Brooklyn Kickboxing Tournament: BERKOLAYKO EDGES BRAHIM AFTER TWO BLOWOUTS      BRIGHTON BEACH, BROOKLYN, Oct. 5 - He had been lying down in the dressing room for some time now after his last fight, his girlfriend kneeling next to him. Another fighter had been posted at the door to keep out everyone except his closest companions and team, but now we were told it was OK to come in to interview him. Everyone in the crowded dressing room was quiet. As he leaned up, I saw that his mouth was open and he had a haggard look about him. You would have thought that I had entered the room of the guy who had just lost, but no, there he was, Steve Berkolayko, tonight's champion. After the first two fights of this eight-man elimination tournament, it appeared as if the only guy that could land a punch, knee, or kick on the 21-year-old native of Belarus, who now lives in nearby Sheepshead Bay, was the guy with the big 'S' on his shirt who flies around in that red cape, and then only maybe. Berkolayko had destroyed his first two opponents in this eight-man single-elimination kickboxing tournament in a grand total of just 23 seconds. That's for both of these fights combined. His first victim was David Cummings. A stone-faced Berkolayko bounded out of his corner, threw one punch, then one powerful roundhouse kick that landed squarely on the back of Cummings's head. Cummings fell to the canvas, unable to rise again. Total time: 18 seconds, victory by TKO for Berkolayko. Next victim was Zitouini Abdenour of France, who had earned a berth in the semi-finals with a TKO of Chris Ramulo, who was unable to continue after the first round. This time Berkolayko was even more brutally efficient. He again took the center of the ring, launched a huge left hand to Abdenour's head, and down the French fighter went. Referee Fred Fitzgerald took one look and signaled it was over as Abdenour also could not arise. Total time: 5 seconds, victory number two by TKO for Berkolayko. On to the finals a rested Berkolayko went. His foe would be Balbziouri Brahim of Holland, who had a much more taxing road to take. In the first round, Brahim scored what many considered an upset by upending local favorite Peter Kaljevic, originally of Yugoslavia and now living in Queens, NY, in a three-round unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 30-29). Kaljevic looked sluggish early on, and could not mount much of an offense until it was too late in the fight. In Brahim's semi-final fight, he demonstrated that his first win was no fluke, as he impressed everyone with his Muay Thai skills, especially his kneeing on the inside. But he had to face a taller and very game Tarik Reshad, originally from Lebanon. This was a competitive and close match, so much so that after three rounds it was ruled a draw, forcing this semi-final fight into a fourth and decisive round. Again it was close, but the judges gave it unanimously to Brahim, despite Reshad's disbelief at the verdict. So on to the finals Berkolayko and Brahim went, but with the very unequal expenditures of energy and amount of damage received in their first two fights in which a tournament format often results. Berkolyako had delivered three blows, scored two TKO's, been in the ring 23 seconds, and had not been hit once. Brahim had gone five two-minute rounds, including that close, overtime win in the semis. Advantage, Berkolayko -- or so it seemed. The crowd was ready for another early, electric execution by Berkolayko as the final fight commenced, but Berkolayko came out a bit more cautiously against Brahim, and correctly so. While Berkolayko was able to win the first round with superior boxing, this was going to be no rout. The second round was a little closer, but most thought Berkolayko had also pulled it out. By the third and final round, though, Berkolayko seemed to be tiring, and Brahim seemed to have found his range better, rallying to win the round and put the judges' verdict in question as the round concluded. It went to the judges, the first time tonight they had to do anything regarding Berkolayko other than admire his first two beatdowns. The scores were tabulated, and it turned out we had a majority decision. One judge had it 29 apiece, but the two others had it 29-28 and 30-29, both for Berkolayko. So Steve Berkolayko had pulled it out, emerging as the victor in this tournament with wins in the most extreme of fashions. 'I got relaxed a little bit after the first and second. So I didn't really prepare mentally for the third one,' Berkolayko admitted in his dressing room after the last fight. 'I thought it was going to finish really quick. The guy turned out to be pretty tough, so I had to go the distance.' Many of us thought that by Berkolayko fighting only 23 seconds before the finals, conditioning would be a factor in his favor. 'It would have been if he wouldn't catch me with a couple of knees to the solar plexus,' said Berkolayko. 