Three title fights headline the No Guts, No Glory kickboxing and mixed martial arts event coming to Pearkes arena on April 21.
The amateur 10-fight card marks the return of Campbell River’s Chase Ingalls, a three-time world champ who is back after a yearlong hiatus from the sport.
Ingalls suffered a rare loss in a world title fight last year and the 24-year-old thought he might be through with fighting, said local fight promoter and Victoria kickboxing legend Stan Peterec.
“It’s been 15 months and obviously Chase feels like he isn’t finished yet,” said Peterec, a 2014 inductee to the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame.
Ingalls, now 22-1, will fight Ontario’s Adam Webber, 17-0.
Victoria’s Greg Lamothe is another local athlete shooting for a world title, as he’ll fight Hungarian transplant Petr Dvorak.
“Dvorak has 51 fights and he’s not pro, we don’t even know how that happens. In Canada you’d certainly be pro with that many fights,” Peterec said.
The third title fight is Victoria’s Landon Larson vs. Jimmy Nygne for the B.C. IKF belt.
Peterec noted that local favourite Tim ‘Pacman’ Packer is probably going to steal the show in his fight against visiting Shawn Baulie.
“Packer’s always exciting, a ball of energy who goes right at it,” Peterec said.
Also on the card is a debut fight by Australian reality television contestant Billy Bishop, who will put his modelling face on the line in a heavyweight tilt against Vancouver’s Colin Robinson.
Bishop enjoyed Aussie stardom as one of the finalists (he was in 10 of the 15 episodes) from the 2008 series Make Me A Supermodel which regularly drew a million viewers.
Later this year Peterec is going to take the core of Victoria fighters from No Guts, No Glory, for a major event in Cabo, Mexico, on July 26. They’ll fight in a 9,000-seat arena and the event will be televised, Peterec said.
No Guts, No Glory is Saturday, April 21 at Pearkes arena. Fights start at 6:30 p.m. with doors at 6. For info call 250-885-7441 or to get tickets visit www.victoriaticket.ca.