Schilt K-1 King Again
Stephen Martinez Dec 9, 2007
YOKOHAMA, Japan, Dec. 8 -- Another year is almost gone and another
K-1 Grand Prix is in the history books. The newest chapter is about
a nearly 7-foot Dutch kickboxer who joined a very selective group
of K-1 Grand Prix world champions with three or more titles.
Semmy Schilt (Pictures) won his third consecutive Grand Prix on Saturday, after an event filled with uninspired matches and in-ring injuries that lacked the excitement of previous years.
The finals pitted Schilt against Peter Aerts (Pictures) in a rematch of last year's
championship, which Schilt had won by unanimous decision.
The 37-year-old Aerts came charging and swinging hard right from the bell with crushing right punches and low kicks combos that caught Schilt off guard initially. However, the defending champion made the adjustment to counter the rush attacks with perfect jabs and low kicks.
Earlier in the night, Schilt had fought French bad boy Jerome LeBanner (Pictures) in the semifinals.
LeBanner started aggressively, pushing Schilt back with right punches and taking command of the first round. Schilt, as in previous matches and in his whole K-1 career, started to employ good use of inside knees. He also used his long reach to land jabs and tried to stop LeBanner's attacks later in the round.
While LeBanner was basically headhunting with murderous rights, Schilt landed a crushing knee with just a few seconds left in the first round that stunned the French fighter.
Once in his corner, LeBanner started to limp back and forth. His cornermen watched with the towel in hand, asking LeBanner if he was good to continue. LeBanner signaled back with his head and agreed to continue, but it was clear that something was wrong.
After the March K-1 Event, LeBanner had been forced to have knee surgery. He was not expected to come back until 2008, but he recovered quickly. However, 1:02 into the second round, Schilt landed a single low kick to his knee that made LeBanner's corner throw in the towel.
In the quarterfinals, Schilt won a unanimous decision over Brazilian Kyokushin Karate fighter Glaube Feitosa in a rematch of the 2005 finals.
Perhaps with fresh memories from their previous encounter in which Schilt won 48 seconds into the first round with a devastating knee, "The Brazilian Warrior" opted for a more conservative strategy this time. He stood outside Schilt's enormous reach while avoiding his trademark knees from inside.
The tactic frustrated Schilt, who moved forward and employed his reach and knees to pressure Feitosa around the ring. The Brazilian, now defending more than attacking, spotted an opening in Schilt's defense to perfectly land a high kick that sent Schilt crashing down over the ropes.
Schilt recovered quickly from the kick, though, which left Feitosa with little to no time to capitalize on the situation. From there, Schilt took control of the fight by landing knees to the body and head for the unanimous decision (30-27, 30-28 and 30-27).
In the other bracket, Peter Aerts (Pictures) took a unanimous decision (30-29, 30-27 and 30-28) over fellow Dutch fighter Remy Bonjasky.
Aerts dominated the fight with an aggressive strategy to push forward with 1-2 combinations and body shots followed with low kicks. Bonjasky couldn't put anything together to counteract the veteran's aggressive approach.
Perhaps the most interesting moment of the match came when Aerts took a page out of Mark Hunt (Pictures) and Ray Sefo (Pictures)'s previous run in K-1 events. He dropped his guard and exposed his chin for Bonjasky to land free shots that didn't cause any damage. The last minutes saw both fighters, already tired from previous matches, landing everything they had left but with little steam behind the punches.
In quarterfinal action, Aerts took on new Japanese hope Junichi Sawayashiki.
Sawayashiki was only 10 years old when Aerts won his first K-1 World Grand Prix title in 1994, besides the fact that Aerts is Sawayashiki`s childhood hero and inspiration to try kickboxing.
All sentiments apart, it took only 1:29 of the first round for Aerts to crush Sawayashiki`s dream with a devastating straight right that knocked out the Japanese fighter.
Remy Bonjasky took a majority decision (30-29, 29-29 and 30-29) over Badr Hari in another quarterfinal match.
There was a heated exchange of words between these two in the promo videos. Hari called the two-time K-1 Grand Prix champion Remy Bonjasky a "paper champ," and Bonjasky replied in a more gentle way: "None of the fighters Hari has fought before were top-notch. He doesn't understand K-1 fully."