'That really took my breath out. That's what evened it out in the end. But, as we can see, the results.' Fred Fitzgerald had repeatedly remarked at this fight how impressed he was with Brahim's Muay Thai skills. This is quite a compliment, as Fitzgerald is the U.S. representative of the World MuayThai Council, located in Bangkok, Thailand, and the largest sanctioning body for Muay Thai in the world, and the only American Muay Thai referee trained and certified by the pro fighters association in Bangkok. But Berkolayko was in the end able to neutralize Brahim's attack 'I guess my hands did the trick,' said Berkolayko. 'I got him a couple of times with a good shot. He was a little dazed. That bought me some time to stop his attack at first.' Berkolayko's punches snapped Brahim's head back in both the first and third rounds. 'I got him a couple of times,' he recalled, but he confessed that his early, lightning success gave him perhaps too much time to ponder his fate in the finals. 'I worried before the third match, so I kind of burned myself out,' said Berkolayko. Now, though, he could rest, recover, and view the tape of the fights. On tap for Berkolayko is an ambitious international schedule. 'I guess Japan, for now,' he said of his next plans. 'And then we'll see. It's up to my training. I hope in Thailand, close to the summer. Maybe around the States, for now.' He also is aware that he needs to do something different in his training. 'Yeah, sprinting,' he said, of what awaits him. 'Definitely sprinting. I need to work on my conditioning, and a little bit more on my boxing skills. And that's about it.' And all this will still take place with Vladimir Borodin at Borodin's Gym in Brooklyn. 'Of course, sure,' he said. 'I don't see any better options for now.' WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP KICKBOXING TOURNAMENT Oct. 4, 2002 MILLENNIUM THEATRE BRIGHTON BEACH, BROOKLYN, NY Tournament Results First Round: Steve Berkolayko def. David Cummings, Round 1, 18 sec., TKO Zitouini Abdenour def. Chris Ramulo, end Round 1, TKO Tarik Reshad def. Sean Hinds, four rounds, overtime decision Balbziouri Brahim def. Peter Kaljevic, three-round unanimous decision (30-28, 29-28, 30-29) Semi-Finals: Steve Berkolayko def. Zitouini Abdenour, Round 1, 5 sec., TKO Balbziouri Brahim def. Tarik Reshad, four rounds, overtime decision Finals: Steve Berkolayko def. Balbziouri Brahim, three-round majority decision (29-28, 29-29, 30-29) Single Fights: Jenny Foster vs. Briana Farro - This was announced as a decision for Foster, but there was some question if the scoring was tabulated correctly. Promoter Vladimir Borodin said he would review both the tape and the judges' scorecards. Dmitry Shirganov def. Peter Sverdlov, three-round unanimous decision (all judges, 30-26) Yuri Posokhov def. Louis Belino, three-round unanimous decision (29-28, 30-28, 30-28) Amrillo Zhurayev def. Richard Acosta, Round 2, 25 sec., KO, Derrick Riddick def. Nizar Bhalkiti, Round 1, 1:28, KO American Full-Contact Rules (kicks above the waist) Akmal Zakirov def. Gocha Pasieshvili, five-round unanimous decision (49-48, 48-47, 49-46) Zakirov wins PKF super-lightweight championship Terance O'Connor def. Igor Dyachenko, Round 1, 1:08, TKO Ringside Notes: Harassment of kickboxing continued as several visits to the Millennium Theater by NYPD officers from two different precincts and also the NYFD threatened to derail this show. But, as usual, they could find no pretext to do anything other than waste everyone's time, and the taxpayers' money. They tried to make a big deal of having separate entrances for the Atlantic Oceana Restaurant and the Millennium Theater, which is upstairs from the restaurant. While they were dealing with such a weighty issue, we can be sure there were no crimes being committed in the City of New York or no fires raging that might have better warranted their attention. Perhaps they should confer with Ray Kelly, who had the unique combination of duties as serving currently as Commissioner of the New York Police Department, and former Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. In fact, he held these posts simultaneously until he had to leave the state body in March. I spoke with Commissioner Kelly on December 1, 2001, about regulation of the combat sports, while he was still at the athletic commission, and had been appointed police commissioner under then-Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg, whose term began Jan. 1, 2002. Kelly, of course, acknowledged that kickboxing was indeed legal in New York State, and also unregulated and not under the control or auspices of the athletic commission. I advocated that the law needed to be revised to place kickboxing under athletic commission regulation. But, as I wrote on this site at the time, 'For kickboxing, Commissioner Kelly also said there was not the 'legislative environment' at present to regulate it.' That said, the continued harassment and shutdown of kickboxing shows in New York is an egregious abuse of power by all those involved in this McCarthy-like witchhunt. The kickboxing promoters must meet among themselves and unite to demand a meeting with the athletic commission. They should also explore all the legal avenues available to them to seek relief and protection from this unwarranted and illegal crackdown. Finally, this event was videotaped. I did the ringside commentary. We will report details of when and where this video is available when it is released.