The four-man Welterweight Contender Tournament goes down this Friday at GLORY 19: VERHOEVEN vs. ZIMMERMAN.
Nieky Holzken (85-11, 45 KO’s), Raymond Daniels (25-1, 15 KO’s), Alexander Stetcurenko (51-10, 24 KO’s) and Jonathan Oliveira (20-3, 11 KO’s) are fighting it out for a shot at the welterweight title. One man who be watching tomorrow’s fights very closely indeed is welterweight champion ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini (12-2, 10 KO’s).
“I think it’s an interesting tournament, four top guys competing to take a shot at my belt. Everyone brings a different strength to the table,” he says.
“Holzken is obviously the favorite but Raymond Daniels is very creative and it seems to me from when I fought him that he has been working heavily on certain parts of his game; he’s probably the other favorite.
“Oliveira I don’t know much about but for him to be here speaks for itself, he’s worthy of that spot. He’s kind of new in GLORY so I haven’t really had a chance to study his game but from what I see, I have Daniels ahead in that fight.
“Stecurenko’s last win in GLORY was against Karim Ghajii and that alone says something because Karim is top fighter. But I see a Nieky Holzken/Raymond Daniels final. Whoever wins will be a worthy contender for my title. Obviously I have fought them both before and I am confident whoever I face I can retain my title.”
Holzken is ranked #1 in the contender listings but was last seen in the GLORY ring in December 2013, when he won the welterweight tournament at GLORY 13 TOKYO. Ironically it was Valtellini who Holzken beat in the final, stopping him in the third round.
At the time, GLORY considered champions and tournament champions to be two distinct things. So the World Welterweight Championship was vacant at the start of 2014, as were the titles in the other five weight classes.
Holzken was in a car accident in January and was forced to spend six months recovering, during which time the belt made its way first to Marc de Bonte and then to Valtellini at GLORY 17. It was frustrating for Holzken to sit out and watch others contend for a title he felt should rightfully be his.
Valtellini can see where Holzken is coming from, but at the same time thinks the Dutchman should not feel too hard done by. He takes the view that tournaments are their own closed world and that results in a tournament competition do not necessarily have any bearing on fighters’ non-tournament standing against each other.
“That fight was a tournament final. Nieky was used to tournaments but they were a new thing for me and also it was the first time that I had been to Japan. Even fighting internationally was new to me - my first overseas fight was GLORY 6,” he says.
“Tournaments don’t always reward the best fighter either, because there are so many variables and so much can happen on the way to the final. And you can also look at it and say he had more experience than me, it was my first tournament, he had an easier first fight, he had more time to recover from his semi-final fight than I did… there’s a lot of things could be said.
“I went in there and I fought a Fight of the Year. But I only had a 20 minute break from my previous fight and so yeah, I think a little bit of power had gone from me and my main weapon is my leg kicks, they weren’t as powerful.
“So when you have a fight with someone when you’re both fresh, that’s a different fight. Nieky and his fans can say what they want but at the end of the day I am the champion and I have the belt. He is coming for that but I don’t intend to give it away.”
Valtellini is unperturbed by Holzken’s comments about him being “very lucky” to be champion.
“Nieky had opportunities to fight for the belt but couldn’t take them up because of his shoulder injury. But the division doesn’t stop just because somebody is injured. I think that what I have done in the sport, not many people have done before. In under 15 professional fights I have won a world title. I am very proud of that, nobody has really done what I have done,” he says.
“And the amount I have improved since that first fight with Nieky…I’m kind of excited to show it. So whether it’s Nieky or Raymond or whoever that wins, I am a better fighter than anyone in that tournament and I think that belt will stay around my waist.”
GLORY 19: VERHOEVEN vs. ZIMMERMAN takes place Friday, February 6 and airs live inthe US on Spike TV at 9pm ET/8pm CT.
It will be preceded by the GLORY Superfight Series 19 card, which airs live on pay-per-view HD stream priced at $20. The stream also includes the GLORY 19: VERHOEVEN vs. ZIMMERMAN card and comes with one free replay inside the 24 hours after purchase.
