Petrosyan Mania, Giorgio in Milan against Aydin at the Palalido

Six months after his last match, Giorgio Petrosyan, one of the greatest kickboxers of all time, will return to the ring on Saturday at the Allianz Cloud in Milan. The event will be called Petrosyan Mania Gold Edition and is organized by his brother Armen, also world champion of Kickboxing (live from 6.00 pm on Live Now and on demand from Sunday on Eleven Sports). A great sporting event, given that Petrosyan fights only once a year in Europe and does so only in “his” event, and also worldly with the confirmed presence at ringside of characters such as Emis Killa, Tony Effe and Federica Panicucci (all Kickboxing practitioners), Fred De Palma, Lazza, Massimiliano Vieri and many other protagonists of music and sport.

King George

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Obviously all the attention is for the match of “the doctor”, the athlete who has won everything that one of his generation could win except a title, that of the Asian promotion One Championship, the number 1 organization in the world for kickboxing. In One in 2019 he had won the Grand Prix with a million dollar prize but the match for the real Featherweight title (-70 kg) was offered for the first time by One only last October and unfortunately for the Italian star it did not end well. Against the Thai champion Superbon Banchamek he suffered a bad knockout at the beginning of the second round: a precise and powerful kick to the head, which caused Petrosyan a double fracture in the chin. For him it is the third defeat in an 18-year career and 111 fights. It hadn’t happened for 8 years, when he lost to Andy Ristie at Madison Square Garden, a debacle that Giorgio would have quickly wanted to avenge but it was never possible to organize that rematch. The rematch with the Thai, on the other hand, seems only a matter of time as they both remain under contract with One and that fans all over the world can’t wait to see them fight together again.

The opponent

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Waiting to know when it will happen, Petrosyan returns to the ring in Milan against the Turkish based in Paris Fatih Aydin, an athlete with several international matches behind him, also at the legendary Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok, and also experience in boxing. From this derives the main feature of him in combat, namely the powerful hooks to the face. A match that will say a lot about Petrosyan’s full physical and mental recovery. But the card still includes other matches of absolute international value: in the co-main event (kickboxing -72 kg) the Armenian transplanted in Belgium Arman Hambaryan, multiple world champion and former fighter of the prestigious Asian promotion Kunlun, will clash with the Ukrainian Igor Kozak, who has lived in Naples for 22 years, so much so that he has a strong Neapolitan accent, who with his team, Pro Fighting, is doing his utmost to collect humanitarian aid for relatives who have remained at home

The other meetings

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Before them to the limit of 73 kg the Swiss Hysni Beqiri, former fighter of the famous promotion Glory and professional boxer, against the Genoese Claudio Ivaldi who boasts considerable international experience. One of the most titled Italian Kickboxers, Silvia la Notte, “Little Devil”, is also back on stage in her Milan, who between kickboxing, Muay Thai, boxing and French boxing in her career has won 15 titles in the World and European Championships. This time she will have in front of the young Albanian promise Joana Kiptiu. The Petrosyan brothers then wanted to bring two other athletes from their native Armenia. One is Zhora Akopyan, former Muay Thai Junior World Champion, who will face the Italian Daniele Iodice, and Sargis Vardanyan (pro record 6-1 with 4 KOs) who will face Francesco Moricca in an Mma match. Finally, on the card there will be two athletes of the Petrosyan Team, engaged in the Italian pro title: Andrea Festa who will challenge Emanuele Lulaj in the -78 kg and Fabrizio Ruggiero, against Antonio Gravela for the belt in the -62 KG.