Kallan Todd underlined his potential after making a triumphant debut during Epic Entertainment’s Fight Night Champion at the weekend.

The 15-year-old fought his way to an impressive unanimous points win in his first official kick-boxing bout against Schaeffer Underwood, of the United States, at The Shed in Dockyard on Saturday night.

“I was very impressed Kallan who is one of our youth and sport scholarship athletes,” an elated Garon Wilkinson, the Bermuda Sanshou Association president, told The Royal Gazette.

“He went to Phoenix in December and had his first Sanda match and he fought a 31- year-old; he’s only 15.

“Saturday was his first official fight against another 15-year- old from Texas and he executed very well, so I think Kallan has a very good future.”

Another teenager who impressed in the ring was 13-year-old Enzi Johnston who dug deep to earn a split decision against a physically superior and more experienced opponent in Samantha Knight, also of the United States.

“Enzi is a very consistent Sanda and jujitsu athlete and it was great to give her the opportunity to fight one of the international athletes (Knight) whose actually been here before,” Wilkinson added.

“It was a very exciting and close fight, and she pulled out the split decision, so we’re very happy about that.”

Also savouring victories were Che Durham and Krista Dyer respectively.

Durham had his work cut out in a tough match against American Tyler Kerr, which he ultimately won via a split decision to improve his unblemished record to 3-0.

“Che executed a fantastic fight against Kerr from Fight City,” Wilkinson said. “We knew that Che was a bigger fighter so we had a specific strategy to shut down what Tyler was going to bring.”

Dyer was also pushed hard in a physically gruelling match against Taylor Gerow on the way to securing an unanimous points win over her Canadian rival.

“It was a tough fight,” Wilkinson said. “Taylor came in at 8-4 and we went through a lot of her footage. She doesn’t have anything that’s spectacular, but she’s good at everything. Not exceptional, but really good.

“I think she shut a lot of Krista’s techniques down. But Krista is exceptionally fit and she was able to do everything that we worked on to pull out the win.”

The remaining match saw Cole Durham, the brother of Che, suffer defeat to Ashton Bell on points on his kickboxing debut.

“Ashton Bell within the last six months has had a good bit of fights and has won a belt, so I knew it was going to be a tough fight for Cole,” Wilkinson said.

“With it being Cole’s first fight we had a game plan, and I think Cole did as well as he probably could have.”

Overall, Wilkinson was extremely proud with the island’s solid showing at the sold out event.

“It was a fantastic show and I’m really proud of our Bermuda Sanshou Association team, athletes, coaches and officials alike, who played a huge role in helping to make Fight Night Champion a reality,” he added.

“It’s been a long time coming. This particular Fight Night Champion event was supposed to happen back in March 2020, so most of our fighters haven’t fought in over two years.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to come out and show what we have been working for and to have a great night. They were all very well prepared and it showed.”