By Jonathon Brodie

People who attended the Showdown in the Downtown on Saturday (Oct. 1) may have left the kickboxing event with a little blood on their clothing.

More than 700 people were in attendance for the four-bout International Kickboxing Federation card that included two world championship title defences.

The main event of the black-tie charity affair saw Burlington native Muzammal Nawaz (36-6-2) put his light middleweight belt (153-159 pounds) on the line against Shannon Hudson (29-1).

The fight was a rematch from two years ago when Nawaz kept his title against Hudson in a split decision victory.

The 31-year-old Shannon proved to be too much for his 42-year-old opponent the second time around though, in what Nawaz said was his final match.

Nawaz fought with mostly power, bull rushing his opponent with a barrage of punches and willing to take a few in the attacks until the sixth round when Shannon’s fists of fury caught up to Nawaz leaving him a bloody nose.

A series of hooks to the head and body dropped Nawaz twice at the midway point of the 12-round fight, leaving the champion exhausted and falling on his own in the final 30 seconds of the round. Nawaz failed to come out for the seventh round handing the light middleweight crown to his South Carolina opponent.

“I’m actually going to be at ringside for Shannon’s next fight cheering him on,” Nawaz said. “He is the world champion for right now and he deserves that.”

The super welterweight (147-153 pounds) championship was also on the table, with Brad Fowler (16-6) defending his crown against Mike Morello (14-6) in a bout that had the crowd at the London Convention Centre on their feet from start to finish.

Fowler had the London crowd behind him, in his first fight in his hometown, but it didn’t seem to discourage Morello, as the two seemed content with standing their ground and trading punches- testing the others chin.

Both opponents abandoned their kickboxing for large portions of the fight, using their boxing skills to throw heavy punches that dazed their opponent but it was a battle of heart as neither men were willing to go down by the end of the 12 rounds.

The hometown hero came out with the victory in a unanimous decision and after the fight announced his retirement.

“I knew it was going to be a good fight, I knew there’s was going to be times when I would have to box and throw a couple hard shots here and there and that’s what I did,” Fowler said.

Fowler wasn’t the only one showing off his fighting skills in front of the home crowd, as London’s middleweight (159-165 pounds) Jesse Ronson (7-2) was put on the undercard against Troy Sheridan, making his professional debut.

Sheridan put up a good fight but Ronson showed his years of comfort in the professional spotlight, gliding around the ring and having his rookie opponent swinging for air.

Ronson countered time and time again, leaving Sheridan with a bloody nose by the fourth and final round of the fight.

The hometown favourite took home the victory with a unanimous win.

To open the show, Theodora Pistolis (1-0) was taking her second test in the professional ring against Peterborough’s Anna Shearer in a featherweight (125-130 pounds) matchup.

It may have been Shearer’s first fight as a professional but it barely looked like it as she went the four-round distance against Pistolis, winning every round on all three judges scorecard to pick up her first win.

The Showdown in the Downtown helped raise money to support kidney disease research but with the punishment these fighters took throughout the night, it  will most likely be them needing to get their kidney’s taken care of.