night.

The African light-heavyweight - “Africa’s most vicious puncher,” as he describes himself - spent an extended time in the Netherlands before this fight, working on rounding out his kickboxing game.

But he says there are things from his background as a professional boxer that he has not yet utilized in the GLORY ring, and he plans on bringing some out on Saturday.

“This time I think I will use some things that have been dormant in my game for a while. People watch you and think they know your game but there are some things I didn’t use for a long time,” he says.

“As well as that, I have done some very good work in Holland and I have really worked on closing the holes that I had in terms of my kicking game, more specifically my kicking defense. Things that maybe worked against me before will not work so well now.”

Traditionally, a kickboxer’s route of attack against a boxer will see him exploit the latter’s stance and lack of experience with kicking by going for his legs over and over with low kicks, destroying his base and making him hesitant to attack.

In Holland, Mwekassa says that his sparring partners “did try and attack my legs - at first. But I found ways to discourage that and by the end of [the camp] they were less enthusiastic about trying it.”

His background in professional boxing differentiates Mwekassa from the average kickboxer. Any shortcomings in his kicking game are balanced out by a ferocious punching power and an ability to work angles and setups to land them.

Mwekassa has scored some huge knockouts in GLORY with his left hook (Brian Collette, Carlos Brooks) and his left uppercut (Pat ’HD’ Barry). Both of them are very dangerous weapons, the left hook in particular.

“With the hook and uppercut it is more about timing and body placement. If he throws the jab, I see space for my left uppercut or my left hook. If he comes forward and I step back, he will walk onto my left uppercut,” he reveals.

“I don’t see it as something I am doing, I see it as the opponent’s body working against him. I don’t go looking for the left hook, it comes to me… and when I left hook you, you are out.”

In pre-fight interviews for this rematch with Cavalari, Mwekassa has talked about blaming himself for the KO loss he suffered at GLORY 18 OKLAHOMA. The two fought their way through the semi-finals to meet in the final, where Cavalari played a long-distance kicking game before landing a knockout left head-kick in the third round.

“Honestly, I was not so impressed with Saulo. He is a good kickboxer, he has kind of an awkward style I think, but in that fight he was just running away from me the whole time. He didn’t want to engage. He didn’t want to get into any exchanges with me, only run. It was disappointing,” says Mwekassa.

“I think that I was so high on my win over Brian Collette - because I was worried about him, I wasn’t worried about Saulo at all - that I was expecting to finish the fight [with Cavalari] by knockout quite easily. I lost concentration and he landed that kick. It won’t happen again.”

For his part, Cavalari says that Mwekassa is also in for some surprises on Saturday night. The Brazilian rejects any suggestion that he “ran away” in their first meeting (“How you can KO somebody by running away?” he asks) and says that his strategy was made up on the fly, testament to his versatility.

This time, he says, he has had a full camp to plan for Mwekassa and take a look at him.

“In Oklahoma I had a hard fight with [former world #1] Danyo Ilunga for three full rounds before I went into the final with Mwekassa. I am able to fight with strategy, not just power, so I fought against Mwekassa different to the way I fought against Ilunga. I have good hands but I have other skills also and that is what I used. That is what makes me a complete kickboxer,” he says.

“Last time I didn’t really study Mwekassa, but this time I did. I respect him as a fighter, I respect his punching power, but I am more complete [as a kickboxer] and I am feeling very confident. There will be explosions in the ring on Saturday.”

Bellator/Glory ‘Dynamite’ takes place this Saturday, September 19 and airs live in the US on Spike TV. Tito Ortiz, Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley, ‘King Mo’ Lawal, Linton Vasell and more feature.