Joseph John Valtellini (born May 3, 1985) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
retired
Muay Thai kickboxer who competed in the
super middleweight division. Nicknamed "Bazooka Joe", Valtellini is a strong and explosive fighter possessing considerable
punching power and powerful
low kick
A low kick (also known as a leg kick) is a kick in which the attacker uses their leg to strike the opponent's lower body (thigh or calf) with the shinbone or foot. This type of kick, under different names, is utilized in numerous full-contact ma ...
s. After winning provincial and national honours as an amateur, he turned professional in 2010 and went undefeated while finishing all of his opponents on the New York Muay Thai scene over the next two years before losing to
Grégory Choplin in
Lion Fight
Lion Fight also known as Lion Fight Promotions is an American professional Muay Thai promotion firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company was established in 2010 by Scott Kent, a former casino executive. Lion Fight is currently available on UF ...
. He debuted with the
Glory promotion in April 2013 and went on to win the
Glory Welterweight Championship in June 2014. He retired the following year due to
post-concussion syndrome
Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or a year or more after a concussion – medically classified as a so-called mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About 34 to 35% of people with concussi ...
and now works as a commentator for the promotion.
Early life
An
Italian Canadian
Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...
, Joseph Valtellini was born in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, su ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
to parents who emigrated from
Pachino
Pachino (; scn, Pachinu ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily (Italy). The name derives from the Latin word ''bacchus,'' which is the Roman god of wine, and the word ''vinum'', which means wine in Latin; originally the ...
, Sicily. He began training in
Taekwondo
''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
under Roy Sullivan at the Ki Do Kwan gym aged seven and earned his
black belt at ten. He was promoted to the rank of second degree black belt at the age of fourteen, but around the age of seventeen he began looking for more "contact and realism" in martial arts and started training in
Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It was not until he was nineteen that he found
Muay Thai. He trained both styles for couple of years until he dropped jiu-jitsu after he decided to become a full-time striker.
Valtellini played
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
competitively between the ages of ten and eighteen and unsuccessfully tried out for the
Toronto Varsity Blues soccer team while attending the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...
, although he did make it on to the
Toronto Varsity Blues Canadian football team where he played for five years, serving as the
placekicker and finishing two seasons as the team's leading scorer. He suffered a broken
radius
In classical geometry, a radius ( : radii) of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the latin ''radius'', meaning ray but also the ...
in his left arm while playing
Canadian football
Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...
, requiring surgery and prompting doctors to recommend never fighting again. In addition to his fighting career, he also works as a physical education teacher for special needs students at
Sir William Osler High School
Sir William Osler High School (SWOHS), formerly Sir William Osler Vocational school is a small specialized public vocational high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the former suburb of Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough, it opened in 19 ...
.
Career
Early career (2008–2012)
Valtellini first came to prominence when he won the Canadian Amateur Muay Thai Association of Ontario (CAMTAO) Amateur Ontario Super Middleweight Championship in 2008. In July 2009, he participated in the 2009
IKF World Classic in
Orlando, Florida, United States, winning the tournament in the light middleweight (-72.72 kg/160 lb) Muay Thai division. After defeating Jaried Gonzalez via
technical knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...
in the quarter-finals, he took unanimous decision wins over Eric Ingram and Brian Robertson in the semis and final, respectively, to be crowned champion. He then won the Council of Amateur Sport Kickboxing (CASK) Canadian amateur middleweight title in early 2010 before turning professional.
As Muay Thai was illegal in the province of Ontario until August 2010, Valtellini began his professional career in the US, finding success in the New York City-based Friday Night Fights promotion. In his pro debut on May 14, 2010, he faced
sanshou stylist Max Chen. After scoring a knockdown with a left
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
, Valtellini kept up the pressure and forced the referee to stop the fight towards the end of the first round. In his next two outings, he stopped both
Dorian Price
''The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra'' was the sixth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) produced reality television series ''The Ultimate Fighter'', and premiered on September 19, 2007 on Spike TV, after ''UFC Fight N ...
and Sean Hinds with
low kick
A low kick (also known as a leg kick) is a kick in which the attacker uses their leg to strike the opponent's lower body (thigh or calf) with the shinbone or foot. This type of kick, under different names, is utilized in numerous full-contact ma ...
s. Having gone 3–0 with three stoppages in his first year as a pro, he was nominated for the 2010 "North American Fighter of the Year" award by ''Muay Thai Authority'' but lost out to
Kevin Ross.
