World Champion Kickboxer Switches to the Noble Art
Kyle Williams
Kyle Williams is a former world champion Kickboxer who has now turned his hand (not feet) to the noble art of boxing. Kyle, 24 has had 6 pro kickboxing bouts winning 5 of them, the second Dan black belt from Wolverhampton has claimed the ISKA British, ICO European and ICO world titles as a Kickboxer.
Kyle has now started his boxing journey as a bantamweight and has won his first 2 fights and is looking to continue his unbeaten start. As a Kickboxer Kyle trained out of Eclipse & G.J.J centre Wolverhampton where he had trained since he was 6 and was coached by Fran Zuccala.
Now as a pro boxer Kyle trains out of Saxon gym Erdington Birmingham under the
tutelage of another former Kickboxer turned boxer and now trainer Tyler Shakespeare.
My first question for Kyle was how long he had been boxing? He told me “ I have been in training as a pro boxer for 15 months, however I have been kickboxing for 18 years”.
When I asked Kyle what inspired him to switch to boxing? Kyle informed me “l have always had a passion for boxing but do take great inspiration from my idol Floyd Mayweather. I chose to make the transition from kickboxing to boxing after I won my ICO world title belt, after this I found it difficult to find quality challengers and was inactive. I wanted to be active and felt I would be more challenged in boxing”.
I then asked Kyle what has been his hardest fight to date? Kyle told me “I would probably say my fight against German contender Ivan Freidenberg for the world title (kickboxing). On paper I was supposed to lose this fight, Ivan was very experienced and had fought in many different styles including, boxing, Muay Thai and K1. He had been unbeaten in his last 30 fights and was a very strong contender who pushed forward for the whole 12 rounds.
After fighting Ivan I knew I didn't want to get in the ring with just anybody, I wanted to come up against good strong fighters who brought new challenges to me”.
I talked to Kyle's boxing coach Tyler Shakespeare about and got his view
on his boxer, Tyler said "Kyle Williams has been with me just over 7 months now which has seen him in a short space of time go to 2-0 in the professional ranks. Since working together Kyle has shown me all the ingredients you like to see as a coach. He is very dedicated and is willing to learn on the job and is very open minded with regards to what it's going to take to get to the higher level and mix it with good company. I have full faith that Kyle will be a major talking point on everyone's lips in the near future as I can only see him improving with each fight he will take as he is not afraid to take a step up which will see him in a lot of crowd pleasing fights.
Kyle does not have a date for his next fight but is looking forward to getting back in the ring soon.
Dexter’s Thoughts
Kyle has hit the ground running with 2 straight wins in his boxing career and I'm sure his kickboxing career will help him continue his unbeaten record. With the might of Saxon gym and his coach Tyler Shakespeare things are looking good for the black country boxer.
When Kyle talked about his world championship fight against Ivan and on paper he was not supposed to win. This reminded me of my epic encounter for the Celtic Boxing Union Cruiser-weight title match against The unbeaten at the time 9 and 0 (8 by way of stoppage) Malcolm “The Show” Stowe. The only person to had gone the distance was myself in Malcolm’s and I’s first unlicensed fight. Malcolm got the verdict witch I still dispute to this day. I was the major underdog in our second encounter as my record was won 1 lost 1 drew 1, I was was the proverbially lamb to the slaughter. I had a good backing in the Irish centre that afternoon but I think there was only around 5 people who honestly thought I had a chance of winning.
To cut a long story short I asked Malcolm a lot of questions in this 6 round fight, mainly what happens to The Show if he can't knock his opponent out? I even managed to give him a standing 8 count in the final round. It was truly one of my greatest achievements in boxing, mission impossible complete.
I will add just for the record that 2 years later Malcolm and I fought again for the 3rd time where he managed to be the first person to stop me, doing it in the first round.
.I have nothing but respect for Mr Stowe and class him as a friend (but I still won that first fight Malcolm)