Through three rounds, both fighters traded heavy low and middle kicks mixed with body punches. Hari looked more active, landing better shots and employing cleaner footwork while Bonjasky employed more low kicks to keep the Moroccan slugger at bay.
Hari looked as if he had the edge on all cards en route to a unanimous decision, but the K-1 judges saw the action differently and awarded Bonjasky the majority decision instead.
The first quarterfinal match placed Jerome LeBanner (Pictures) against "Techno-Goliath" Hong Man Choi (Pictures).
The Frenchman started low, trying to keep himself away from Choi's huge reach advantage. LeBanner worked some middle and low kicks while occasionally headhunting without much success due to Choi's size.
Choi looked relatively slow, trying to put together 1-2 combos, but the French fighter used his speed to avoid any possible damage. The later minutes showed a gassed-out Choi throwing punches and giant hammerfists with little power behind them. Meanwhile, LeBanner connected with more clean shots to the head. The fight was scored 30-29, 30-28 and 30-29 for LeBanner.
The tournament reserve match placed Aussie fighter Paul Slowinski against "Mighty Mo" Siala Siliga (Pictures).
From the beginning of the round, Mighty Mo rushed Slowinski against the ropes, landing powerful but ineffective right hooks. Slowinski was more content with landing hard low kicks over Siliga's legs.
Eventually Siliga's strategy paid off. He opened a small cut on Slowinski`s face, prompting the referee to request a doctor's check. After Slowinski was cleared, he came back just to get stuck at the end of some hard shots from Siliga.
Once the second round started, Slowinski landed three hard low kicks on Siliga's legs that put the Samoan-American fighter down in pain. Siliga couldn't beat the referee's count, awarding Slowinski a knockout victory 50 seconds into the round.
In the night's sole super fight, Japanese superstar Musashi survived a very active and acrobatic attack by David Dancrade.
Dancrade used all kinds of flashy kicks, flying knees and spinning back fists. Musashi employed a very tight defense to avoid any type of damage, though.
Dancrade's debut didn't last long due to Musashi landing a devastating left kick into the Frenchman's midsection that dropped him in pain 2:59 into the first round.
Semmy Schilt (Pictures) won his third consecutive Grand Prix on Saturday, after an event filled with uninspired matches and in-ring injuries that lacked the excitement of previous years.
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The 37-year-old Aerts came charging and swinging hard right from the bell with crushing right punches and low kicks combos that caught Schilt off guard initially. However, the defending champion made the adjustment to counter the rush attacks with perfect jabs and low kicks.
At 1:49 of the first round, Schilt landed a perfect jab when Aerts
was stepping in. Then Aerts' knee gave out on him, sending the
Dutch Lumberjack crashing down to the canvas. He was visibly in
pain and couldn't move to answer the 10 count from the referee, who
called the fight and awarded Schilt a TKO victory.
Earlier in the night, Schilt had fought French bad boy Jerome LeBanner (Pictures) in the semifinals.
LeBanner started aggressively, pushing Schilt back with right punches and taking command of the first round. Schilt, as in previous matches and in his whole K-1 career, started to employ good use of inside knees. He also used his long reach to land jabs and tried to stop LeBanner's attacks later in the round.
While LeBanner was basically headhunting with murderous rights, Schilt landed a crushing knee with just a few seconds left in the first round that stunned the French fighter.
Once in his corner, LeBanner started to limp back and forth. His cornermen watched with the towel in hand, asking LeBanner if he was good to continue. LeBanner signaled back with his head and agreed to continue, but it was clear that something was wrong.
After the March K-1 Event, LeBanner had been forced to have knee surgery. He was not expected to come back until 2008, but he recovered quickly. However, 1:02 into the second round, Schilt landed a single low kick to his knee that made LeBanner's corner throw in the towel.
In the quarterfinals, Schilt won a unanimous decision over Brazilian Kyokushin Karate fighter Glaube Feitosa in a rematch of the 2005 finals.
Perhaps with fresh memories from their previous encounter in which Schilt won 48 seconds into the first round with a devastating knee, "The Brazilian Warrior" opted for a more conservative strategy this time. He stood outside Schilt's enormous reach while avoiding his trademark knees from inside.
