ROOSMALEN: ''I’M GOING TO BE THE KING OF NEW YORK’’

If you look at a map of New York, you will notice how many of the region’s names are either fully Dutch or have a kind of Dutch feel to them. That is because the city of New York was originally known as New Amsterdam, having been founded by the Dutch in the early 1600s.

The city was eventually lost to the British but the legacy remains in names such as Harlem (there is a Haarlem in the Netherlands), Bronx, Stuyvesant and Rijker’s Island. The latter three owe their origin to the surnames of their one-time Dutch owners.

These days New York is neither British nor Dutch. Instead it is a world city and the cultural capital of America. If you can capture New York’s heart, it is said, the chances are you can capture the whole of America’s.

On Saturday November 23, the Dutch will be landing on Manhattan Island for one more war as Robin Van Roosmalen (30-5, 19 KO’s) and his team set out to win the GLORY 12 NEW YORK Lightweight Championship Tournament.

As if there wasn’t already enough symbolism at play for Van Roosmalen, the event is taking place at Madison Square Garden. Often called ‘The Mecca of Boxing’, the venue has hosted all the great names in boxing and more than fifty world title fights.

“It’s pretty cool, every big boxer had a fight there. So it’s nice to be on the same list, in a way,” says the stoic Van Roosmalen. “My favorite boxer from the past is Mike Tyson, he fought there many times. Nowadays? I like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto. I really like how Cotto fights.”

Mention of Mayweather Jr. is interesting because Van Roosmalen’s arch-rival Giorgio Petrosyan (78-1-1) is often compared to the champion boxer. The two are both noted for an elusiveness which makes them all but impossible to hit. Van Roosmalen - who may run into Petrosyan in this tournament - doesn’t agree.

“No. People say this about Petrosyan because they have a little bit of similarity but they are not the same. Mayweather comes to fight. He makes you miss and everything but if you watch him he comes forward and he makes the fight,” he says.

“Petrosyan is good at what he does but he moves backwards all the time, he makes you miss and he scores some points. He doesn’t move forwards, he doesn’t come to knock you out. So they are not the same.”

Van Roosmalen lost a decision to Petrosyan in last year’s tournament. At the time he was close to fury, believing that the judges should have ordered at least an extra round if not awarded him the win outright.

“I think I showed him too much respect in the first round. Then the longer the fight went on I got more of a grip on him and in the third round I definitely hurt him a couple of times. So I think I started too slow,” he says of the November 2012 fight.

“If I get him again in this tournament I am going to go straight to work in the first round and put the pressure on him. I’ve got some really good strategy for it now, me and my dad did a lot of work on my footwork and timing so this time it will be a different fight.

“I think I should have got at least an extra round but they gave the decision to Petrosyan. This time if we meet again, I’m going to treat the first round like it’s my extra round from the last fight.

“Did Petrosyan get extra points for being Italian in Rome? I don’t know. But the Americans like to see fights, not point-scoring, so that’s good for me.”

For a rematch to happen though, both Petrosyan and Van Roosmalen must get past their semi-final stage opponents. Neither faces an easy task. Petrosyan faces the hard-hitting Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie (39-3-1, 19 KO’s), a highly unorthodox fighter with great power, while Van Roosmalen must face the insanely tough karate stylist Davit Kiria (21-8, 6 KO’s).

Van Roosmalen fought Kiria once before, on a Russian card in 2011. He won a unanimous decision that time, but things have changed since then and he recognizes that Kiria will be a different package this time out.

“He’s been on every GLORY card that I have been on so I have been able to watch all his fights. I think he became a little bit better, maybe became a bit more explosive, a bit faster, but he fights the same way he always does. He just moves forward and stays busy. He does a lot,” Van Roosmalen says.

Kiria has become a GLORY fan favorite since his 2012 debut. His background in Ashihara Karate gives him a unique arsenal and tactical approach. He also has one of the highest work-rates in the sport, as Van Roosmalen has just observed. But it is his Mawashi Kaiten Geri (‘Forward Rolling Kick’) which has really gotten the fans behind him.

“I didn’t know him so at first I found his style weird but I won the fight clearly on points, so it worked out. He tried that rolling kick once or twice but it didn’t hit,” Van Roosmalen says.

“I like somebody who fights close, not at a distance, I think then you can have a great fight. Like my fight with Dzhabar Askerov. So it’s possible me and Kiria can have a great fight as well.

“If he wants to come close and stay close then I think I can hit him with the left hook. He is not a big puncher but you always have to be aware that anything can happen in a fight and it only takes one shot you don’t see and everything can change.”

Van Roosmalen is usually confident of predicting a knockout against anyone - he is, pound-for-pound, one of the hardest hitters in fight sport. But Kiria is so insanely tough that it would be unwise to boldly predict a clean knockout.

“Ah I don’t know. I really don’t know. I always go for the knockout but Kiria is a very tough guy. He is a hard guy, he can really take a shot. I will go for the knockout but we will see,” he says.

Petrosyan’s fight with Ristie will be a different fight to the one Van Roosmalen and Kiria will be having. Whereas those two will stand toe-to-toe for three rounds and slug it out, Petrosyan and Ristie will be staging a violent ballet of footwork and aerial bombardment.

“Ristie has a great chance. Everyone says Petrosyan is too smart but Ristie is unpredictable and he is really physically strong. He does a lot of crazy things, flying kicks and knees, crazy punches. So I think if he can use his reach to put the pressure on him then he has a good chance,” Van Roosmalen says.

“People say maybe he is too wild but nobody really knocked him out. He has a good record. I think against good fighters he fights well and against not so good fighters he performs not so good.”

Since losing to Petrosyan in last year’s Grand Final, Van Roosmalen has stayed busy and racked up winners against top-ranked opposition.

Petrosyan has been absent from the ring nursing some injuries, and so Van Roosmalen gradually acquired enough ranking points to replace Petrosyan at #1 and drop him to #2 in the lightweight (70kgs/154lbs) lists.

“Ah, that’s just a ranking number,” he says, modestly. “I want the belt. I want to prove to everyone that I am number one by wearing the belt, not by getting some ranking points.

“But I don’t necessarily need to beat Petrosyan to do that. If Ristie wins then I need to beat Ristie. It doesn’t matter whoever it is in the final, I beat them and then I am really number one. On fight night, I will be the King of New York.”

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