The End of an Era and the Return of a Saviour
September 26, Olympic Gymnasium, SEOUL, KOREA – It is impossible to think of K-1 without the image of Peter Aerts popping into mind at some level. The star has earned the title Mr. K-1 not only due to the fact he has won the title 3 times, but also because he has fought in the World Grand Prix for each and every one of the 16 years of its existence. Forget the coveted 4-time Championship, as Peter Aerts has achieved something that no man will ever be able to beat. Yet tonight, along with the dreams of 7 other Final 16 fighters, this record has come to an end.
DREAM fighter, Alistair Overeem faced Peter Aerts today due to the fact he was the fans number 1 choice to be given a wild card. He made it clear that he was honored to have been chosen, and honored to face the legend that is Peter Aerts, but that didn’t stop him from making a point that his previous K-1 fights weren’t just flukes. Peter did say post-fight that after the first minute of round one, his strength just drained away. You could see it too. Alistair was never in any serious trouble throughout the 3 rounds, yet there were several occasions that I feared the ex-Champion may not make it to the final bell. Make it he did though. It is sad day to know he won’t be in the WGP this year, however it is exciting to see how the newcomer will do in his first WGP. Most people discussing his MMA career fail to remember he actually started that fight career as a stand up fighter. He now has serious size, power and skill on his side.
Another man that won’t be going to Yokohama this year, or ever again, is veteran Japanese heavyweight fighter Musashi. He had announced earlier that he would retire after this season, and although he put up a valiant effort against the French fan-favorite Jerome LeBanner, that season was cut short. Both fighters came to the ring looking faster than they have in some time, and the first two rounds were very competitive. The two southpaw fighters kept it primarily a boxing bout, and in the third, Musashi got caught. He received an 8 count, and got to his feet smiling. Jerome did do his best to end the fight early, but there was no way Musashi was going to retire on a KO loss, so he somehow managed to dig deep enough to hang on until the final bell.
Great respect was shown by Jerome after the announcement that he had won, and both fighters dropped to their knees and embraced. Musashi had his first fight in K-1 14 years ago, and he said today LeBanner was always one of his favorites.
The night was not all bitter-sweet though. The return to form of Badr Hari was a spectacular site to see. The end of last year saw him disqualified against Remy Bonjasky and knocked out by Alistair Overeem, so there were some doubters leading up to this event. When he knocked out Zabit Samedov tonight in just over 2 minutes with a right straight to the body he not only won, but he also allowed all of the K-1 fans around the world to breath a huge sigh of relief about the future of this sport. Honestly speaking, Zabit didn’t even get “in” the fight. From the opening bell it was all Hari. It will be interesting to see if he can keep the ball rolling and make it third-time-lucky with the WGP.
Another man to return to form is the man Hari beat earlier in the year, Semmy Schilt. He faced the Last Chance GP winner Daniel Ghita tonight. Ghita knew what he had to do, and in the first round he really took the fight to Semmy, and shook him up badly with punch, high kick, punch combination that all landed flush. Unluckily for him, he couldn’t capitalize, and after a break the Dutchman came back strong in round 2, and then introduced Ghita to the K-1 canvas in round 3. Once with a jab. Once with a short right hook. Ghita did show enormous heart in the fight though, and he is clearly going to be someone very difficult to deal with after another year or so of experience on the circuit.
There were two rather controversial fights tonight too, and they were both rematches. The first of which was between reining Champion, Remy Bonjasky and the smallest heavyweight K-1 fighter, Melvin Manhoef. They fought a very hard fight where Melvin actually used more than just his power to do well. Both fighters got hurt to some extent in the bout, and both had some great moments. Remy’s hand was raised by the judges at the end, though quite a few people seem to feel an extra round was called for.
Identically, Errol Zimmermann fought Glaube Feitosa in what many felt was a draw, however the judges went against the Ichigeki fighter and gave the decision to Errol. Errol did start the match a little harder, and Glaube ended it stronger so it was rather surprising. It was good to see that Errol is a little more controlled with his attacks now, and that Glaube’s boxing does seem to have improved.
Fellow Ichigeki member Teixeira Ewerton didn’t have an easy night either. He fought the much taller Indian, Singh Jaideep. Not much was known about Singh before this event, but one thing is clear now; he knows how to use his huge reach advantage. Ewerton had trouble adjusting his punching height, and on working out ways of getting inside without being kneed. He was kneed in the third round, and that was enough for the judges to call the first of two extension rounds before finally awarding the victory to the Brazilian.
In the only other WGP qualifying match up we saw Ruslan Karaev matched up with the Heavyweight Champion and possible future marathon runner, Kyotaro. It was an unusual fight to watch, as in many of the exchanges Kyotaro would come off landing the better strikes. But then he would spend the next 45 seconds avoiding Ruslan completely. This was repeated for the first two rounds, all but giving those to the Russian on aggression alone. In the final round he finally engaged quite a bit more, but it was too little too late, and the judges handed it to the man that pushed the action from the start.
In other fights of the night Kin Taiei was handed victory by disqualified fighter Catalin after the Rumanian didn’t hear the bell signaling the end of the round and he laid out Kin with a punch after the veteran had his hands down ready to return to his corner. Chi Bin Lim showed why it is he has represented Korea in MAX for so long by earning a unanimous decision over Tahir Menxhigi. The rather cute Su Jeong Lim won a very unusual decision over Chen Qing after the Chinese fighter had 1 point removed from the start after weight in 1.8kg over the contracted 53kg limit. Song Minho cut Kim Naechul with a knee badly enough that the doctor called an end to it. And Myung Hyun Man destroyed Ko Taisei’s hopes of earning his first victory in Korea.
So the members that will be heading to Yokohama on December 5, 2009 are 11 time veteran Jerome LeBanner, 3-time Champions Semmy Schilt and Remy Bonjasky, Kyokushin Champion Ewerton Teixeira, New Generation fighters Ruslan Karaev and Errol Zimmermann, newcomer Alistair Overeem, and finally, the saviour, Badr Hari. Just imagining how these 8 will match up for the first round may keep me awake for the remainder of the night. Thankfully I only need to wait until tomorrow afternoon to find out, and you can do the same by keeping your eyes on this page.
If you haven’t had a chance to watch this event yet, make sure your check your local listings for when it will be broadcast as this is one show you’ll not want to miss.
By Stuart Tonkin
Photos Courtesy of FEG
30 September 2009
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