On April 29, 2011, he beat the previously undefeated Ben Case. Although he struggled with Case's height and reach early, he was able cause damage with punch-low kick combinations and dropped Case at the end of the fourth round before finishing him with a high kick in the fifth. With this win, he claimed the #10 spot in North America's
pound for pound
Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...
rankings. Headlining for the first time against Alex Berrios on September 23, 2011, Valtellini was able to avoid the
clinch
Clinch may refer to:
* Nail (fastener) or device to hold in this way
* Clinching, in metalworking
* Clinch fighting or the clinch, a grappling position in boxing or wrestling, a stand-up embrace
* Clinch County, Georgia, USA
* Clinch River, near T ...
and use effective low kicks which caused Berrios to quit on his stool in between rounds two and three. After the fight, he moved up three places in the North American rankings.
Moving up from his usual weight of 75 kg/165 lb, he faced Shawn Yarborough in a 76 kg/169 lb
catch weight on March 9, 2012. This was also his first fight with
elbow
The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...
s as the state of New York had only made them legal four months earlier. Valtellini sent Yarborough to the canvas with a right hand but he was able to beat the count. Shortly afterwards, he cornered Yarborough and became the first man to stop him when he
knocked him out with a left hook-right
uppercut
The uppercut (formerly known as the undercut; sometimes also referred to as the ''upper'') is a punch used in boxing that travels along a vertical line at the opponent's chin or solar plexus. It is, along with the cross, one of the two main pun ...
combo.
Having established himself as the top super middleweight on the continent, Valtellini took his first fight outside of New York against
Grégory Choplin in the co-main event of ''
Lion Fight
Lion Fight also known as Lion Fight Promotions is an American professional Muay Thai promotion firm based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company was established in 2010 by Scott Kent, a former casino executive. Lion Fight is currently available on UF ...
7'' in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 13, 2012. He struggled with his French opponent's clinch and elbows, receiving a cut over his left eye in the first round. Going
the distance for the first time in his career, he dropped a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a unanimous points victory over
Mehdi Baghdad at ''Muay Thai in America: In Honor of the King'' in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on December 1, 2012.
Glory (2013–2015)
In December 2012, he signed with
Glory to fight under
Oriental kickboxing rules in the organization's 77 kg/170 lb welterweight division. He made his promotional debut against
Murat Direkçi at ''
Glory 6: Istanbul'' in Istanbul, Turkey on April 6, 2013 and overcame the Belgian-Turk's aggressive start by scoring a knockdown late in the opening round. After dropping him twice more inside the last thirty seconds of round two, Valtellini forced Direkçi's corner to
throw in the towel in three.
He returned to New York to face François Ambang at ''
Glory 9: New York'' on June 22, 2013. After a close first round in which both fighters landed solid combinations and kicks, Valtellini began to take control in the second. In round three, it became evident that Ambang's lead leg was injured and Valtellini went on the attack to score a knockdown with low kicks. Ambang was able to get back to his feet but could not walk towards the referee and the fight was called, giving the Canadian the win.
He improved to 3–0 in Glory with a late stoppage of
Karim Ghajji
Karim Ghajji (born January 16, 1981), is a Moroccan-French kickboxer and B-boy.
He is a former Glory Welterweight Championship challenger.
Combat Press ranked him in the welterweight top ten between September 2014 and April 2018.
Biography ...
at ''
Glory 11: Chicago'' in
Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Hoffman Estates is a village in Illinois, United States. The village is located primarily in Cook County, with a small section in Kane County. It is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 52,530.
The village now serves a ...
, United States on October 12, 2013. After a technical affair that saw both men exchanging and looking extremely solid, Valtellini rocked Ghajji with a spinning back fist in round three which forced the referee to issue a standing eight count. Valtellini then swarmed on the Frenchman, landing a high kick which caused a TKO victory.
