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 At the start of this calendar year, I had entered myself into the first ever Tycoon World Cup, and I was scouring the globe in search of a promising prospect to enter into it. Then on my trip through Uganda I found him. The ground was shaking for what seemed like hours, then I saw a figure crawling out of a fissure in front of me. Being the curious one, I cautiously made my way over to this strange young man with hair coming up to a point on the top of his head, and a soul patch that doubles as a goatee. When I asked for his name he told me it was Devil Jho, and that he came from the underworld which he only called the abyss. From there I took him to Tokyo where he signed a contract with ONI who was running a branch of the Tycoon World Cup. From his first day in the gym he shocked me with his ferocity, technical boxing skills and most of all, his unbreakable chin. He sparred with heavyweights and never went down; rumor on the street is that Son Goku brought Jho into his training facility to have someone who could actually take his punches for more than a few minutes. I spent much of the first month or so that Jho and I were together bringing his physicals up to par in order to cope with the high paced action that was the ONI cage. On March 30th, Jho made his first appearance in a cage; however it didn’t go as planned.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 2 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision;
Judge Yuuki Gou scores the fight for C C Rider!
Judge Tatsuya Matsuyama scores the fight for C C Rider!
Judge Shigeki Sano scores the fight for C C Rider!
C C Rider wins by unanimous decision!
It was a very tough fight where Jho and I did not have a good game plan coming into deal with CC Rider's activity and pressure however, Jho’s chin held up very well throughout the fight and he kept his composure. It was a good learning experience for the both of us. Shortly after losing this tough fight, we got the offer for the second fight, this time it was 3 10 minutes round instead of just two and with only 16 days to prepare there wasn’t much time to adjust anything that was already there. So the game plan for his next fight was much higher aggression with more kicks and accuracy.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Tatsuya Matsuyama scores the fight for Devil Jho!
Judge Ren Mimura scores the fight for Devil Jho!
Judge Taro Takaoka scores the fight for Devil Jho!
Devil Jho wins by unanimous decision!
Everything went according to plan; Jho landed 46 of 80 head punches, 46 of 82 body shots, 5 of 7 on punch combos, 11 of 18 leg kicks and 3 of 10 on body kicks. His opponent had a lot of success head hunting but Jho’s chin never wavered or failed, also we got a possible glimpse of some power in Jho’s fist as he cut Torres very early in the fight. With his record currently standing at 1-1 with both fights going to decision it was time for the final fight of the round robin portion of the Tycoon World Cup. Jho has constantly been improving through training despite the heavy focus on getting physicals up to par. Jho’s third opponent of the Tycoon World Cup had lost to both of his opponent by TKO, so coming into the fight I figured Jho had a very good chance of finishing the fight. However, we kept the previous game plan almost the same except with a little more clinch and power thrown in.
Jho cracks Schulenburg on the jaw with a powerful right hand and Schulenburg falls backwards against the cage. Jho follows up with more strikes that drop Schulenburg to his knees. Jho keeps the pressure on and the referee jumps in to save Schulenburg! This one is all over!
Ladies and gentlemen, after 9:56 of round 2, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Devil Jho!
Everything went according to plan in this fight even though it took a little longer than expected to get the finish. Jho roughed him up from the clinch and outside of the clinch dominating his opponent quite thoroughly. Jho booked his ticket to the next round as the #2 seed in his region beyond the undefeated CC Rider. However, Jho’s next fight was uncertain as the main organizer of the tournament had gone missing and Chuck Grace of Reach in Hilo (now Blitzkrieg: Reach Promotions) stepped up to take over for the Quarterfinals through the finals of the tournament.
Coming in the quarters Jho’s opponent was a better fight on paper holding better MT wrestling and BJJ with Jho only holding boxing as his advantage. Completely unsure what to do I tried to clinch with him and wear him down with dirty boxing.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Andi Peters scores the fight 30:27
Judge Gordon Ramsey scores the fight 30:27
Judge Frank Skinner scores the fight 30:27
In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Xavier Washington!
