MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fighter Edward Kelly spoiled Vincent Latoel’s featherweight debut by thumping the Dutch veteran in the co-headliner of ONE Championship’s “Titles and Titans” event on Saturday, August 27 at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Kelly, a 32-year-old Baguio City native who is the youngest brother of renowned homegrown talent Eric Kelly, knocked out Latoel with a wild hook, dropping the longtime Dutch combatant flat on his back and forcing referee Olivier Coste to halt the featherweight contest at the 0:57 mark of the second stanza.
Although Latoel lauded a Dutch kickboxing pedigree and a 36-fight experience, Kelly did not back down from a gritty stand-up exchanges and traded vicious strikes with his seasoned counterpart.
Knowing the background of his foreign opposition, Kelly maintained his distance early on and created angles to tee off his quick sidekicks and crisp leg kicks.
With Latoel walking through every crackling strike from Kelly, the Pinoy standout attempted to score a takedown for safety measures and tightly clinched along the cage fence.
As the referee restarted the action in the center of the cage, Latoel bombarded Kelly with a left jab-right straight combination and then tagged his Filipino foe with a thunderous head kick.
In the dying seconds of the first frame, Latoel nailed a hard jumping knee that forced Kelly to fasten a body lock to avoid danger.
Reeling from his frustration to put away his opponent in the first round, Latoel carelessly surged in the opening moments of the second period, where he looked to clobber Kelly with brusque kicks to the legs and body.
As Latoel leaped for a flying knee to the head, Kelly made sure that he had a small space to land a swift left hook and a follow-up right cross to shut the lights off on the rushing Dutch.
With the impressive victory over Latoel, Kelly improves his prizefighting win-loss slate to 8-3 and is now riding high on a two-bout winning streak.
Meanwhile, Latoel downgrades to a 16-18-2 record and has lost two-straight outings inside the ONE Championship cage. – Rappler.com