Melvin Manhoef Forced to Vacate It's Showtime 85 KG. MAX Title
by Brent Ducharme on Mar 31, 2011 7:46 PM EDT
in It's Showtime News
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Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist Melvin Manhoef has been forced to vacate his It's Showtime title following a roughly nineteen month period without a title defense.
Manhoef has only competed in two kickboxing bouts since winning the 85 kg. title against Denes Racz in August 2009, losing a decision to Remy Bonjasky at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 in September 2009 and being knocked out by Gokhan Saki in a 95 kg. bout under the It's Showtime banner in May 2010. The Suriname-born fighter has also had four MMA bouts in that time, going 1-3 along the way.
News of the title being vacated came via the It's Showtime website:
As of today, the IT’S SHOWTIME world title 85kg max is vacant.
Melvin Manhoef was in possession of this title from August 2009. However, due to various reasons he hasn’t been able to defend his title. An IT’S SHOWTIME world champion has to defend his title within 1 year, and IT’S SHOWTIME is able to extend this period with another year. Because the term of maximum extension will end next August, we have decided to make this title vacant immediately.We don’t know yet when and between who the next 85kg max title fight will be. Also it is not an impossibility that Melvin will fight for this title in the future.
Fraser Coffeen over LiverKick.com offered some thoughts:
While it's unfortunate to not see Manhoef competing, this is a good move. It's Showtime is really working on emphasizing their titles, and making sure that they are held by champions who will defend them. I'm glad they are sticking to their contractual promises regarding title defenses, and look forward to seeing what is next in this division.
The issue of title defenses has historically been a weak spot for It's Showtime. Hesdy Gerges has had one bout - a non-title affair - for the promotion since the Badr Hari incident. Tyrone Spong hadn't defended his 95 kg. title in over two years before having it stripped. In fact, Dmitry Shakuta should have the most title defenses for It's Showtime, having defeated both Gregory Choplin and Sem Braan in defense of his 77 kg. title before being dispatched by Cosmo Alexandre.
It definitely is correct to view this as another another solid move for It's Showtime. The promotion is clearly encouraging activity among champions. Chris Ngimbi will defend the It's Showtime 70 kg. MAX title in Lyon against Willy Borrel. Danyo Ilunga is already set to defend his 95 kg. title against Nenad Pagonis in Warsaw. Hesdy Gerges will finally defend his title against Alexey Ignashov in Russia.
What's more, looking over their fight cards, it is evident that the promotion is pushing toward some massive bouts and they're building some homegrown names along the way. Danyo Ilunga went from a fairly obscure Congolese-German prospect to major titleholder overnight. Marat Grigorian built on past success while impressing in his victory over Severiano Rijssel in Brussels; he can now look toward Lyon, where he'll face Yohan Lidon at 73 kg. for It's Showtime's newest title. Karim Bennoui also put on a brilliant performance in Brussels, taking Sergio Wielzen's 61 kg. title along the way. These fighters are certainly not the extent of the talent which It's Showtime can bring along either.
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What's Melvin doing?
banking on Strikeforce? Thinking K-1 is coming back from the dead?
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Hard to say.
I’d be inclined to think that he may have been banking on Strikeforce a little bit for a while. He did an interview a couple months ago where he was talking about either defending this title or fighting in a Strikeforce middleweight tournament some time late spring or early summer. Of course, we’ll never see that tournament and that title defense ain’t happening now. As far as K-1? It’ll be a little while, but I think it’ll happen.
Either way, I can’t see this situation creating too much of an obstacle for him fighting for It’s Showtime in the future. If we apply that whole notion of a promotion putting on interesting but largely meaningless fights or really trying to bring order to its divisions, it seems like It’s Showtime is moving a lot closer toward the latter than they’ve been in the past. If I’m right about that, they really need the talent and, in the long run, the name fighters like Manhoef. Especially in a division that thinned out.. I think they had two bouts at 85 kg. since Manhoef won that title back in 2009…. Then again, who knows how Manhoef’s side takes the whole thing.
by Brent Ducharme on Apr 1, 2011 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions
i love what ItsShowtime is doing
Trying to keep value to their titles i just feel they have a lot of weight classes which are very thin and lacking competitors, well skilled competitors.
85kg. Belt was made for Manhoef if he went more up he gave up a lot of reach and he cant make that up by technique or speed. I really hope he is focussing on Kickboxing, maybe SF pays better than ItShowtime.
Favourite MMA fighters: Paul Daley, Thiago Alves,Edson Barboza, Jose Aldo, Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, Anthony Pettis, Brandon Vera, Melvin Manhoef,Joe Lauzon, Bas Rutten,Chris Lytle, Shogun, Phil Davis, Terry Etim.
Favourite Kickboxers: Tyrone Spong, Badr Hari, Gokhan Saki, Artur Kyshenko, Mohammed Khamal, Mosab Amrani, Khalid Bourdif, Andy Souwer, Nicky Holzken, Leroy Kaestner,Faldir Chabhari, Peter Aerts, Murthel Groenhart, Giorgio Petrosyan, Buakaw Por. Pramuk.
by robinhorobson on Apr 1, 2011 7:00 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
I think that focusing on legitimizing the divisions is a great thing.
It’s particularly important since It’s Showtime is the front-runner in the world of kickboxing at the moment.
I think that everything outside of 70 kg. and heavyweight is bound to be a little thinned out, with the recent history of the sport being what it is. That said, there’s a good amount of global talent across all the divisions, it’s just a matter of fighters first being recognized and then given the proper stage to be exposed to the fans. The promotion has done a good job of doing that with guys like Bennoui and Ilunga. They definitely still need the big names around though.
by Brent Ducharme on Apr 1, 2011 6:21 PM EDT up reply actions
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