Monday, October 24, 2011

"Filthy" good

It seems to me the fighter on the rise on the local scene is Perry "Filthy" Filkins of Militech Fighting Systems in Hooksett.
Filkins recorded a win by TKO just 15 seconds in to his bout with Bob Burton at Combat Zone 39 on Friday night to improve to 5-1. It was his third win in a row since losing his only fight, a unanimous decision at the hands of Cornelius Murray back in January.
Filkins first caught my eye at Combat Zone 37 in April when he was coming off that loss to Murray. He was matched up against Will Santiago, who was destroying the compeition in a young Tyson-like fashion, knockouts just seconds in to his fights. I thought Filkins was going to be another vicitm on Santiago's way to the big time, but Filkins demolished Santiago in that fight.
He showed he could take a punch and methodically picked Santiago apart. Filkins landed good knees and punches while fighting smart. He refused to go toe-to-toe with Santiago, who kept trying to land bombs. He tired out Santiago, who hadn't gone more than 39 seconds into a match before that, and in the second round Filkins unloaded on Santiago with knees and punches.
The fight was stopped and Santiago had to be helped back to the locker room.
Filkins has recorded two more first-round knockouts since then, albeit the competition wasn't the best. He beat Chris Haggerty (0-4) in July and then newly-turned pro Burton (1-1) on Friday. His overall level of competition has been decent, however, as the combined record of his opponents is 15-12.
Filkins is a balanced fighter. He has good striking ability, can grapple and is strong for his size. He's not as big or powerful as some fighters in his class, but he can win a lot of ways and is smart in the cage.
I'm hoping that his next fight is a good one agaionst a tough opponent, because I think Filkins can go places, he just needs to resume to impress the powers that be.