The tactic frustrated Schilt, who moved forward and employed his reach and knees to pressure Feitosa around the ring. The Brazilian, now defending more than attacking, spotted an opening in Schilt's defense to perfectly land a high kick that sent Schilt crashing down over the ropes.
Schilt recovered quickly from the kick, though, which left Feitosa with little to no time to capitalize on the situation. From there, Schilt took control of the fight by landing knees to the body and head for the unanimous decision (30-27, 30-28 and 30-27).
In the other bracket, Peter Aerts (Pictures) took a unanimous decision (30-29, 30-27 and 30-28) over fellow Dutch fighter Remy Bonjasky.
Aerts dominated the fight with an aggressive strategy to push forward with 1-2 combinations and body shots followed with low kicks. Bonjasky couldn't put anything together to counteract the veteran's aggressive approach.
Perhaps the most interesting moment of the match came when Aerts took a page out of Mark Hunt (Pictures) and Ray Sefo (Pictures)'s previous run in K-1 events. He dropped his guard and exposed his chin for Bonjasky to land free shots that didn't cause any damage. The last minutes saw both fighters, already tired from previous matches, landing everything they had left but with little steam behind the punches.
In quarterfinal action, Aerts took on new Japanese hope Junichi Sawayashiki.
Sawayashiki was only 10 years old when Aerts won his first K-1 World Grand Prix title in 1994, besides the fact that Aerts is Sawayashiki`s childhood hero and inspiration to try kickboxing.
All sentiments apart, it took only 1:29 of the first round for Aerts to crush Sawayashiki`s dream with a devastating straight right that knocked out the Japanese fighter.
Remy Bonjasky took a majority decision (30-29, 29-29 and 30-29) over Badr Hari in another quarterfinal match.
There was a heated exchange of words between these two in the promo videos. Hari called the two-time K-1 Grand Prix champion Remy Bonjasky a "paper champ," and Bonjasky replied in a more gentle way: "None of the fighters Hari has fought before were top-notch. He doesn't understand K-1 fully."
Through three rounds, both fighters traded heavy low and middle kicks mixed with body punches. Hari looked more active, landing better shots and employing cleaner footwork while Bonjasky employed more low kicks to keep the Moroccan slugger at bay.
Hari looked as if he had the edge on all cards en route to a unanimous decision, but the K-1 judges saw the action differently and awarded Bonjasky the majority decision instead.
The first quarterfinal match placed Jerome LeBanner (Pictures) against "Techno-Goliath" Hong Man Choi (Pictures).
The Frenchman started low, trying to keep himself away from Choi's huge reach advantage. LeBanner worked some middle and low kicks while occasionally headhunting without much success due to Choi's size.
Choi looked relatively slow, trying to put together 1-2 combos, but the French fighter used his speed to avoid any possible damage. The later minutes showed a gassed-out Choi throwing punches and giant hammerfists with little power behind them. Meanwhile, LeBanner connected with more clean shots to the head. The fight was scored 30-29, 30-28 and 30-29 for LeBanner.
The tournament reserve match placed Aussie fighter Paul Slowinski against "Mighty Mo" Siala Siliga (Pictures).
From the beginning of the round, Mighty Mo rushed Slowinski against the ropes, landing powerful but ineffective right hooks. Slowinski was more content with landing hard low kicks over Siliga's legs.
Eventually Siliga's strategy paid off. He opened a small cut on Slowinski`s face, prompting the referee to request a doctor's check. After Slowinski was cleared, he came back just to get stuck at the end of some hard shots from Siliga.
Once the second round started, Slowinski landed three hard low kicks on Siliga's legs that put the Samoan-American fighter down in pain. Siliga couldn't beat the referee's count, awarding Slowinski a knockout victory 50 seconds into the round.
In the night's sole super fight, Japanese superstar Musashi survived a very active and acrobatic attack by David Dancrade.
Dancrade used all kinds of flashy kicks, flying knees and spinning back fists. Musashi employed a very tight defense to avoid any type of damage, though.
Dancrade's debut didn't last long due to Musashi landing a devastating left kick into the Frenchman's midsection that dropped him in pain 2:59 into the first round.
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