Yamo to headline Koroba fight show

WORLD Kickboxing Federation titlist Rickson Yamo will headline a show in his home district of Koroba, Hela, on October 29.
The 29-year-old, who beat Finland’s Jarrko Jussila in Port Moresby in September, 2014, for the belt has been inactive since then but his promotional company Powerhouse Promotions with the support of Benjamin Gibe, who kick started the fundraising for the event yesterday in Port Moresby with a cash injection of K50,000.
The show dubbed “Hela vs The Rest of the World” will feature eight elite local kickboxers, including Yamo, against fighters from around the world including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Europe.
Yamo said the show would be dedicated to the memory of Late Governor Anderson Agiru and appealed to the province’s local MPs to support the show which would showcase Hela to the kickboxing world.
The former Commonwealth Games representative said he would be rising up one weight class to welterweight  to fight for the vacant WKF belt.
Among the local talent Yamo hopes to recruit for the event are Muay Thai exponents Lee Henry Garap and rising star Jonathan Tuhu.
Yamo (26-1, 25 knockouts) said he would be fighting a Moroccan while other local names on his card include David Lawe, Bostony Elo, Paul Rollingston and John Ake.
Yamo said at the press conference in capital city that the event would need between K200,000 and K300,000 to stage.
Gibe said he was proud to be associated with the event and challenged the businesses and parliamentarians from the province to “chip in”.
“The show in Koroba will be a special one for the Hela people. We lost a hero earlier this year in Anderson Agiru so I feel this is a big event in the province that can bring us together,” Gibe said.
“This will be the biggest event ever in Hela and what’s K50,000. If I had more to give I would.”
He said with launching fundraising drives sponsors were more inclined to get behind a cause if the organisers showed intiative.
Yamo said there was also plans to have the bouts broadcast on television for fans in PNG and overseas to watch.
The fundraising drive will continue on July 29 with a dinner at a hotel in Port Moresby with tables going for K5000 each.