Lockport’s Amer Abdallah improves to 13-0 with TKO win over Cleveland’s Tiawan Howard at the Kenan Center Arena
By John D’Onofrio Lockport Union-Sun & Journal
LOCKPORT —
It took just 15 minutes — that’s five rounds in the kickboxing world — for Tiawan Howard to decide he’d had enough of Lockport’s Amer Abdallah, who survived a nasty cut over the left eye to earn a technical knockout win over the tough Cleveland mixed martial arts veteran.
Howard (16-6) failed to answer the bell for the sixth round in the main event of Saturday night’s professional light heavyweight kickboxing bout at the Kenan Center Arena as the Lockport gym owner Abdallah remained unbeaten — and more importantly, took another giant step towards a possible world title bid — before a large, vocal partisan crowd.
Among other big winners in the 11-bout card were Lockportians Pat Thompson and John Calixte.
Abdallah (13-0), the reigning World Kickboxing Eastern United States light heavyweight champion, was in control throughout the WKA-sanctioned, seven-round main event, but a cut over the left eye may have made some fight fans anxious as to the outcome.Both fighters landed leg kicks and punches to the head in the sizing-up opening round, but one of them apparently caught Abdallah over the left eye and by the second round, Lockport’s U.S. champion was bleeding profusely.
Abdallah came out aggressively the rest of the way and began a well-calculated offensive attack that keyed on delivering body shots to Howard, who is known for his Tyson-like power in the ring.
The affect was immediate and Howard started backing away from Abdallah, who was more than happy to move in and deliver more blows.
Great work from the Abdallah corner kept the bleeding from becoming a factor, as Howard teetered on verge of getting knocked out several times over the next two rounds. A third-round uppercut felled Howard for the first time as referee Joe Pagan stepped in to give the out-of-towner his first of three standing-eight counts.
In the fourth, a powerful right hand to the head again floored the Clevelander, but as Abdallah moved in for the kill, Howard was saved by the bell.
But Abdallah’s vicious leg kicks to the body were taking their toll on Howard, who was spitting up blood between rounds in his corner by now and barely answered the bell for the fifth round.
Relentless Abdallah punishment in the fifth closed out the fight. A left leg kick to the stomach dropped Howard one last time and when the bell rang, Howard stumbled back to his corner. Moments later, Howard’s corner threw in the towel and Abdallah celebrated another giant step towards accomplishing his dream.
“I want to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our wonderful sport,” Abdallah told the large crowd after the fight. “I’m proud to be from Lockport. A special thanks to all of our sponsors, to my team and my family.”