He was initially set to fight
Karapet Karapetyan in the ''
Glory 13: Tokyo - Welterweight World Championship Tournament'' semi-finals in Tokyo, Japan on December 21, 2013 but Karapetyan was replaced by
Raymond Daniels when the match-ups were changed for undisclosed reasons. He struggled with Daniels' unorthodox
karate style early on but by round two began to do damage with low kicks before he scored a high kick KO in round three, inflicting the first loss on Daniels' record. Facing
Nieky Holzken
Nicolaas Hubertus Holzken (born December 16, 1983) is a Dutch super middleweight kickboxer and professional boxer currently signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Lightweight division. He is the former Glory Welterweight Champion. ...
in the final, both fighters pressed forward, landing powerful but technical punches and kicks throughout. Holzken hurt Valtellini with a body shot in the third and final round before putting him away after landing a right overhand in a hectic exchange in the dying seconds of the fight.
Valtellini beat
Marc de Bonte via unanimous decision to take his
Glory Welterweight Championship at ''
Glory 17: Los Angeles'' in Inglewood, California, US on June 21, 2014. Both fighters scored knockdowns in the fight; Valtellini dropped de Bonte with a high kick in round three, while de Bonte floored Valtellini with a
knee in round four. After almost a year of inactivity, Valtellini vacated the title on June 4, 2015 due to suffering from
post-concussion syndrome
Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a set of symptoms that may continue for weeks, months, or a year or more after a concussion – medically classified as a so-called mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). About 34 to 35% of people with concussi ...
.
Post-fighting career
After his retirement, Valtellini joined the Glory
commentary team and debuted as an analyst at ''
Glory 23'' on August 7, 2015. He re-signed with the company on a multiple-year deal in February 2017. He has also co-hosted the GLORY Kickboxing Podcast, which debuted in November 2016, with
Todd Grisham
Todd Grisham (born January 9, 1976) is an American sports reporter for DAZN and Glory kickboxing. Prior to his departure from ESPN at the end of 2016, his duties for the network included being the in-studio host for ''Friday Night Fights'' as we ...
.
Valtellini was a guest on ''
The Joe Rogan Experience
''The Joe Rogan Experience'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer unti ...
'' in January 2017.
He appeared in a minor role in the 2016 film ''
Kickboxer: Vengeance''.
Championships and awards
Kickboxing
*Bloody Elbow.com
**2013 Fight of the Year
vs. Nieky Holzken
Nicolaas Hubertus Holzken (born December 16, 1983) is a Dutch super middleweight kickboxer and professional boxer currently signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Lightweight division. He is the former Glory Welterweight Champion. ...
on December 21
*Canadian Amateur Muay Thai Association of Ontario
**CAMTAO Amateur Ontario Super Middleweight Championship
*Council of Amateur Sport Kickboxing
**CASK Amateur Canadian Middleweight Championship
*
Glory
**
2013 Glory Welterweight (-77 kg/169.8 lb) World Championship Tournament Runner-up
**
Glory Welterweight (-77 kg/169.8 lb) Championship (One time)
*
International Kickboxing Federation
The International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) is a sanctioning body for kickboxing and Muay Thai based in the United States. The IKF sanctions and regulates all aspects of these sports from Semi Contact IKF Point Kickboxing (IKF/PKB)) to Full Co ...
**2009 IKF World Classic Light Middleweight (-72.72 kg/160.3 lb) Muay Thai Championship
*Liver Kick.com
**2013 Fight of the Year
vs. Nieky Holzken
Nicolaas Hubertus Holzken (born December 16, 1983) is a Dutch super middleweight kickboxer and professional boxer currently signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Lightweight division. He is the former Glory Welterweight Champion. ...
on December 21
*Muay Thai Authority.com
**2013 North American Breakthrough Fighter of the Year
Kickboxing record
''Legend'':
References
External links
Official Glory profileUltimate Martial Arts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valtellini, Joseph
1985 births
Living people
Canadian cannabis activists
Canadian male kickboxers
Canadian male taekwondo practitioners
Canadian Muay Thai practitioners
Canadian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Canadian people of Sicilian descent
Canadian schoolteachers
Middleweight kickboxers
Sportspeople from Scarborough, Toronto
University of Toronto alumni
Kickboxing commentators