Local hoping to make mark in Bellagio fight

Training harder than he ever has and concentrating on improving his boxing skills, local K-1 fighter Tommy Glanville hopes to put it all together Saturday night in his fight against Raul Romero at Battle at The Bellagio III.

Glanville, a resident of Henderson, will be making his fourth K-1 appearance. In his last fight, he suffered a first-round knockout at the hands of Bob "The Beast" Sapp at Battle at The Bellagio II, on April 30. Sapp, a 6-7, 375-pound former NFL lineman, has become one of the superstars in what's quickly becoming one of martial arts fighting's most-exciting and respected circuits.

Glanville believes his brawl with Sapp (18-4, 9 KO's) was cut a little short.

"I was taking his (Sapp's) legs and he caught me," Glanville said. "He caught me with his wrist with a clothesline and he dropped me. I was getting up at the count of four but the referee stopped it."

Glanville and Sapp have developed a rivalry of sorts after Glanville's former cornerman and trainer Maurice Smith, the K-1 USA tournament champion, left him and began mentoring Sapp after he became K-1's newest golden child.

After heated words broke out between Glanville and Smith at a press conference before the April event, Sapp interjected and a shoving match between the two fighters ensued.

Glanville, who is 19-6 with 11 knockouts in all his fights and 1-3 in K-1 competition, is focusing on his match with Romero, who is the reigning Mexican K-1 champion.

At 6-2 and 294 pounds, Glanville has a definite size advantage over Romero, who weighs in at 220 pounds. If Glanville can defeat Romero, he will then set his sights on Ernesto "Mr. Perfect" Hoost, considered K-1's all-time greatest achiever.

"Hopefully, I'm looking for a fight at the end of September with Hoost," Glanville said. "He is the four-time Grand Prix champion and one of the legends in this sport."

With Las Vegas Boxing gym trainer Skipper Kelp now in his corner, Glanville has begun focusing on the boxing and punching aspects of the sport, along with improving his endurance.

"I feel great right now. I'm actually running," Glanville said. "I have been training extremely hard now. My cardio is much better. The aches and pains are still there, but there's not much you can do about that."

Glanville's martial arts discipline is muay thai, a fighting method that often puts more emphasis on kicking and leg sweeps than punching. In Thailand, muay thai is considered a bigger sport than baseball and football combined in the United States.

The heavily tattooed Glanville, who attended Long Beach State University and has played football and been involved in track in his past, hopes to put it all together now -- the punching, the kicking, the cardio and the psychology -- and rise to the top of K-1. If Glanville can beat Romero and knock off Hoost in the big match he seeks, a trip to Japan and a match at the K-1 Grand Prix World Finals at the Tokyo Dome may be on the horizon.

Glanville just turned 39 and knows the time to realize his dream is now.

"I think I can do this for at least two more years," he said. "The fighting part isn't difficult. The training part is. If you could fight without training, that would be the ultimate."

Besides Glanville, other Las Vegans will be competing in the Grand Ballroom at The Bellagio on Saturday.

Correctional officers Marvin Eastman and Anthony Brown and the city's most-famous K-1 fighter, Dewey "The Black Kobra" Cooper will also be fighting in the event, which will be available on pay-per-view television.

Glanville, who says he is now in the best shape of his life after "spending three years on the couch and ballooning up to 330 pounds," has a very interesting take on all the hard work he has done with Kelp to prepare for this fight.

"He (Kelp) is teaching me to box. I'm basically a kicker," Glanville said. "He's absolutely killing me, but in a good way.

"I hate him right now, but I'll hug him afterwards."


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