► After mastering karate, underexposed sport is invigorating to area athletes.
By DAVID CARAVIELLO
Staff Sports Writer
Six months ago, Tom and Roger Gray were ready to give up martial arts. The Grays, both black-belts, had mastered karate and the challenge was gone. Almost by chance, they came upon the underexposed sport of kickboxing. Now their trainer savs.
Tom, 29, and Roger, 22, will fight tonight outside of Atlanta in a Professional Karate Commission championship event. Tom will be challenging for a welterweight title. Roger will have the opportunity to fight for a title in his class, light middleweight, in three months. Both have found the challenge invigorating.
“We had competed in point-karate for years, and had won state championships,” Roger said. “We were looking for something on a higher level. We didn’t think there was anything else out there, and we were starting to get discouraged.”
“This is something I’ve been wanting for a long time,” said Tom, who is with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Department. “We were certainly pleased to find out that Mike had something to offer us in this area.” Mike is Mike Carlson, an Augusta attorney who trains the Grays at Noah Newman’s North Augusta Boxing Club. Even he is surprised at how far the brothers have progressed in only six months.
“They were getting ready to get out of the martial arts altogether,” Carlson said. “They came down to the boxing club here as a last resort. It’s like night and day. They came in here and were typical stop-and-go karate students. Now people fear them.”
Tom will fight undefeated champion Jim Thomas tonight in Douglasville, Ga. He expects nothing less than a victory. “I’ve been training hard,” he said. “I expect to come back with a title.” Roger will be fighing Shannon Kirby in his light middleweight match tonight. He said despite the mystery surrounding kickboxing, his friends have been supportive of his endeavor.
“Most people are intimidated by martial arts anyway, because they don’t understand it,” he said. “But I’ve gotten a lot of support from people that I know, friends and stuff.”
Bouts in amateur kickboxing consist of three two-minute rounds. The events are judged on a system which awards the winner of the round 10 points and the loser no less than seven points. Judges look for prowess in punching, kicking, ring control and aggressiveness, with special emphasis placed on kicking.