Safe to say this fight did not go in my favor. However after this fight Chuck Grace was gracious enough to keep Jho on after he had lost in the tournament and proceed to reel off a great streak of wins.
Lucky gets hit by the mother of all head kicks and drops to the canvas in a crumpled heap! Woooow, the Internet is going to be talking about this one for weeks!
Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:43 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Head Kick). Devil Jho!
Tamano drops his hands momentarily and Jho needs no second invitation. He sets himself and throws a perfect high kick that clips Tamano just on the top of the head. Tamano drops like a sack of potatoes to the canvas, out cold! Oooooooh yeah! Stick a fork in Tamano - he's done!
Ladies and gentlemen, after 1:09 of round 1, we have a winner by way of KO (Head Kick). Devil Jho!
Those two fights were just the start of Jho’s one, the second KO earning him KOTN honors as well. However his next fight was the toughest yet of his career as Jho has expanded his striking to a well-oiled kickboxing style with enough ground game to defend most attacks. His next opponent had a slight edge in every prime over Jho so the game plan was unlike the previous two fights which I was exploiting a lack of Muay Thai from both of those opponents, it was to just out work him as much as possible.
Ladies and gentlemen, after 3 rounds of action, we go to the scorecards for a decision.
Judge Andi Peters scores the fight 30:27
Judge Gordon Ramsey scores the fight 30:27
Judge Frank Skinner scores the fight 30:27
In favor of your winner, by unanimous decision... Devil Jho!
The fight played out just as we played on it playing out. Jho was more aggressive through-out the whole fight and took the decision. Jho's next opponent was the winner of the Tycoon World Cup, a fighter who submitted the only two fighters ever to beat Jho. The fight started off horribly with Pompi getting a take down into mount, I almost crapped myself but I could only stand and up was Pompi tried submission after submission and Jho kept fending them off until Pompi for some reason stood up. However after the stand up, Jho enters the clinch but Pompi gets a take down to another dominant position and Jho has to fend off submission attempts again. He managed to survive the round somehow, but after that round it was all Jho leading up to this:
Jho lands a nice shot that snaps Pompi's head back.
Jho lands a big head kick that sends Pompi tumbling to the mat! Jho takes a step backwards and waves Pompi back to his feet - he wants the finish!
Pompi is rocked!
Jho throws a monster overhand right that drops Pompi! Jho follows up with more strikes from mount and the fight is all over!
Ladies and gentlemen, after 0:14 of round 3, we have a winner by way of TKO (Strikes). Devil Jho!
After that epic and riding a 4 fight winning streak Jho took on a quality boxer and wrestler and flat out destroyed him with yet another big head kick.
Ohhhhh! A huge head kick from Jho! Tyson Jr is out on his feet! Jho rushes in and throws more strikes. The ref is looking closely - Tyson Jr is covering up but the punishment is just too much and the ref steps in to stop the fight! Tyson Jr is staring into space, just thankful that the beatdown has ended. Brutal finish.
With one fight left on his current contract and Jho not really being up to snuff with the other fighters at the top of Reach's middleweight division, after a lot of discussion we decided that going to RISE in Amsterdam for the 185 lbs. tournament was the best chance at him succeeding in the future, however he had to get through one more opponent first. Jho was too much for Lombard as Jho's unrelenting accurate shots just wore him down and allowed Jho to walk away with the decision.
Now as Jho entered the 185 lbs. RISE tournament after heated trash talk between him and his opponent Jho went out and took care of business plain and simple. He may have lost a round as Mahoney was very active in the clinch and opened a cut on Jho's forehead but Jho was far more accurate and took the decision and FOTN honors as well from this performance.
With his record currently sitting at 9-2 with 5 T(KO)'s and 4 decision wins and his only two losses being by decision the future seems to be very bright for "Hell Boy" Devil Jho. With the tools of an iron chin, heavy hands and feet and with the heart of a champion the sky is the limit for "Hell Boy”. Jho takes aim at his 10th victory in the cage and his 8th straight win Christmas Day at Rise #12 Xmas Extravaganza. Will he continue his winning ways to a title? Or will he fail in his first quest for a title? Only time will tell with this deadly man from the abyss.
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