Zack Mwekassa does not style himself “Africa's most vicious puncher” for nothing. The former professional boxer was heavyweight champion of Africa and also held an intercontinental championship. His ferocious punching power was confirmed numerous times in the square circle and again when he crossed over into – or rather, returned to – the sport of kickboxing. He starched Pat 'HD' Barry in the first round of their GLORY 16 DENVER contest, one of the most brutal finishes ever seen in the GLORY ring.
Bouzidi is a veteran of more than 100 professional fights and has fought a who's who of kickboxing royalty. At the start of his GLORY career he was at heavyweight and suffering mixed results, hovering around gatekeeper status, but dropping to light-heavyweight rejuvenated him and saw him go on a four-fight winning streak which brought him into title contention.
He was originally intended to face Artem Vakhitov in Amsterdam but the Russian suffered an injury in training and will not be back in action until October. Zack Mwekassa was brought in to replace him and the fight was for an interim light-heavyweight championship, with the winner being guaranteed a title shot on Vakhitov's return later this year.
Pre-fight build up being what it is, both fighters were encouraged to talk about each other's strengths and weaknesses. Constant talk of Mwekassa's boxing background prompted Bouzidi to observe that Mwekassa was a “powerful but not especially slick boxer” and an assertion that he would be happy to match boxing skills with him. Mwekassa expressed surprise, but also said he encouraged this line of thinking and hoped to see Bouzidi follow through.
As it turned out, Mwekassa's power made any lengthy exchange of skills impossible. He scored a knockdown early in the first via his trademark left. On the restart he knocked Bouzidi down again almost immediately. One more knockdown would seal the victory for him and he went after it with a vengeance. Bouzidi, badly rocked, back-pedalled and covered up while he sought to clear his head, but Mwekassa would not be denied. He trapped him in a corner, threw more bombs, cracked Bouzidi's guard and put him down for a third and final time.
It was mere seconds before Mwekassa joined Bouzidi on the canvas, though he was on his knees rather than his back. A wave of emotion clearly rushed through him as the import of the win sank in; when he rose from his knees he had tears running down his face and throughout his post-fight interview he struggled to maintain his composure.
“I just want to give thanks to god,” he said. “There are so many people watching me back home in Africa right now and I hope this can serve as an inspiration to them. Follow your dreams.”
Mwekassa also saluted Bouzidi. “It's a dangerous thing to say you don't respect my boxing. I respect him, he has fought everyone, but you don't say to an African heavyweight champion that you will box with him. That is wrong.”
'The Black Warrior' now moves forward to a title shot against Artem Vakhitov when the Russian returns from injury hiatus later this year. Bouzidi will take some time off to recover and consider what he wants his next move to be.
