Shannon “the Cannon” Ritchto Face Frank Shamrockat K-1 Usa In Kickboxing Bout

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Tuesday, Aug 07, 2001

Shannon “the Cannon” Ritchto Face Frank Shamrockat K-1 Usa In Kickboxing Bout

Shannon "The Cannon" Ritch
To Face Frank Shamrock
At K-1 USA In Kickboxing Bout
By Marc Scott

Shannon "The Cannon" Ritch is a fighter who just seems to appear everywhere these days. He recently competed in Burma in the first ever event in that country’s history to feature American fighters, and before that in Pride 11 versus legendary Kazushi Sakuraba. This time Shannon will step up to the plate against yet another world class fighter, Frank Shamrock, in a special kickboxing match on the August 11^th K-1 USA Kickboxing Championship Series to be held at the Ballagio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We recently caught up with Shannon and got his thoughts on this fight:

Full Contact Fighter: When did you find out you would be fighting Frank Shamrock?
Shannon Ritch: I found out I was going to fight Frank Shamrock about a week ago, not too much notice, but if you’re a pro-fighter you should always be ready for any fight.

FCF: Will this be a Mixed Martial Arts match or kickboxing?
SR: This will be K-1 rules, three 3-minute rounds and I will see what happens.

FCF: What will you be weighing in at?
SR: I am going to weigh in at right around 180. Frank is going to weigh in at 185, the top of the weight class. I have actually been trying, for MMA, to get down to 155; so a couple weeks ago I was at 160. Then I found out about this and I have been trying to get back up to 180.

FCF: Obviously this is a big fight for you, how do you feel this will affect your career and future?
SR: Career-wise I think [the fight] is huge for me. Because, win or lose, I am fighting Frank Shamrock and he’s the big name and I’m the underdog. To me I think it’s going to be huge, if I win, if I lose, if I draw, it doesn’t matter, I fought K-1 and one of the best fighters in the world

FCF: Any predictions for the fight?
SR: If you’ve watched "The Cannon" fight, you know I come out strong and aggressive, and I always — no matter win, lose or draw — try to put on a good show for the crowd…it’s going to be a good fight.

FCF: And if you win?
SR: If I beat Frank, I am sure I will be on top of the world; it will be the best night of my life.