Zimmerman wins Heavyweight Contender Tournament
Putting four of the world’s hardest-hitting fighters into one tournament was only ever going to mean one thing: action.
That’s exactly how it turned out as the Heavyweight Contender Tournament played out at GLORY 16 DENVER. It aired across the US on SPIKE TV; two of the three fights ended in knockouts.
Errol Zimmerman was responsible for both of them. First he dispatched the Australian power-puncher Ben Edwards in the semi-finals, then did the same for Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva in the final.
His efforts won him the tournament prize - a slot in the Heavyweight Championship Tournament later this year - but what really mattered to Zimmerman was the trophy.
Winners of Contender tournaments are awarded a replica of a trophy which was awarded to the legendary Ramon Dekkers in Thailand twenty years ago.
Zimmerman was coached by Dekkers from around 16 years of age, nearly half his life ago. Dekkers’ sudden death last year badly affected Zimmerman. He still trains in the same gym that Dekkers trained him in.
“This was so emotional for me. I had to win this tournament and bring this trophy home to our gym where it belongs,” Zimmerman said afterwards.
“I could not imagine allowing this trophy to go to Russia or Brazil, you know? It had to come home with me and I was going to do anything I could do. I even said that if I did not win the cup I would have to quit fighting, you know? It meant everything to me.
“The spirit of Ramon was with me there tonight, I could feel it. All the time coming up to this tournament I could feel him with me. After I stopped Edwards, he told me he was happy for me that I got the win and was able to honor Ramon that way.
“That set me off, I was crying in the ring. I went back to the dressing room and I was emotional but I composed myself. I felt great coming out for the final with Anderson. I knew it was my fight, tonight was my night.”
With the win Zimmerman finds himself entering the Heavyweight Championship Tournament later this year. That line-up will include both Rico Verhoeven and Daniel Ghita, both of whom have recently inflicted losses on Zimmerman.
“I want rematches with them both, I am ready. There is a score to settle so I advise them both to be careful,” he smiled.
The semi-final win over Edwards came after the pair of them dispensed with any sort of tactical approach and went at it the way they do best. Heavy shots were given and accepted, both sides of the dispute taking blows which would have felled lesser men.
Zimmerman had his chin tested solidly at least once but powered through it to pile destruction on Edwards and send him crashing to the canvas. Once that first knockdown was scored a finish seemed inevitable.
Edwards nearly scored it, rocking Zimmerman, but then the Curacao fighter hit two big right hands which dropped Edwards and put the fight to a finish under the two-knockdown rule which applies to GLORY tournament fights (except the final).
The tournament’s other semi-final was an instant classic, a contender for Fight of the Year and Comeback of the Year.
Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva has had enough of being the division’s nearly-man. He consistently comes close to establishing himself as one of the division’s apex predators but he never seems to be able to secure that status.
He said he trained hard for this tournament and the match with Russian bear Sergey Kharitonov and he wasn’t lying. Silva’s boxing looked light years ahead of what it has in the past; in the first round he gave Kharitonov the worst mauling he has had since the loss to Ghita in 2009.
In particular Silva’s right uppercut looked to be a killer blow and any fighter other than Kharitonov would surely have been taken out by the way it landed flush repeatedly. Kharitonov is extremely tough and he proved that by getting back into the fight after nearly being blown away.
Silva had to dig deep to halt Kharitonov’s resurgence; it took everything he had to keep control of the fight and even the latter half of the third round had the Russian in the driving seat and piling on the pressure.
He won the fight but it was a hard battle and that surely won’t have helped him when it came to facing Zimmerman in the final.
