Badr Hari

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Badr Hari
Nickname	The Golden Boy The Snake
Nationality	Morocco Netherlands
Date of birth	December 8, 1984 (1984-12-08) (age 23)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Weight	101 kg (222.7 lb/15.9 st)
Style	Muay Thai
Team	Mike's Gym (2005-present) Chakuriki Gym (2000-2005) Sitan Gym
Trainer	Mike Passenier Thom Harinck
Years active	8 (2000-present)
Kickboxing record
Total	72
Wins	64
By knockout	51
Losses	7
By knockout	5
Draws	1
MMA record
Total	1
Wins	0
Losses	1
By submission	1
Other information
Official site
Career mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Badr "The Golden Boy" Hari (born December 8, 1984) is a Dutch-Moroccan Heavyweight kickboxer. He entered the K-1 with a spinning-heel kick KO over Stefan Leko in a reserve fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005.

On April 28, at K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii, Badr Hari was crowned the first K-1 World Heavyweight Champion winning his title by high kick KO at 0'56" in 1st round over Yusuke Fujimoto from Japan.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Titles 2.1 Kickboxing record 2.2 MMA Record 3 See also

[edit] Biography

Badr Hari began to practice kickboxing at the age of seven, under the guidance of former World Champion Mousid Akamrane. As a teenager he trained under Mohammed Ait Hassou at the Sitan Gym. When the Sitan Gym moved location from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, Badr switched over to the world famous Chakuriki Gym with Thom Harinck. Under Harinck Hari developed himself as one of the greatest talents of the Netherlands; Harinck even stated that "Hari had more talent than Peter Aerts and Branko Cikatic together".

Hari suffered only one loss while under Harinck's care: in 2003 he replaced Melvin Manhoef in a fight against the K-1 Superstar Alexey Ignashov, with only a few days notice. Hari, who was outweighed by more than 18 kg, did fairly well but was knocked out within the third round by a punch to the solar plexus. Nevertheless, Hari gained a lot of respect by stepping up to such an opponent under the aforementioned circumstances.

Other notable victories by Hari around that time came against such fighter as: Errol Paris, Antoni Hardonk, Aziz Katthou and Gary Turner. In January 2005, Hari left the Chakuriki Gym to sign a contract with promoter Simon Rutz, and became a fighter in the It's Showtime team. After a few months of training at Amsterdam's famous Mejiro Gym he returned to Thom Harinck, but left him again only a few weeks later. Badr Hari is currently coached by Mike Passenier of Mike's Gym who also currently trains Joeri "The Shark" Mes, Bjorn "The Rock" Bregy and Melvin Manhoef.

Hari, who is infamous for his slow entrances onto the ring as well as for his big mouth, was matched up against Stefan Leko for the It's Showtime event later that year. At the time, Leko was on a dead track, losing all his fights under MMA rules with the PRIDE organisation. For Hari it was a big opportunity to show his strength against a K-1 veteran, and try to make it into the restricted K-1 circuit. The former K-1 superstar Leko also saw an opportunity to make his K-1 comeback. The fight was being hyped for several months alongside of which came a lot of trash talk. Leko, was extremely confident, saying it wouldn't last long.

Before the actual fight started, Hari irritated his opponent with his trademark entrance -- it lasted longer than the fight itself. After an aggressive start, Badr Hari was winded by a spinning back kick to the liver, Stefan Leko also looked to be spitting on Hari after the fight was over while Hari was on the floor.

That same year, Hari got his chance for revenge. Manager Simon Rutz made a deal with K-1 for him to fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 as a reserve fighter against Stefan Leko. Hari didn't seem to have lost his confidence, and ultimately got his revenge. He knocked Leko out by a high spinning back kick to the jaw.

Although it seemed that Leko and Hari had already created bad blood and an instant classic rivalry, Hari helped his opponent up and escorted the dazed German to the corner. Hari made a name for himself that night with one of the scariest knockouts of that year.

While being scheduled for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Holland on May 13, 2006, Hari was a last minute replacement to participate in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in New Zealand. His opponent in the first round was Australian Peter "The Chief" Graham. During the press-conference, Hari once again showed his bad-boy image by mocking and insulting Graham, and later on even started a brawl. The next day Graham answered this lack of respect with a spectacular knockout. In the last ticking seconds of the final round, Graham caught Hari with his trademark the "Rolling Thunder", which is a mix between a spinning back kick and a flip kick. Graham's hit broke Hari's jaw in multiple places.

After receiving the most votes by fight fans all over the world, Badr Hari was offered a wild card place at the K-1 World GP Final Elimination 2006 against a young Russian kickboxer, Ruslan Karaev. He lost the fight in Round 1 by KO in what has been deemed a controversial fight. Hari appeared to play out what he thought was an illegal hit from Karaev and got up slowly from a knockdown. The referee did not agree and counted Hari out. After the fight, Hari lost control and started to throw insults at Karaev. When he was escorted backstage, Hari immediately trashed his dressing room.

He fought in a reserve fight at the K-1 World GP 2006 Finals, at the Tokyo Dome, against Paul Slowinski and won the fight by unanimous decision.

