John Wayne Parr debuted on Bellator Kickboxing in the best way possible with a second round head kick KO of Italian opponent Nando Calzetta. With little time remaining in the round, Parr faked an inside thigh kick to quickly switch to a roundhouse kick, brutally flooring Calzetta.
.@johnwayneparr is a bad bad bad man… #BellatorKB5 pic.twitter.com/mlnTONho4h
— Bellator Kickboxing (@BellatorKB) April 8, 2017
The fight opened with Calzetta using his superior speed and footwork landing a good number of leg kicks on Parr, who concentrated mainly on his boxing. Calzetta pushed the pace early on, looking to halt any forward movement from Parr with those quick leg kicks landing cleanly each time. Parr still managed to land some heavy hands as the round progressed into the later stages. The round came to a close with a flurry of punches from both fighters looking to score the big knockout shot that never quite landed.
The second round started much like the first with Calzetta again working on Parr’s legs, while Parr managed to land some significant punches that did little to stop the forward movement of his opponent. It was Parr who took the chance to set the pace midway through the second as he began to walk Calzetta down and apply pressure with some classy boxing combinations. Both fighters continued to exchange bombs before Parr was able to time his roundhouse kick perfectly knocking out Calzetta with just one second to go in the round.
The card’s main event featured a matchup between Italian superstar Giorgio Petrosyan and Romanian Fighter Amansio Paraschiv. The fight went the distance with Petrosyan taking the win via unanimous decision. The calm and professional Petrosyan showed why he is considered one of the best kickboxing fighters of the last decade as he landed clean and powerful techniques during the first round.
Amansio stayed light on his feet and moved around his opponent early in the second, but it was Petrosyan who was able to control the pace and counter perfectly. As the second round came to a close we were able to see Petrosyan dig into his bag of tricks, landing clean boxing combinations along with some great step-up knees to the body of Amansio. Two knockdowns in the final round on Amansio were more than enough for the judges to give the decision to an overly dominant Petrosyan.
The first fight on the card featured ex-Lion Fight star Gaston ‘The Dream Killer’ Bolanos in his Bellator Kickboxing debut. Having signed with the promotion back in November of last year, Bolanos has since made his MMA debut on February’s Bellator 172 with a TKO win over Abner Perez in the first round. Bolanos proved very quickly why he will be an asset for the Bellator organisation with an impressive decision victory of Italian fighter Luca D’lsanto. While D’lsanto never gave Bolanos too much respect or took a backwards step, Bolanos was just a class above his opponent landing impressive combination after combination. Countless head, liver and leg kick attacks from Bolanos were more than enough to get the unanimous nod from every judge.
Results:
- Giorgio Petrosyan def Amansio Paraschiv via Decision (Unanimous)
- Denise Kielholz def Michieletto Martine via Decision (Unanimous) – Bellator Kickboxing Women’s Flyweight Title
- John Wayne Parr (Australia) def Nando Calzetta via KO, Rd 2
- Musta Haida def Enriko Kehl via Decision (Split)
- Gaston Bolanos def Luca D’lsanto via Decision (Unanimous)
