THE MACHINE: ‘I CAN KNOCK ANYONE OUT’

Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie (39-3-1, 19 KO’s) has blasted his way up the lightweight rankings since making his debut for GLORY in October last year.

Four wins, two of them by knockout, catapulted him into the number four spot and booked him a place in the GLORY 12 NEW YORK Lightweight Championship Tournament taking place on Saturday, November 23 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

“Los Angeles was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed fighting in the USA, the people were great and the fans were really good so I can’t wait to go back,” Ristie says of his US debut, which took place at GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES last month.

“Madison Square Garden is a really famous venue, many famous boxers fought there, some of my favorite boxers fought there. So it’s an honor for me to fight there as well and I want to live up to that. I’m going to put on a very special performance for the venue and for the fans.

“My favorite boxers are Roy Jones Jr, Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and of those three I think Roy Jones is the best ever. He has such a different style and he was so fast. But you don’t get guys like Jones Jr. in boxing any more.

“I know he fought in Madison Square Garden five or six times as well, so it’s cool that I get to fight there also. I watch his fights all the time, every day, and I try to do the things he does, get fast like him and get the speed in the hands. He’s a very good boxer.”

The GLORY 12 NEW YORK tournament, which airs live across America on SPIKE TV, will commence with two semi-final fights. One has Robin Van Roosmalen (30-5, 19 KO’s) facing karate stylist Davit Kiria (21-6, 6 KO’s), the other sees Ristie facing Giorgio ‘The Doctor’ Petrosyan (78-1-1, 35 KO’s), widely agreed to be the pound-for-pound best fighter in kickboxing.

Petrosyan has lost just once in his career, a controversial defeat in Thailand early in his career. He is notoriously difficult to land clean blows on and has been compared to the boxer Mayweather Jr. more than once due to his airtight defense and evasive skills. But Ristie isn’t buying into the Petrosyan myth.

“I think there are many ways to beat him. I know that I come to fight and he doesn’t. I see him as a point-fighter. He only comes to make points and then he skips away. He runs away. I mean, he fights very smart but he doesn’t have anything else. He doesn’t have power,” says the Suriname fighter.

“With Petrosyan I think you don’t need to worry about being knocked out. He doesn’t come for a hard fight. He only wants to fight smart and run away. That’s not my style - I come to fight and give you pain.

“I have watched him many times now and I see mistakes in him. I think I can knock him out when I get him. I know that if he does something in the fight which shows me one of those openings, I might not get it the first time but I will get it the second time.

“When I fight you, I watch you all the time and when I see you make some certain reactions, I remember them. Then the next time I make you react like that, I will get you with something. And I see things in Petrosyan. He didn’t face anyone like me.”

Ristie has no doubts that he will be booking himself a spot in the final by beating Petrosyan. The other finalist will be provided by the winner of the Van Roosmalen vs. Kiria fight. Those two fought once before, on a Russian event in 2011, with Van Roosmalen taking a decision win.

Both are very different fighters now. At that time Kiria had no long emerged from the Kyokoshin Karate tournament scene, while Van Roosmalen has gone from strength to strength and recently supplanted Petrosyan as #1 in the rankings following a busier year in the ring.

Ristie finds it hard to predict a winner in that fight - but says he doesn’t care who wins it anyway.

“For me it’s not a problem, it doesn’t matter which one of them wins and makes it to the final against me. But if I had to put $100 on that fight? Oh, that’s hard. I know Van Roosmalen won a decision over him in 2011 but Kiria has changed since then and now he’s really going in there to win,” he says.

“So it’s going to be a very tough fight… I think I would put my money on Van Roosmalen just because I think he is a more complete fighter and more experienced. But we will see what happens on the night.”

For Ristie, November 23 in New York City is a chance to cement his legacy in the sport. His homeland of Suriname - also the birthplace of Tyrone Spong - is a hotbed of kickboxing talent, but Ristie didn’t start training until he was a young adult. He’s had a steady rise to the top and now, at 31 years old, is having the biggest fight of his career.

“I started late, I was 22 years old when I came into kickboxing and I was the underdog in every fight for a long time since then,” he says.

“But then I showed people who I am and what kind of a fighter I am. When you come and watch me you get an explosive fight. My style is very different, I know I am very difficult guy to fight against. For sure I can win this tournament and be number one. I can knock anyone out.”