Tyrone 'King of the Ring' Spong won the inaugural GLORY light-heavyweight slam tournament in New York last weekend with two knockout finishes out of his three fights. The Amsterdam native, now relocated to The Blackzilians team in Florida, took home a check for $200,000 along with the tournament belt.
It wasn’t plain sailing though. Despite being the tournament favorite, Spong’s night looked like it was going to end very early when he was dropped in the first ten seconds by quarter-final opponent Michael Duut. But he recovered to deliver a KO blow of his own and move forward to the next stage and ultimately, the grand finale.
Congratulations on the tournament win and an excellent performance. As well as being a big night for yourself it was also a big night for GLORY as it marked the first live event in the US, which turned out to be an incredible success. Your thoughts on how the tournament went?
Winning the tournament was a big thing, three fights in one night and I won them all so I am very happy. I'm very happy to be the first light-heavyweight tournament champion in GLORY and I am also glad that I could help to promote the sport here in America.
I think we got some good attention and the fans who never saw it before were very impressed. So it’s going to be good for the sport.
Tell us what happened when Michael Duut dropped you with that punch, how near was the fight to being finished?
It was a good punch but I wasn’t stunned. I wasn’t stunned. I was a little bit off-balance, if you look at the tape I was trying to kick at that time and he knocked me off-balance. I knew he probably thought he had me and that he would then come at me, he is a very aggressive fighter. But I did what I had to do, I stayed calm and I finished the fight.
I was surprised though. He caught me sleeping a little bit, I started too relaxed I think. I knew he was going to come out hard, it was a big opportunity for him to try to beat me, but he still surprised me. Good for him.
You finished him moments after he dropped you, keeping him on the end of a straight left post and then firing the right hand over the top. How calculated was that finish?
That was something I learned to do throughout out the years, stay ready to defend yourself and counter attached. He tried to rush at me and I kept composure, got the distance and let the punch go and that was the fight finished.
A lot of people say that I am on another level, I don’t know if that’s the case but I do know that I work real hard and I am very talented and gifted in what I do. I work hard, I stay humble and I do what I have to do.
Your semi-final fight saw you face Filip Verlinden, who is said to be one of the fastest fighters on the GLORY roster. Yet you looked as fast as him and his speed didn’t seem to give you any issues. How was the fight for you?
I felt faster, I did. I saw some punches and I let him miss with good head movement and footwork. I fought a real smart fight with him because I know he is a very technical fighter and very fast, very intelligent.
The first fight was a short fight, Fillip saw my power and knew he had to fight smart to be able to win this fight. I knew coming into this fight that it was going to be a technical bout.
If someone is covering well… I compare it to a football game. If the whole team is playing defense then you aren’t going to get to the goal area. It’s the same with fighting; if someone is fighting like that it’s gonna be hard to find the space to score a knockout. That’s what happened.
But it was a good fight and I was able to show people that I am not just power, I have good technical skills and a good mind for fighting.
In between stages, and especially before the final, what are you doing - are you talking to your team, watching the fights, listening to music…?
I just did my own thing and at the same time I was talking to myself like ‘OK my man, this is the final, but treat it as a single fight.’ This was the last fight that I had to do so if I saw the opportunity for a finish I could take it, I am going at it right away, that’s how I do it in my single fights.
I knew he had two long fights before so that was in the back of my mind but still, a fight is a fight and anything can happen. Plus he is ranked number one at that weight. I just wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible and I wanted to do it impressively.
The final ended very quickly with the referee waving the fight off when most people thought it should just have been an eight count. It was a controversial finish and -
[Interrupting] I don’t see it as controversial, I think it was a fair stoppage. He was rocked badly. I know everybody wants to see the big knockout but at the same time the referee is there to protect the fighters. That’s what he did, he protected him because he was very bad, he was rocked bad.
He was probably going to get knocked out real heavy so I think it was a good stoppage. I was OK with it either way. If he had continued, I don’t mind knocking him out. But I have no complaints about this stoppage because I understand where the referee was coming from.
In your opinion there was no chance of Ilunga recovering and getting back into the fight?
There was no chance of him recovering. If you look back at where I unleash on him and the referee jumps in between, he was on wobbly legs, he was gone. After a while he gathered himself and was like ‘Nothing happened, nothing happened!’ but that’s a fighter, every right reacts like that.
No fighter wants to quit, if he is really a fighter, but that’s why you have coaches and referees to protect you. Our job is to fight, the job for the coaches and the referee is to protect the fighter and make sure nobody gets damaged.
What are you going to do with the $200,000 prize you won?
I’m gonna save some for sure but at the same time I am going to spend some of it on my kids and my family. And I like dogs so, I think on my dogs a little bit too. I have got eight dogs at the moment, all of them are pitbulls.
Actually me and my friend are talking about building a kennel to breed dogs here in Florida. We are looking at a property here in Florida. When its ready I will let you guys know and you can come take a look.
And now you’re going back to your usual heavyweight category?
We will see, heavyweight or light-heavyweight, whatever GLORY offers me I will consider. I will see if the offer is good and if it is then I will do it.
