K-1 Grand Prix Final
The big hitters descend on Tokyo Dome to compete for their sport’s ultimate prize

Ray Sefo (left) looks to get his kicks at the Big Egg ©K-1

How about this for a commercial:
“Even death can’t keep a champion from standing tall.” It’s from the new TV ad for K-1’s upcoming World Grand Prix 2006 Final and features Ernesto Hoost rising from an oversized flower and proclaiming, “I will be champion again.” (See it for yourself at www.k-1.co.jp.)

Has K-1 lost the plot? This is strange stuff coming from a sporting discipline that, to some extent, built its reputation on the death of one of its star fighters, Andy Hug, who succumbed to leukemia six years ago. And K-1 probably doesn’t help its own cause by using its oldest fighter as the star of its commercial. Hoost, 41, is bidding to become the first five-time champion in the sport, and he also lost his father in a car accident earlier this year and his brother in similar circumstances three years ago.
It really cuts to the issue of whether K-1 regards itself as entertainment or sport. In fact, K-1 wants to have it both ways. They continue to parade the likes of Akebono and Bobby the Nigerian at events. Yet much of the public, and I suspect the “real” competitors, don’t buy them as legitimate K-1 fighters. (Bob Sapp, by the way, was canned after an acrimonious dispute earlier this year.)

Hoost would be a case in point. He may be 41, but he’s been a great champion who, despite fighting sparingly in recent years, has kept himself in great shape. He’ll need it in the Grand Prix Final, where he’ll be up against 31-year-old Chalid “Die Faust” Arrab of Germany. Arrab’s only loss this year came on a decision against Carter Williams in a tournament where he also scored two knockouts. He qualified for the Final by beating two-time Grand Prix runner-up Musashi in a tight four-rounder.

Defending champion Semmy Schilt will need all his height (212 cm), weight (135 kg) and skills to get past veteran Jerome Le Banner. Schilt has lost twice this year—to Peter Aerts and to the giant Korean Choi Hong Man—and will be up against French tough guy Le Banner, the only fighter to topple the 220cm Choi in 2006. Schilt has good skills, but the 33-year-old Le Banner is frightened of no one and is a good bet for the title this year.

Former two-time champion Remy Bonjasky, unbeaten in 2006, is another fighter who keeps himself in superb condition. He will be looking to forget last year’s loss to Schilt when he takes on German Stefan “Blitz” Leko. The 32-year-old Leko is a class act who made it to the finals by beating bruiser Ray Sefo—never an easy task. Should Leko win, he may face the man who beat him in April, Ruslan Karaev, a 23-year-old former World Amateur Kickboxing champion. Karaev will be up against another in-form fighter, 36-year-old Glaube Feitosa, who knocked out Musashi a year ago.

Having lost in the qualifying, Musashi will this time around feature in a superstar reserve fight against Dutch veteran Aerts. The winner of this match will only take part in the Final if there is an injury to another fighter. Also on the undercard is a huge fight between Hong and super-slugger Sefo. The former ssirum fighter (that’s Korean sumo to you and me) looked like he would dominate K-1 until he came up against Le Banner in September. Sefo punches even harder than the Frenchman, so it will be interesting to see how the two square off.
And hopefully, death won’t stop the “champion from standing tall.”

Tokyo Dome, Dec 2. See sports listings for details.


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