At the end of the title fight between Paulo Bananada and Giovanni Diniz, event promoter André Pederneiras climbs into the ring and announces the death of his master Luiz Alves. Referee Johnny Edward, a pupil of Alves at Boxe Thai, collapses in tears. It was the years devoted to fighting that marked Louis’s life and, after more than a minute’s silence in the Bennett College theater in Rio de Janeiro, the greatest tribute to the warrior was really the fights at another edition of Shooto Brazil.
Title fight
Bananada and Giovanni Paulo Diniz, boxing coach at Nova União, had faced each other once before. Diniz won, but Bananada didn’t agree with the result. This time the fight was worth the belt and the one who got the better of the action was last time’s loser. While Giovanni tried to keep it striking, Bananada would close the distance and take to the ground. Once there he worked his opponent over from the top. In the second round there were moments of frank exchanges of punches, driving the crowd into a frenzy. In the final stage, Bananada could only hear his coach, Tata Duarte, shrieking: “Do it for your son,” he said. The fighter got the takedown again, but this time mounted and took Diniz’s back to secure victory by unanimous decision and, of course, the Shooto South America belt.
Bananada (right) and Giovanni brought the crowd to its feet. Photo: Carlos Ozorio
On to Japan
Shooto world champion Willamy Chiquerim didn’t have it easy. His opponent, Mikael Lähdesmäki, a Shooto fighter in Finland, was a hard nut to crack. The fight took place shortly after the announcement of the death of Luiz Alves and, as though in tribute, it was pure muay thai from start to finish. Over three rounds, Chiquerim pushed the action. Although his opponent responded in kind, the Brazilian landed the better blows claimed victory by unanimous decision. Now Chiquerim prepares to defend his Shooto world title, on May 30 against Yusuke Endo. And after that, as he revealed first-hand to GRACIEMAG.com, he’ll move on to Sengoku.
Wins from the foreigners
Two of the three international fighters were victorious. From Spain, Miguel Duran dominated the striking, landed on top and rained punches down onto Rafael Farias, who felt his rib cave in and gave up at the 3:40 minute mark. Irreverent, Duran did a celebration dance in the ring. Now the United States’ Rick Musgrave went on a full-blown striking attack. After taking the fight to the ground in the second round, he mounted Leandro Paulista and pummeled him until the fight was stopped at 3:32min.
Other bouts
Aquiles Campos and Diego Cruz made a lively bout. Young Diogo wasn’t about to give in easily and sunk a triangle, but Aquiles took the unanimous decision win after the closing bell. Fabiano Jacarezinho showed well-polished Jiu-Jitsu and worked well on the ground, taking the advantage to beat Jamil Silveira. Fernando Bruno made the quickest work of his opponent, sinking a guillotine one minute into his fight against Fernando Peixeiro. Otto Rodrigo used his takedowns and ground game to beat Felipe Lopes by unanimous decision.
Check out all the results:
Shooto Brazil
March 19, 2010
Bennett College, Rio de Janeiro
Paulo Bananada defeated Giovanni Diniz by unanimous decision
Willamy Chiquerim defeated Mikael Lähdesmäki by unanimous decision
Miguel Duran defeated Rafael Farias via TKO at 3:40 min of R1
Rick Musgrave defeated Leandro Paulista via TKO at 3:32min of R2
Aquiles Campos defeated Diogo Cruz via unanimous decision
Fabiano Jacarezinho defeated Jamil Silveira via unanimous decision
Fernando Bruno submitted Fernando Peixeiro via guillotine at 1:35 min of R1
Otto Rodrigo defeated Felipe Lopes via unanimous decision