Felix,

I know that is a matter of time, the question is just who is going to be the first to knock him out cold?

That is big words from one champ to another. Now I know why Carter was in heaven - that most be the biggest inspiration and respect Carter could get. Hoost is gentleman and an excellent ambassador for the sport, inside and outside the ring.

Reading your message above Felix, makes me think back in time, back when I was on Kyokushin karate training camp together with Andy Hug. I was a young fighter myself at the time, when I had the chance to spend five days together with Andy Hug, and to learn from him. In the five days I was together with Andy, I had many conversations with him, and I remember that I bombarded him with tons of question, all from training tips, injuries, sparing, tournaments etc. – simply to learn and develop myself as a fighter, but also a human.

The training camp was in 1989, two years after Andy became 2nd in the 4th Kyokushin World Open tournament, so I asked him how important it was to him, to win the belt next time, and finally become champion of the world. Andy told me, that before you can be a champion, you first have to learn to live like one.

First I understood nothing? I simply didn’t get or understood his point before the day after, where we were talking again. Being a champion is many things Andy told me; taking the time to talk to you is a part of it, taking the time to learn and teach is a part of it, being humble and polite is also a big part of it, spending more time in the dojo than your opponents is part it, and so he kept on telling me about what a champion is….

It sounds to me that Hoost is from the same old school as Andy was. I wounder if a fighter like Jerome, would have taken the time to say the things?