Knockouts, stars, and surprises: Fury Championship draws 200,000 viewers as celebrities, content creators and pros clash
The event, which took place on Friday at Zepp KL, saw a total of 16 fighters made up of prospects and seasoned fighters as well as content creators from Malaysia and Indonesia duking it out in the ring.
Based on a three to four rounds format with three minutes each round, the event amassed over 200,000 views from its free livestream on TikTok and Youtube. It showcased not one but two martial art styles — boxing and muay thai.
The real twist, however, lies with its main event where for the first time ever, two local celebrities Hun Haqeem and Ikmal Amry went head-to-head in an unforgettable boxing match.
Battle between stars
The hype for the main face off between Ikmal and Hun, which has been building up for almost a month, was repaid with a rather quick match. Ikmal came out as the winner after Hun tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) with 38 seconds left in the first round.
The match, however, was not a total let down as both fighters traded a few punches, with Ikmal managing to land several headshots causing Hun to lose his footings a couple of times.
Hun did have his moment going on the offence — with him managing to land several blows before succumbing to his injury.
'I just want to say, I'm sorry. I trained really hard, I've lost around 11kg for this but apparently my ACL popped.
'The last one was on my left and today on the right, but God willing I will come back stronger and we will have a rematch,' the Cari Aku di Syurga actor said before being carried off the ring.
Meanwhile, Ikmal was grateful for the victory, thanking his wife and family for their support as well as his coaching team, which was led by local personal trainer turned boxer Ijam Asri.
Both Hun and Ikmal had been best friends for 10 years now and both of them had agreed earlier on to have a professional fight without any bad blood.
In a more recent update, Hun confirmed his ACL injury via his Instagram Story, saying that he is ready to go on another recovery journey.
As previously reported by Kosmo, the 27-year-old had torn his ACL while filming for local series W: Two Worlds in October 2023 and had just returned from recovery earlier last year.
Aside from Hun and Ikmal, Fury Championship also featured two co-main events. One of it was the duel of 'Izzats' between local Muay Thai athletes, Izat Zaki, 25 and Izzat Zulfaqar, 20 — with the former triumphing.
The other co-main event featured Indonesian boxer King Chima going against Malaysian content creator Shah Busy — real name Shahrul Afizie.
King Chima went on to knock Shah out during the first round, thus claiming the Super Welterweight Boxing championship belt.
Other champions that night also included names such as One Championship's muay thai athlete Kabilan Jelevan, National's woman muay thai athlete Nur Amisha Azrilrizal, veteran local boxer Tiger Labu, as well as Subang Jaya-based muay thai athlete Umar Red Wolves.
(Left to right) Fury Championship chief marketing officer, Mohd Faizal Ahmad, Fury Championship chief executive officer, Mohd Wafiy Ilhan along with local actors and models Hun Haqeem and Ikmal Amry during the pre-match press conference. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
Big plans ahead
Fury Championship's chief executive officer and actor, Mohd Wafiy Ilhan Johan during the pre-match press conference said that the reason they included content creators and celebrities in Fury was to cater to different audiences in Malaysia.
'We have all sorts of audiences — some like to watch fighters with good looks fight, while some would prefer all-out fights.
'That's why we have to do our selection properly and what we came up with was the best that we could give based on our capabilities,' Wafiy said.
He points out that Hun and Ikmal were the only celebrities involved, while most of the other contenders are professional athletes at some levels.
Wafiy added that moving forward, they will stick to the same modus operandi by making sure to include match ups between celebrities, content creators and professional fighters.
While Fury Championship's chief marketing officer, Mohammad Faizal Ahmad or better known as Jaa Suzuran, admitted that both him and Wafiy had already received direct messages from other local celebrities inquiring about joining the next Fury Championship.
He said that this is thanks to both Ikmal and Hun for being brave enough to step into the ring against each other.
Fury Championship also saw the prime minister's political secretary Muhammad Kamil Abdul Munim who was also filling in for Youth and Sports minister Hannah Yeoh, presenting a RM90,000 mock cheque from the youth and sports ministry to Wafiy and Faizal.
Kamil also applauded Fury Championship, adding that the event is something out of the ordinary and should be one of the benchmarks for other local martial arts events.
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