The final kickboxing event of the year, staged by Gladiators Promotions in Gżira last week, saw six fighters from the renowned Pro-Kick club in Northern Ireland engaged in a challenge against their peers from the local scene.

The Gladiators Night bonanza was another success for the organisers with the crowd present witnessing a series of well-contested and technical fights as the Maltese secured the World Kickboxing Network title belt with five wins, three of which by a knock-out.

The card on the day also included three supporting matches which were won by Darren Doneo (Ying Yang), Brandon Borg (Art of Fighting) and Christian Schembri (Wu Shu Ky).

Noel Azzopardi gave the local team the first point when he knocked down Steven Forde and Joseph Dimech added another victory for the locals when he took the verdict on points in his fight against Gareth Anderson.

The Isaac Chetcuti-Darren Pope bout was balanced but the former was awarded victory on points as Alex Coicoi then forfeited his match against Tyrone Borg in the third round.

The Northern Ireland team claimed their only victory on the night when Samantha Robb had the better of Lucienne Laferla Rosso in a very tight match that saw the judges ordering an extra round to determine a winner.

Meanwhile, the main event in programme, a pro fight with K1 rules, saw Daniel Zahra strengthening his reputation as a top fighter when downing Johnny Smith inside the opening round.

Smith started fast but he soon felt the full force of Zahra’s hits to the head, sending the Belfast kickboxer crashing to the canvas.

Back on his feet, Smith caught Zahra with a left uppercut and a hard body kick but the Ying Yang man was not to be denied and floored Smith a second time.

Billy Murray, Smith’s coach, decided to stop the fight with 45 seconds still left on the clock in the first round.