Roseville kickboxer wins world middleweight title in Malaysia

Kickboxing, by Todd Mordhorst, Journal Sports WriterDave Marinoble had to go quite a ways to get his hands on the International Kickboxing Federation Pro middleweight title belt.He didn?t go to any of the traditional fight venues in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Marinoble went to Kuala Limpur, Malaysia.The long trip was well worth it for the Roseville native, along with his trainer, Greg Kirkpatrick, of Newcastle.?The whole experience was great,? said Kirkpatrick, who runs Ringside Gym in Newcastle and has trained Marinoble off and on for eight years. ?They treated us like royalty over there.?Dave was on radio talk shows and did television interviews. They even had billboards of him around town.?And Marinoble, nicknamed, ?The Madman,? lived up to the hype. He took care of Tommy Kimber with a technical knockout in the eighth round to take the IKF belt home. The newly crowned champion arrived at the Sacramento airport last week with more than 100 friends and family members waiting to greet him.Kirkpatrick trained Marinoble for about three months in preparation for the July 28 championship bout, and guided him through the fight. ?Dave trains on his own most of the time and then he gets together with me before his fights,? said Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick?s coaching and Marinoble?s excellent conditioning were keys to the victory, as he wore down Kimber.?Through the first four rounds, Kimber was leading. The judges had him ahead on points by a little bit,? said Kirkpatrick. ?In the fifth, Dave started coming on, throwing a lot of body shots and wearing Kimber down. I think he had the superior conditioning.?At the end of the sixth, Kimber was hurt pretty bad. Dave?s body shots had really slowed him down. Dave dominated the seventh and then in the eighth, Kimber went down once and then he went down a second time and he couldn?t get up.?Kirkpatrick said Marinoble has a strong karate background, which makes his kicking very strong. But he is also a strong boxer, making him an ideal kickboxer.The fight was set up by IKF President Steve Fossum, who runs Steve Fossum?s International Kickboxing and Karate in Newcastle. The fight brought out 5,000 fans and Kirkpatrick said the sport of kickboxing is slowly winning over more fans.?Every little bit of exposure helps,? he said. ?This was one of the first kickboxing events in Malaysia and the people really seemed to like it. Little by little, it?s getting more popular.?Marinoble is staying busy, although he?s taking a short break from kickboxing.He is currently training with the U.S. national jujitsu team. He will compete with the national team in October and then get back to kickboxing. Marinoble also has his hands full with his own school in Roseville, Marinoble?s Kung Fu Karate School.?He wants to fight some of the top guys and unify the titles,? said Kirkpatrick, who held four different heavyweight division kickboxing titles himself from 1993 to 1997.For more information on the IKF and Marinoble, see the web site at ?ikfkickboxing.com.?