Badr Hari got his revenge on Ruslan Karaev as well, and in a surprising fashion at that: after receiving an 8 count after a hook from Karaev knocked him down, Karaev came forward with the intention of ending the fight. However, Badr Hari managed to avoid his initial punch, and knocked Karaev out with a left hook to the jaw. This victory got himself qualified for a K-1 world title fight later that year, which he won against Yusuke Fujimoto. Badr was scheduled to fight again on August 5th, 2007 at the K-1 World GP 2007 in Hong Kong, in a rematch against Peter Graham, which he won on points in the final round.

On September 29, 2007 at the K-1 World GP 2007 Final Elimination, Badr Hari beat the K-1 World GP 2007 in Las Vegas tournament champion, Doug Viney, by a second round KO and qualified for his first K-1 World GP Final, held on December 8 in Yokohama, Japan. His winning-streak, was snapped in a decision loss to Remy Bonjasky, during the 2007 quarter finals.

Hari's first fight in 2008 was at K-1 World GP 2008 in Yokohama against New Zealand veteran Ray Sefo. He won the bout by knee strikes KO in the first round.

[edit] Titles

• 2007 K-1 World Heavyweight Champion
• 2002 WPKL Dutch Muay Thai Champion

[edit] Kickboxing record

63 Wins (51 (T)KO's, 12 decisions), 7 Losses
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
05/31/2008		Mourad Bouzidi	K-1 Scandinavia MAX 2008, Stockholm, Sweden
04/13/2008	Win	Ray Sefo	K-1 World GP 2008 in Yokohama, Japan	KO (Knee strike)	1	2:43
12/08/2007	Loss	Remy Bonjasky	K-1 World GP 2007 Final, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
09/29/2007	Win	Doug Viney	K-1 World GP 2007 in Seoul Final 16, Korea	KO	2	1:23
08/05/2007	Win	Peter Graham	K-1 World GP 2007 in Hong Kong	Decision	3	3:00
04/28/2007	Win	Yusuke Fujimoto	K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii, USA	KO	1	0:56
03/04/2007	Win	Ruslan Karaev	K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama, Japan	KO (Punch)	2	2:46
12/31/2006	Win	Nicholas Pettas	K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!!, Japan	TKO (Arm injury)	2	1:28
12/02/2006	Win	Paul Slowinski	K-1 World Grand Prix 2006, Japan	Decision	3	3:00
09/30/2006	Loss	Ruslan Karaev	K-1 World GP 2006 Final Elimination, Japan	KO (Right punch)	1	0:52
03/05/2006	Loss	Peter Graham	K-1 World GP 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand	KO (Rolling thunder)	3	2:54
11/19/2005	Win	Stefan Leko	K-1 World Grand Prix 2005, Japan	KO (Spinning back left high kick)	2	1:30
06/12/2005	Loss	Stefan Leko	It's Showtime 8, Amsterdam, Netherlands	KO (Spinning back mid kick)	1	1:44
04/16/2005	Win	Vitaly Akhramenko	K-1 Italy GP 2005 in Milan, Italy	Decision	3	3:00
03/11/2005	Win	Domagoj Ostojic	Ultimate Nokaut 1, Croatia	KO (Right hook)	2	0:10
12/12/2004	Win	Gary Turner	Rings Fightgala - Born Invincible -, Utrecht, Netherlands	Decision	5	3:00
10/10/2004	Win	Gokhan Saki	2 Hot 2 Handle, Rotterdam, Netherlands	TKO (Corner stoppage)	2	3:00
05/20/2004	Win	Aziz Khattou	It's Showtime 7, Amsterdam, Netherlands	KO (Knees)	2	1:45
03/21/2004	Win	Errol Parris	Profighters Gala in Almere, Netherlands	KO (Right hook)	5
09/27/2003	Win	Antoni Hardonk	Rings Fightgala, Utrecht, Netherlands	Decision	5	3:00
06/08/2003	Loss	Alexey Ignashov	It's Showtime - Amsterdam ArenA -, Netherlands	KO (Straight right punch)	3	2:55
03/30/2003	Win	Dennis Strijbis	Rings Fightgala -Heroes of the Next Generation-, Utrecht	Decision	5	3:00
02/02/2003	Win	Ahmed Lakus	Killerdome II, Amsterdam, Netherlands	TKO	4
11/24/2002	Loss	Karim Mrabet	Victory or Hell, Netherlands	Decision	3	3:00
10/20/2002	Win	Ahmed Lakus	Warriors Fight Night, Dondrecht, Netherlands	TKO (Doctor Stoppage)	5
02/17/2002	Win	Willy Schneider	WPKL Gala in Hogendorphal, Amsterdam, Netherlands	TKO
11/19/2000	Loss	Rocky Grandjean	WPKL Gala in Amsterdam, Netherlands	KO (Spinning back kick)	1	1:39

[edit] MMA Record

0 Wins, 1 Loss
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
05/12/2002	Loss	Igor Kirsis	Lords of the Ring Gala, Deventer, Netherlands	Submission (Front choke)	1	0:22

[edit] See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of K-1 events
• List of kickboxing organizations