Thursday, July 15, 1999
Steele fighting for title
By Ben Henry
Special to the Star-BulletinNine years ago, amateur kickboxers Danny Steele and Miguel Reyes sparred, scuffled and slugged their way to a split decision, with Steele winning by a single point.
Tomorrow, they will fight to decide who will be the undisputed IKF World Welterweight Champion.
Steele, who is 30-5-2 as a professional, currently holds six championship titles. Reyes (26-5) holds one.
"It was a tough fight," said Steele, referring to their first meeting. "I don't know what to expect come Friday night. All I know is that he's a very good boxer and he's going to come at me."
Steele, a Kaiser High School graduate who was born in Vietnam, moved to Hawaii when he was 3. He grew up admiring the martial arts and realized that the prospects for a career in kickboxing in Hawaii weren't very good. So he moved to Los Angeles in 1993 and turned professional shortly thereafter.
"I'm very confident -- not in a cocky way, but in a way that I feel that nobody will get in the way of what I have to accomplish," he said. "I'm not going to take anyone lightly. When you get too confident, that's when (bad) things can happen. It's happened before, so I'm not taking Miguel lightly. But I have enough confidence where I think he's not on my level."
Many of Steele's previous appearances at the Blaisdell Center were as an undercard to Dennis Alexio. Tomorrow, all eyes will be on Steele. "(Reyes has) more to gain than I do, so the pressure's on me," he said. "I love pressure, so I'm looking forward to it."
This fight is a homecoming for Steele. "I left Hawaii for six years and fought all over the world," he said. "What makes it sweet is that I am a local boy doing this show."
He hopes to return to the Islands again. "My goal is to hopefully make Hawaii a base home for me, so I can do shows every few months," he said. "My motivation is to fight and win and to do it on a regular basis. If I'm going to bring this sport here I'm going to have to do well."
NOTES:
Tomorrow's title bout will feature international rules (as opposed to full-contact), which allow contact to the legs. According to fight promoters, this is the first time a sanctioned fight has featured these rules in Hawaii. . . . At stake tomorrow are seven titles, the first six held by Steele: the IKF Junior Welterweight, WKA North American Lightweight, ISKA Super Lightweight, ICHKA Welterweight, NAMKA Junior Welterweight, IKKC Welterweight and the IKBL North American. . . . The undercard features IKF-sanctioned amateur title fights: Tommy Pestana (Waianae) vs. Edgar Fierro (California), Justin Kaahanui (Papakolea) vs. Shawn Taylor (Kailua), Cheyenne Padeken (Waianae) vs. Dominic Robles (Sacramento) and Jaran Ancheta (Hilo) vs. Kili Madrid (Maui) . . . . The fight starts at 7:30 p.m., and ticket prices range from $27.50 to $12.50. Call 526-4400 for tickets.
