That being said I still think your 2nd composition is stronger. Everything is leading the eye towards the face/foot... whereas the 2nd pose my eye keeps getting sucked into the hips/back of the kicker, which is not what you want.
The only thing that is really working with the 2nd pose is the kicker's left arm. Its super dynamic, and comes FORWARD as to create another level of depth.
What if you tried taking the arm of the 2nd image and putting it on the 1st pose?
maybe something like this:
This plan would also cover up/obscure the hips, which is good because that's a difficult/awkward angle to create.