a Sold out Yokohoma Arena, cheering fans, contradicting speculations about today’s winners and promises made by the fighters on how fast they would run through this year’s tournament were the ingredients of this year’s K-1 Final Grand Prix 2009.
Never in the K-1 history were the final 8 participating fighters so equally matched and the chances for each fighter to win the K-1 final so close. Remy “The Flying Gentleman” Bonjasky the reigning champion and Sem Schilt also had the change to equal the K-1 record of being a four time’s K-1 Grand Prix Champion.
With all this in perspective this year the road to the K-1 crown seemed harder than ever for the “Flying Gentleman”, but Remy had trained very hard and was confident to also take on this year’s challenge. The First fighter that stood in the way of Remy’s ambitions was Erol “The Bone crusher” Zimmerman. Erol’s right punch had set many fighters to the canvas and his jumping knee’s could be as effective as Remy’s own flying knee.
The fight with Erol “The Bonecrusher” Zimmerman could also been seen as a clash between the old and the newer K-1 generation.
The sound of the first bell rang and it was Erol who took the initiative with an inside low kick. Remy was focused on countering with kicks and boxing combinations. Erol showed his confidence and skills by trying to fly his knee to the chin of Remy. Remy stepped up the pace and showed his experience in fighting tournaments with fierce body kicks. As the fight continued and both fighters threw in the same amount of hard combinations there was no big advantage for one of the fighters.
With only 30 seconds on the clock in this first round Remy saw an opening in the defense of “ The Bonecrusher” and dropped Erol with a right straight punch. Erol stood up and Remy decided to be patient rather than to put more pressure and risking a brawl fight were he could get hurt as well.
The 2nd round Erol seemed fully recovered from his down in the first round. At this point The Golden glory fighter placed everything in his power to score a down so the points would become equal. Low kicks and boxing combinations came from both fighters as the pace of the fight was turned on another notch. Remy flew his knee twice in the air almost connecting it to Erol. “The Bone Crusher” responded with body punches and high kicks.
The 3th round the fight came in a slower past, but still fierce and hard low kicks were being exchanged. At the end of the third round Remy was declared the winner as he scored the down on Erol “The Bone Crusher” Zimmerman and had not given away his advantage in points.
Remy “the Flying” Gentleman Bonjasky stepped out the ring with a beautiful calculated win, however “The Flying Gentleman” had some damage to his legs as Remy received some hard low kicks from his opponent Zimmerman.
Remy “The Flying Gentleman” Bonjasky’s 2nd contender came in the form of a 212 cm tall and 132.2 kg weighing fighter called Sem schilt. Remy the “flying Gentleman” Bonjasky had met Sem Schilt one time before and lost this previous fight. Sem was not only a fighter who stood in Remy’s way of getting into the final but Sem was also the fighter were Remy was eager to settle to score for the previous fight.
The referee gave the sign for the first round and Remy “The Flying Gentleman” Bonjasky started fast and it was clear he had a game plan for his tall opponent. Remy brought the fight directly to Sem as he fought toe to toe with Sem. Before the fans could blink their eye within 8 seconds of the first round Remy managed to land a left hook right on the chin of Sem as he went down to the canvas.
After Sem took his 8 counts Remy now differently than the match against Zimmerman puts on the pressure to Sem. The “Flying Gentleman” is mainly boxing and jumping up and trying to reach the chin of Sem again knowing he has to finish this match quick. Unlucky for Remy he does not succeed in hitting Sem on his sweet spot again. Remy’s fighting spirit does not want to give up but the effort in hitting the tall Sem and the injuries Remy received in his first match are now draining the power out of his body. After Remy is seemingly lost much energy Sem took over the fight with hard Jabs and knie’s to the head. Remy does not seem to have the power to lightly move on his feet any more and came stuck in one of the corners. Sem then managed to drop Remy with a left right boxing combination. Remy took the 8 counts and tried to recover but a low kick from Sem stopped the ambitions of Remy “The Flying Gentleman” Bonjasky as he went down for the second time and could not stand up anymore.
Sem advanced to the final were he took on Bad Boy Badr hari and won this bout as well and Sem became the winner of the K-1 2009.
Unfortunately Remy “The Flying Gentleman” Bonjasky did not manage to win his fourth K-1 title but fought a good tournament and showed his fighting spirit in two hard fights. Next year Remy will take on another chance at a fourth K1 title and off course the “The Flying” gentleman will take along the experience and lessons learned in this K-1 Grand final to return as an even stronger fighter as he already was.
(To view the pictures of this day press the picture below. To scroll between the pictures press top left or top right) .
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