G'day fellow Axers.

Who do you guys think has the biggest heart ever in Kickboxing.

I haven't followed as long as most of you, but I'll have a go at some later names. If you feel like contributing, maybe we can all make a list of 3, and then name the fight or fights that most sticks in mind that illustrates your point.

Im sure we'll all name some fighters, but then I'm sure some of our oppinions will be swayed after another member brings up a name or fight we had forgotten about.

Perhaps near the end we can vote on the top 3.


My list.

1, Jenk Behic
2, Gurkan Ozkan
3, Chris Chrisopolidis


1, Jenk Behic.
Easy to explain. All his fights have been wars. This bast 7 months or so, we've seen him face Mike Zambidis twice, John Wayne Parr in QLD....whom many feel was much much closer than the judges decisions.

2, Gurkan Ozkan.
Not so much for one fight in particular, but more so for his fight attitude. He'll fight anyone anytime.
I once asked him 'Why Gurkan, why fight guys so much bigger and heavier?
He said to me, "In a street fight, do you go asking someone how much they weigh".

3, Chris Chrisopolidis.
His fight with Peter Graham comes to mind. He's not the prettiest technician, but as Kahstallion has said "Whom ever fights Chris in an eliminator is gonna know they've been in a fight", they go into the next round wearing injuries for sure.
But, his fight with Peter Graham was a classic example of his stubbornness. He just keeps and keeps trying.


Pic: Jenk Behic Vs Michael Zambidis....K1 Max Oceania show...Nov 2002

Gurkan Ozkan after the accidental elbow from Arthur Tsakonas.

steve vick had heart

Chris Chrisopolidis left Vs Peter Graham.
Lucy Tui's KB4 Manly Leagues Club 2002 (April I think).

In my eyes the man with the biggest heart inside- and also outside the ring in kickboxing is/was Andy Hug.

If I were to make a top 3 list in kickboxing it would look like this:

1) Andy Hug

2) Jerome Le Banner. Jerome has had some ugly KO defeats in his career, but he always get back in the ring fearless and better than he was yesterday. A good example was against Mark Hunt in Paris in may 2002 - and again at the K-1 2002 Grand Prix. Jerome got hit big time against Peter Aerts at the 1999 Grand Prix, but he got up and back in the fight, and then won it by a powerful KO. Even against Ernesto Hoost at the K-1 2002 Grand Prix he kept coming back, even do Hoost broke his tree times tree different places. That is spirit and heart!


3) Ernesto Hoost. Apart from his ridicules fights against Bob Sapp, I have never seen Hoost quit or slow down in a fight. It is always forward, forward forward..... Hoost dont have much firepower, but he sure got a strong spirit.


I forgot Sam Greco! One hell of a little pitbul - who had no fear. Great fighter!

King of hearts !

Good choices Oliver.
Unfortunately I've only seen one full fight of Andy's and only a couple of highlight clips.

I have to say, that I think during that fight, I saw the most amazing kicks ever in my life.

I have forgotten whom the opponent was, but Hug was doing these mad kicks where they were coming down and slapping the crap out of his opponents face. His opponent was a young guy, but also amazing kicking skills. Hug was absolutely the most spectacular kicker. I haven't seen anything like it since.

His legend will no doubt live forever.


Please keep them coming guys. I'm looking forward to learning from you guys that have seen heaps of international heavy-weight fights, as I probably have seen less than 2 dozen. And half of those thanks to Nikos are of Stan Longinidis.

Sorry guys,
Just wanted to put up another pic of my King of Heart 1st place holder.

Jenk has some pretty fast mid kicks. Every time I'd photograph Jenk Behic or Prince Amir, my favorite shots to try and catch from both those fighters is the mid kick to the ribs, cause they're both so good at them. Kind of didn't get a rib kick here, but I love the sweat vapour. The vapour looks totally amazing as a 3 foot by 2 foot glossy poster.

Actually, Parr also. Amazingly fast.


Pic from Jenk Behic Vs Michael Zambidis first fight on Tarik Solak's August 2002 show.

Great photo Paul!

In my humble opinion, Stan Longinidis, Wayne Parr, Andy Hug, Jenk Behic, Ramon Dekker ,Mike Cope and Mark Hunt all display the heart of a warrior. Stan-his epic battles and never say die attitude, JWP-his "never give up even though Im F***** up" attitude in fights with Chris Allen and Orono, Andy Hug-his "Go Hard or Go home" style in the K1- this despite critics writing him off before he entered K1(haha how wrong they were), Ramon"the Diamond"-Legendary for taking tremendous punishment then giving it back, Mike Cope-a fellow Kiwi and extremely hard(understatement of the year)whose steel like qualities are sure to enthrall all those who watch him fight, and last but by no means least, Mark "the king of the underdogs"Hunt-Who came from nowhere to become K1Gp champion, defeat some K1 veterans and achieve this feat considering it was his first time in the GP lineup. Simply awesome!

In Karate its Kazumi-won the All Japan with a broken arm, too much man.

SERIOUSLY WITHOUT A DOUBT MICHAEL LEIWFAT FROM HOLLAND
Any fight he had and he fough some of the best ever Thai or European fighters at an era when most fighters today would not last 1 round with them, my list would be

1. Michael Leiwfat(tough little bastard)
2. Ramon Dekker (Legend,fought the best)
3. Changpuek Kitsongrit (fought many europeans always bigger and heavier than him)

Sorry i didnt include any Aussies but they dont come close to any of the above!!

Toa:

Yes, Kazumi won All Japan with a broken arm. The "biggest" part of the history is, that he broke his arm BEFORE the Tameshiwai test. So Kazumi accomplish to breake all the boards with a broken arm. Talk about controling the pain and having a spirit and heart of Lion!!




In Kyokushin my top 3 is :

1) Andy Hug. Andy was 15 years old when he won his first karate knock down tournament, he was 19 years old when he became European champion in open class, and only 19 years old when he was fighting in Japan for the first time. Andy has had over 200 fights in knock down karate and only loosing less than a handfull. Andy is the champion the world never got in Kyokushin.

2) Hajime Kazumi. Kazumi has won it all, All Japan, World Weight Open, 100 men kumite and two times silver in World Open. Amazing spirit!

3) Filho & Hiroki Kurosawa.

Good call Oliver

My call would be Jason "Psycho" Suttie,hes awsome, he'll never lie down, I truely believe he'd rather die trying than give up in a fight.

On more consideration I would also say Aaron Boyes from Strikeforce New Zealand has a huge heart,he is as tough as they come and has been on the recieving end of a lot of punishment form some of the worlds best and kept on battling.

Good Choices Richie,

Both are very tough.