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TERRENCE REASBY FIGHTS ODDS TO DEBUT
IN K-1
by Les Honig
When he agreed on short notice to
face mixed martial arts superstar Jerome LeBanner, returning to the
K-1 after a serious injury, Valor Fighting’s Terrence Reasby knew
that he faced nearly insurmountable odds. Still he savored the new
challenge; and his courage in coming to the aid of his new training
company has both impressed Japanese audiences as well as the fighting
organization he has now debuted in.
A former Ultimate Pro Wrestling
trainee who had his own lifetime credentials; having been an Iowa
state Golden Gloves boxing champ during his teen years and then a
successful mixed martial arts fighter amassing a 28-0 record here in
the States, Reasby was called on by Valor Fighting’s owner, Rick
Bassman as a possible replacement at July 17th’s Aruze
K-1 World GP 2004 when the originally scheduled fighter was forced to
cancel due to an injury.
“I had called Tom Howard on that
Monday just to say hi and see how things were going and I got a call
back soon after from Rick asking me if it was possible for me to
substitute. I replied that I’d be honored.”
With the fight to take place the
very next Saturday and coming off his own lower back injury which had
resulted in surgery just a month before, it was a gutsy decision but
one that the ambitious fighter relished.
Scheduled to leave the next day for
Chicago; then fly to Tokyo and then to Seoul for arrival on Thursday,
Reasby was upset to discover upon his arrival in Chicago that his
passport had expired just a few weeks earlier; and he was forced to
seek a departure delay till the next day so that he could visit a
Windy City passport agency for an emergency update.
With assurances that the procedure
would only take several hours and that he could depart at 1pm
Wednesday afternoon (now to arrive in Seoul Friday), he was forced
once again to postpone his remaining flights when the renewal took
longer than expected.
“I had to call Rick and let him
know that once again that a new ticket had to be issued.”
Now with a flight booked to San
Francisco and directly to Seoul, Terrence finally left Thursday for
the 17-hour flight; not arriving in the South Korean capital until
Saturday; with little time left for only the briefest of naps; then
last-minute intense training with cornerman and renowned fighter
Maverick, and meetings with the media before he had to head off to the
arena.
“Even though I was jet-lagged, was
still feeling some effect from my injury and hadn’t had much time to
prepare, I was still excited. As
I told the reporters when they asked me how it feels to go against a
top ranked fighter like Le Banner, ‘This is his comeback and this is
my debut. Anything can
happen. I have nothing to
lose and when a man gives his best that’s when he is at his most
dangerous. Let the best
man win!”
Despite a first-round K-O, Reasby
feels that he acquitted himself well and accomplished all the goals
that he and his trainer had set for him prior to the encounter.
“The odds were definitely against
me but my goal was to make a good accounting of myself even if I
didn’t win. To that end I was in the attack mode from the start. I threw
some good punches; blocked some good ones and put a lot of pressure on
him for much of the fight. And when it was all over I raised his hand
because I knew that night he was the better man.
Give me a year or two of hard training, however, and it very
well might be a different story.”
At 23, being the youngest competitor
to be featured in a K-1 superfight so far, Reasby hopes to make this
just the start of successful kickboxing and wrestling careers.
To that end, he hopes to be featured in future shows and grow
into a potent fighting talent.
“This is not the end but the
beginning for me,” Terrence Reasby says with determination.
Planning now to move back to L.A. to train both at UPW’s Raw
Center and at the Shark Tank, Reasby is sure to grow into a major
contributor to Valor Fighting’s future successes.
“Without the once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity provided by Rick Bassman, Tom Howard and K-1 I would never
have gotten this amazing chance,” says Reasby.
“I plan on doing everything humanly possible to justify that
confidence in me.”
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