Trench Tech proud of Fitial’s performance

Local fighter Kelvin Fitial may have lost in his pro fight debut Saturday, but the multi-sport athlete can keep his head up as he gave opponent Frank Manglona a good run for his money.

Despite Fitial only training a little over a month for the fight and his vigorous workout the day before the bout, he was able to work as the aggressor in the early goings of his bout in Fury V: Unleashed at the University of Guam Field House.

“I was very happy with Kelvin’s performance,” said coach Cuki Alvarez. “He did really good considering the time of training he had and his opponent is a seasoned figther that has been training in grappling for three years. Kelvin came out strong and was actually handling his opponent in his own game for about three minutes. He was able to get into a dominant position, but he didn’t really know how to finish from there.”

Fitial worked on his ground skills during training, with focus on defense.

“We were mainly teaching Kelvin defense because we thought the guy was going to be aggressor in the ground game. Instead Kelvin was able to take him down. He actually stumped him a couple of times on his face but the guy is a good fighter and was able to turn things around.”

Alvarez also explained that Fitial was already fatigued even before the start of the fight as he was tasked with losing 18 pounds on Friday.

“He was dehydrated because that day before the fight, he practically ran a marathon. We expected him to come in at 205 pounds, and he weighed in at 218 pounds. So Guam said if he does not lose 17 pounds, he wasn’t going to fight.”

Alvarez said Fitial was able to drop 14 pounds in just four hours after running and spending time in a sauna.

“He sweat out all the water in his body. Basically it was water loss. He went to a sauna to sweat out an extra three pounds. They really punished him. At first, they told us he could fight if he was 205 pounds, then they said 200 or under. His final weight was 204 and he was able to fight.”

As a result, Fitial was not able to stay as the aggressor of the bout as he tired out.

“It goes to show what kind of a warrior he is. Who in their right mind would go lose 14 pounds in four hours and still fight the next day. He didn’t want to give up. He fought to the finish. I was not going to throw in the towel…he still looked healthy. The guy was able to counter the attack and put Kelvin on the bottom…he was very tired.

“The guy is a very good ground player, and kept punching…the referee stopped the fight, but he did not give up. He even looked at the referee and said ‘what, I’m still fine.’ It’s the referee’s decision and we have to respect that.”

Fitial is currently on a short break before returning to train. He trained on Monday but was told by Alvarez to take some time off.