Getting asked in the middle of the night if you want to fight for a kickboxing world title. It happened to the Tilburg top kick boxer Tayfun Özcan last week. Of course he said yes: “I’m ready. Next week that title will be shining next to me.”
Özcan is a big name in kickboxing and has dreamed of becoming world champion since his move to organization ONE. Normally he would have to knock other opponents to the ground first. But that was not counted on a nightly message from the organization.
“At night I was asked if I wanted to call. The opponent of the Thai lightweight world champion has dropped out and I was asked to fill in for him,” Özcan told the Omroep Brabant radio program De Zuidtribune on Sunday. “‘Wooow!’, I thought. Then you skip a lot of opponents. Now I can fight for the title right away.”
“Next week that title will be shining next to me.”
It’s not that Özcan has to suddenly get fit to fight Superbon. He was supposed to fight next week anyway, but against Marat Grigorian. According to Özcan, it is a switch. His new opponent is especially dangerous with his kicks. “They are completely different fighters.”
But the Tilburg kickboxer doesn’t mind. “I’m in the shape of my life and can’t wait to fight for ‘the belt’. I can have that Superbon. One hundred percent. Usually I’m underestimated, but then they come home from a cold fair.”
The game for the world title is on Saturday October 1 in Singapore.
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