Marloes Merza promoted by Muay Farang in China
A beautiful reportage by Em Muay farang aka Emanuele Corti (Sitjemam gym/Muay Farang Northern Thailand):
A week after competing at the World Championships WMF PRO held in Pattaya, Marloes Sitjemam gym / Muay Farang Northern Thailand embraces the specialties that had launched her years ago in the Netherlands, competing this time under kickboxing rules (scheduled on the 3×3 distance).
We move then to Harbin, northern China close to the Russian border for an event of kickboxing and mma whose name is Kunlun Fight 3, which will see competing the best fighters out of Chinese representative against a selection from the rest of the world. Marloes will face Wang Kehan, who is presented as a strong opponent; we do not know much more than the name of the opponent, but we are sure it will be a good match.
Arrived in China we are impressed and almost taken aback by the magnitude of the event and the great professionalism of the promoter, which organizes our days before the fight night with great balance so as to alternate public commitments such as meetings with the press and sponsors, to the moments of training, without putting us under too much pressure. During the press conference, we get aware Marloes opponent is almost an idol in China,holding an impressive record of 20 bouts, 19 w 10 KO (single match lost on points during a war against “the golden girl” Jemyma Betrian, after, however, forced the dutch to the floor and counting the same twice during the match) and that the match of our girl will be ‘the second main of the evening to outline the fight that will see the famous Yi Long.
Curious note of the press conference is that at the end we are offered some free gadgets from one of the main sponsors (such as flash
drives and mobile phone covers) bearing the photograph of Marloes opponent Wang Kehan …. certainly this does not happen every day!! The match, televised live on Chinese television, as expectation starts very competitive, with the Chinese girl attacking with boxing combinations, incited by the crowd who wanted to see her put our Marloes KO in the first round. Luckily our girl did not worry, and despite not being the most accustomed to the rhythms of kickboxing, could manage to land some good kicks at the end of the first,finishing the round in catch up mode even though Wang Kehan appears ahead on the scorecards. During the second round Marloes somehow manages to turn the tables and go on the offensive especially with short distance’s knee strikes, which the Chinese do not seem to like answering furiously with powerful combinations of boxing, that our dutch boxer manages to contain anyway. At the third and final round changing of strategy by the Chinese landing some powerful low kicks, while Marloes responds with two front kicks to the face that shake Wang Kehan.
The round ends with two knees that almost impact on the nose of the chinese kickboxer …. unluckily thestrikes didnt go one inch closer, it would have been a stunning knock down at the end of the match. The match ends with the applause of the Chinese public for both fighters, which, to note, had initially welcomed the presentation of our athlete in the ring with the usual and absurd complete silence.Wang Kehan grabs a deserved win on points as a result of an incessant boxing work, more than likely there will be rematch planned on 5 rounds, certainly more favorable to the style a bit ‘”diesel” of our Marloes. Next bout for Marloes Sitjemam GYM / Muay Farang Northern Thailand on 13th April in Chiang Mai on live television against the World WPMF Champion Maesa Tor. Bumas, with the Northern Thailand belt 59kg on the line.
Chok Dee
