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How Michael Boapeah became the most dangerous middleweight challenger ahead of GLORY 100
There may be no one who has had such a rapid ascent in kickboxing as the knockout striker Michael Boapeah.
Proudly waving the Ghana and Dutch flag, the 25-year-old is looking to capture the middleweight throne at GLORY 100 tonight, against the long-reigning Donovan Wisse.
‘Timebomb’ only made his debut in 2022 and has since cleared out this division, except for the champion.
Wisse has long held the middleweight title in GLORY, now having an impressive five defences. With this number, he has tied Alex Pereira and is looking to surpass the Brazilian this evening. But, standing in his way, looking to upset the party, is the heavy-handed Boapeah.
On a five-fight win streak, his most recent two being by way of TKO, Boapeah is looking to avenge his prior loss and crown himself the GLORY middleweight world champion. Wisse is a challenging fighter for opponents; he’s defensively sound and an active counter striker. Many who challenge him can barely touch him.
But in their first fight, ‘Timebomb’ was able to crack him multiple times in one of the year’s best bouts. He pushed the pace and landed more shots than anyone else could against Wisse.
But over five rounds, the defensive competence of the Surinamese champion proved too much. The judges ultimately gave the fight to Wisse.
Now, ‘Timebomb’ is looking to flip the script and in an exclusive interview with DAZN News, Boapeah is well aware of the challenge ahead of him.
“I don’t want to talk too much about my game plan, but as a lot of people can see, I fight differently now. Even when I fought that way before, I made it a hard day for him - so imagine how it’s going to look now as a better version of myself,” Boapeah said.
“I don’t want to say too much, but people will see. It’s going to be a different fight than the first one.”
The world title is within the Ghanaian-Dutch athlete’s grasp and this dream could not help but get Boapeah excited.
“World champion sounds great, man. You can see my smile - I’m laughing when you say that because I know it’s going to happen. I feel it in every muscle; it’s going to happen. It gives me a good feeling. I can’t wait for it.”
Boapeah only made his GLORY debut in 2022 as a 22-year-old who only did kickboxing part-time. He was unable to dedicate himself fully to the sport and develop in the gym.
After enough wins, he was able to quit his prior job and push himself into kickboxing. Since then, the development has been rapid.
‘Timebomb’ has improved in each area; faster with better defence, he can score knockouts with hands or leg kicks. In his last two bouts he scarcely took a shot, dominating his opponents in near-flawless performances.
At GLORY 100, he’ll put it all together against the long-reigning GLORY middleweight world champion Donovan Wisse with the hope of revenge coming with a world title.
