England’s Corey Fry will return to action on Saturday night at Oktagon 61 in Brno, Czech Republic as a man on a mission.
Preston native Fry will take on Czech fan-favourite, and undefeated pro boxer, Vladimir Lengal at the Winning Group Arena, where a packed crowd are sure to be in the local man’s corner in a bout both men are desperate to win.
Both Fry and Lengal are heading into the bout coming off losses, with the Englishman looking to rebound after a second-round submission loss to Germany’s Max Holzer at Oktagon 52 in Newcastle.
“I realised that I am more resilient than I gave myself credit for,” said Fry ahead of his bout this weekend.
“Even after the loss against Max Holzer, I was straight back in the gym, chipping away.”
That loss to Holzer also saw the departure of his undefeated record. But Fry has taken that in his stride and is using the lessons learned from that defeat to better himself and ensure that when he steps back into the Oktagon cage in Brno this weekend, he’ll do so as an improved fighter.
“At the end of day, of course it is good to be undefeated, and it is a good selling point,” he admitted.
“But as an athlete, we are always learning and in any sport you do need those losses to learn.
“While watching it back, I saw that Max exposed some parts of my game that I was not aware of. I feel like I was very planted in front of Max, allowing him to get access to my hips. Usually I am moving and a lot more nimble.
“It helped my preparation as it made me identify the little holes in my game that I was not quite happy with.”
Fry faces Lengal in Brno on Saturday night at Oktagon 61, where he hopes a win will not just get him back to winning ways, but also kick-start a run towards a shot at championship gold in 2025.
The matchup forms part of a loaded card of fights on Saturday night, with the two Tipsport Gamechanger semi-final bouts featured at the sharp end of a 12-fight card at the Winning Group Arena. The event streams live in the UK on DAZN.
Oktagon 61: Fight card
MAIN CARD
- Ronald Paradeiser vs. Acoidan Duque – Tipsport Gamechanger semi-final
- Makhmud Muradov vs. Scott Askham
- Losene Keita vs. Mateusz Legierski – Tipsport Gamechanger semi-final
- Lucie Pudilova vs. Cecilie Bolander
- Andrej Kalasnik vs. Ioannis Palaiologos
- Vladimir Lengal vs. Corey Fry
- Tomas Hron vs. Fred Sikking – Underground rules bout
PRELIMINARY CARD
- Mate Sanikidze vs. Jack Cartwright
- Jakub Tichota vs. George Staines
- Radek Rousal vs. Nezar Bahaji
- Attila Korkmaz vs. Agy Sardari – Tipsport Gamechanger Reserve bout
- Jan Stanovsky vs. Gleb Shadrin
