30-04-2007
K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii
Aloha! This month the moment was finally there again, I had to compete against Brazilian Kyokushin karate fighter, Glaube Feitosa, at the K-1 Hawaii. Feitosa, a strong technical fighter who has really made a huge progression, in the last tree years, in which finally resulted in him fighting the Grand Prix final against Sem Schilt in 2005 and in the year 2006 he ended as one of the eight fighters who qualified themselves for the final Grand Prix. Feitosa furthermore can be described as an experienced fighter, with good kicking techniques, his specialty "the Brazilian kick" has given many fighters the necessary problems. Sunday the 22nd I arrived at Honolulu airport, after a long flight of approximately 20 hours with a time difference of minus twelve hours too the Netherlands. When landed, the warmth directly approached you, the ladies with mini straw skirts and flower garlands probably had a day off. But not to be worried. The palm trees, white beaches and delicious food made up for almost everything. Later that day my manager Charley came and two days later my coach Ivan and Terrence Wong Swie San arrived. As from now Terrence will update my Internet site (remybonjasky.com) regularly. Team complete. The main objective of these first days where too acclimatize and neutralize the jetlag. I mainly did this by spending time in the beautiful shopping malls. Wednesday I started training, on the paths, in the Hawaii Martial Arts Center, a small gym in the old part of the city Honolulu. Kevin the Sensei of the gym also happens to be a referee for the K-1. Kevin's a really nice man who made his gym available for all the K-1 fighters. A day before the match the weighting took place and again it was explained what the new classes in weight in the K-1 stands for. Sem Schilt is the Grand Prix titleholder and at the same time he holds the title for the heavyweights above 100 kg. Meaning there is a title for under and above 100 kg. After the weighting it was announced that the match between Badr Hari and Yusuke Fujimoto concerned a title fight, under the 100 kg, so therefore the two fighters needed to sign, officially , in the presence of the CIO Tanigawa. Off course this all was observed by the many Japanese reporters. Saturday the day of the match I woke up early, I had a good night sleep and me and my team ate breakfast, together. I felt a healthy tension, but overall I was relaxed. At 15:30 all the fighters from the red corner including me needed to gather and from that point we would leave to the Blaisdail Stadium. After Arriving at the Blaisdail stadium we were escorted to our dressing room, I must, however point out that the dressing rooms did not excel in size (Approximately 5 at 2 meters). The Dressing room was shared with Jerrel Venetiaan and Yusuke Fujimoto. The fixed ritual for an official game than started, first the visit at the doctor and than the bandage check. My match was the 10th of the 13 matches, during the waiting I at a few snacks and watched a few matches, broadcasted on the monitor, in the dressing room. The taping began, and when the 7th match started, I prepared myself, with shadow boxing. And than ones more a stop at the toilet, before I wear my Tock. After my gloves where put on, I headed to the warm up place. At this place you become ultimately focused, by kicking and punching on the paths. Ivan crosses the T's and dots the I's by making me execute several kicking and punching combinations. Back to dressing room and than wait for the K-1 staff member who announced "time Remy". The normal tension than changes into competitive tension. The feeling of fighting takes over, and you know everything you have learned and trained for needs to be shown in 9 minutes, divided over 3x3 rounds, with possible extra rounds. You're being told that Glaube Feitosa is walking to the ring. "IN THE RED CORNER REMY BONJASKI".......afterwards my music starts to play. On the Catwalk to the ring the fans are shouting my name, but I cant give them any attention, I am totally focused on Glaube Feitosa. This feeling is best described as me being in a dark room, where only Glaube shines. This is how I experience my walk towards the ring. The first minute the combinations where going from both sides, at a given moment Feitosa caught me with a uppercut, witch touched me with-inn my eye. I was totally disorientated and could not see anything, for 20 seconds. I took a couple of steps back, hoping my visibility would recover. Fortunately this happened for 50%, at this point I could pick up the past from where I started, and that's pressuring Feitosa. However the pain in my eye did not end, it only became worse. After the 1st round back in my corner Ivan had already seen the trouble caused by my eye, Ivan noticed this because I had not carried out the tasks given to me. He asked me if my eye was really hurting? I nodded yes, on which Ivan answered "I don't care about it at all, you have too pull yourself trough, because where not letting this boy escape." The 2nd round was again an equal match, at the end of this round I managed to land a knee on the head of Feitosa and was also able to put him under extreme pressure, for the last 10 seconds. The 3rd round Ivan instructed me to pull the fight entirely into my favor. I think Feitosa had received the same task from his corner, because he started fierce, with Low kicks on the inside of my leg and combinations. I reacted on this by going along with his tempo, by way of Low kicks and punching combinations. At the end of the 3e round I accelerated and punched and kicked with all I could, making good contact with Feitosa and drove him in a angle and I tried to force a knock out However I did not succeed in doing so. After the final gong, I felt I had won the game, or perhaps the judges would call for a draw because the difference in points was not big enough. With anonymous decision I was declared as the winner of the match, an afterwards I know why. If u ever get the change to look at this bout, u will notice that Feitosa was to much focused on executing the inside low kick, and according to the rules, low kicks with the front leg are not counted as a point. Only kicks made by your hindmost leg are added up to the score. I don't think Feitosa was aware of this rule, in spite of this I'm happy with my victory and can add Feitosa to my winning statistics. Arrived in the dressing room my right eye caused a lot of pain, and I needed to be examined by a doctor. The doctor advised me to see a local Hospital, for a checkup. Off course I followed his advice, because I did not want to take any risks. After being examined at the hospital they diagnosed a small crack in my cornea. The medical advise was as followed: a week long, 4 times a day eye drupes, and the pain should go away. After a long night of sleep I woke up with still a little bit of pain in my eye, but its all getting better at the moment. This trip to Hawaii was a great experience, and indeed worth for another stay.


<< Back >>Forward