The days leading up to the tournament had been very stormy in Acapulco so visitors were greeted with flooded streets and continued downpours during the Friday and Saturday of the tournament. However, Sunday after the event was clear and sunny which was perfect timing for those who chose to make the event a vacation (and lots of sunburn) as well as for competition.

From the smallest and most basic of competitors to the most advanced executive blackbelts, winning at the Mexican Open was a focused goal and the physical efforts displayed by the competitors were the evidence. It was clear that traditional forms and weapons as well as fighting were the favorite divisions for the Latin American competitors. In the adult and junior blackbelt divisions for traditional forms, there were many times 20 or more competitors. For fighting, the numbers were enormous as well – and this included both point and continuous sparring.

The Mexican Open finals were held high atop the Hyatt Regency Tower where competitors could choose to watch the excitement of the finals competition or gaze at the awe inspiring Acapulco Bay and the city lights outside the wall sized windows. Most chose the competition and for good reason.

The finals opened with musical forms and a tricks exhibition by some of the youthful players. In the junior musical forms grand championship, world champion Narda Beas left the door wide open for her opponent Balam Najera when she fell when executing a trick early in her routine. Najera went all out with his enthusiasm to win his first NBL grand championship title. Following the kids, Jonathan Tale put on a musical forms demonstration as he was the winner of all the adult eliminations and thus the automatic winner of the adult contemporary forms grand championship.

The junior continuous fighters were raring to go as the forms competition was completed. There were 10 divisions that needed to be decided this evening. First, the big boys took to the stage as Fernando Chaparro and Charlie Davidson faced off for the boys’ super heavyweight title. This was a brutal match with both fighters going all out with their punches. It came down to the wire with Davidson eking out a 3 point lead to win the match 60-57.

With the biggest guys off the stage, you’d think the continuous matches would calm down a bit, but the super heavyweights apparently were just setting the standard for the lighter weight fighters. Next up were heavyweights Sergio Elizalde and Daniel del Valle and they let it fly as well. Del Valle dominated the match holding Elizalde to only 9 points in the first round and ending the fight with a 34-23 win. Colbey Northcutt did her best to try to kick Tracey Farnes right off the stage in the girls lightweight finals as the two smacked each other left and right. Northcutt wasn’t completely successful with kicking Farnes off the stage but she was successful with a 66-51 win.

The little guys came out to the stage with fists of fury as Raul de Avita and Nicholas Medina both of Team Alchemy in El Paso, Texas represented the lightest junior continuous division. Despite their diminutive sizes, de Avita and Medina managed to attain lots of penalty points for throwing too many hand techniques in succession. Medina easily won the match with an 85-52 score. Cole Butler of Colorado handily defeated little Chris Glandon earlier in the day during point sparring and the two were matched up again for the final round of their continuous division. It was another crazy round and these two managed to whack each other simultaneously requiring medics at the same time! In the end, the match was close with the 49-46 win by Butler.

Sage Northcutt had already won his 10-11 point sparring division and a bunch of forms and weapons divisions as well. Now he was ready for a continuous sparring win as he faced and ultimately topped Mitchell McDaniel of Team Alchemy. He not only wins forms but he fights too, as Renato de Leon faced Luis Felipe Forastieri in continuous. It was a close one as Forastieri turned on the heat, but de Leon forged ahead ending with a 30-28 win. Jonathan Celis had Luis Garcia Sanchez’ number and walked away with a 34-14 win in their continuous match.

Two very exciting fighters took to the stage when Benjamin Ferguson and Carlos Ayala were called for their continuous match. Ferguson is willing to throw anything and Ayala has a arsenal of unique weapons as well. This match went back and forth with the final ending in favor of Ferguson. The last junior continuous match was between Alejandro Espinoza and Juan Gonzalez. The two clashed clashed continuously as Gonzalez managed to score enough points to walk away with a 41-37 win.

The men’s team sparring final was next on the agenda as Team GOP faced Team Puma for the honors. In match one, Jamie Cravens representing GOP figured out Patrick Mejia and ended the first match with a one point lead for his team. Jonathan Garcia wasn’t quite as tricky as normal when facing Carlos Espinoza of Team Puma. Espinoza kept the total score even as he ended up taking a one point lead in his match to make the score tied going into the final match between Brandon Bertsch of Team GOP and Cristian Perez representing Team Puma. It looked like Perez’ speed might get the best of Bertsch when out of nowhere Bertsch landed a beautiful sidekick to Perez’ face that sealed the deal and the win for Team GOP.
After team sparring, it was time for some weapons competition. For the youth musical weapons grand championship Sage Northcutt and Jordan Simon were the competitors. Simon’s routine incorporated lots of new moves and spins and resulted in five perfect tens from the judges – a first in Mexican Open history and a grandchampionship title for Simon.

Jonathan Tale was back for the adult contemporary weapons grandchampionship, but this time he had some competition with the likes of Michelle Fuentes and Corky Sikes. Tale’s flying kamas were good, but the judges gave Sikes’ long bo routine the nod and ultimately the grandchampionship title.

Traditional forms and weapons were next on the agenda. The Mexicans are so respectful of traditional routines that the crowd was obliged to complete silence during the performances. The youth Japanese competition was first with Sergio Calva, Sage Northcutt and Jordan Simon onstage. The crowd went wild when Mexico’s own Calva won the grandchampionship title. It was a repeat line up for the youth Korean form grandchampionships with Calva, Northcutt and Simon back on the stage. This time it was a very close call but it would be Northcutt with the win.

Five adults came to the stage for the adult traditional forms and weapons grand championships. Alejandro Rosales represented the adult Kenpo division, Oscar Castro was the men’s Japanese performer, Michelle Fuentes to perform her Korean routine, Brandon Bertsch was the traditional weapons winner and Daniela Tapia was the Japanese performer. Bertsch got one ten but it was not enough as multi time world champion Tapia (formerly Barrientos) was declared the winner to the delight of the crowd.

The final competitions of the evening were the women’s and men’s sparring grand championships. Tracey Martinez and Bety Morones spent a lot of time studying each other during their grand championship match, but they did attack each other enough to score as Martinez ended with a 4-2 win and the title.

The men’s sparring grand championship semi-finals started with Andres Garcia facing flyweight Enrique Rodrigo. It all ended with Rodrigo up by one point to move into the final round. The other half of the semi-finals left Jonathan Garcia a 3 to 1 victor over Mario Lopez.

Garcia towered over Rodrigo in the final match. But Rodrigo played his cards exactly right, keeping even with Garcia and staying out of the way of Garcia’s much longer legs. As time ran out, Rodrigo scored a crucial point to put him up by one to win the title and the money!

With the end of the finals, the fifth Mexican Open was concluded and everyone was free to enjoy the city of Acapulco. 24-hour night clubs, bright lights and more were waiting just outside the hotel doors. Many American competitors and their families stayed until Monday since it was a holiday in the USA. Sunday was beautiful, sunny and perfect with some choosing golf, others a waterpark and others laying by the pool (we highly recommend sunscreen for the Bertsch family next time – something with around 500 spf!). Congratulations to all the participants at the 2007 Mexican Open.