Badr Hari cut a swathe through kickboxing in the last days of K-1, simultaneously known as its Golden Boy and its Bad Boy.

Not only was Hari head and shoulders above many of the men he fought in terms of technique, his punching power was unmatched. When he got going, and he felt he had his opening, Hari was a force of nature. Just ask Semmy Schilt. Schilt has been stopped only twice in the course of his incredible career, and it had been five years since the first time when Hari met him in 2009. The fury that Hari unleashed upon Schilt in that bout was enough to give even a hardened fight fan goosebumps. As Hari bombarded the giant, Schilt seemed to shrink to half of his usual size.

But that was the problem, and ultimately the downfall... Hari's fury. He couldn't limit it to the ring and to his professional life. The other cheek was turned when brawls at press conferences turned into sold out events, but when Hari was on the verge of being imprisoned for attempted manslaughter, it became clear that this young man genuinely had problems.

Hari was not always dishing out the beatings though. Hari began as a good prospect who just couldn't keep it together long enough to build a great winning streak. In just Hari's seventh fight, he met the great Alexey Ignashov. Ignashov, who was truly at his best at the time, struggled a little with Hari, but put the Morrocan down with a right straight to the solar plexus. As Hari struggled for air, the serene Russian picked him up, looked him in the eye, and told him to breathe deeply. It was a touching moment as an established fighter helped out a youngster.

Two years on, and it was Stefan Leko who was able to stop Hari with a back kick. Five months later, however, Hari avenged the loss in spectacular fashion—scoring perhaps K-1's most famous knockout ever in his promotional debut.

Hari needed the goodwill that this knockout bought him though, as in his next bout he was stopped by a Rolling Thunder from the always entertaining Aussie, Peter Graham. Following that it was the young banger, Ruslan Karaev who stopped him. 1-3 in his last four fights, Hari had obvious problems. He struggled with the unexpected—he had been stopped three times with spinning kicks—and he had difficulty recovering once he was hurt.

After a couple of conservative wins, Hari got a rematch with Karaev. This time, Hari was put on the floor again, but rose to deliver the most beautiful turnaround knockout I've ever seen. Knowing that Karaev would swarm on him, Hari bet the house on his counter right straight—easily his best strike—and boy, did it pay off.

It was never plain sailing from then on, but that was truly the birth of the Badr Hari who scared everyone in the kickboxing world. The Badr Hari who could take a break for a year, with legal troubles and a threatened move to boxing, then come back and knock out a top 2 ranked heavyweight, in Gokhan Saki, with ease in a retirement fight.



Just another day at the office apparently.

What made Hari so special was partly his physicality, but also his ability to land a stunning right hand from almost anywhere. Coming out of a clinch, falling off balance, any time Hari's right hand came in, he somehow got the force behind it that it could wobble his man. He made a speciality of timing it inside his opponent's left hook, just as he did to Karaev. Barney Ross, a great boxer and counter puncher, called this the most powerful counter in all of boxing and you very rarely see it done deliberately.



Knocking out Alistair Overeem before it was cool.

He could also use his right straight terrifically to the body. This is something you won't see much even in boxing nowadays, and never in kickboxing because fighters don't like to change levels with the constant threat of kicks and knees. Against Errol Zimmerman, Hari committed to putting Zimmerman's belly button through his back, then came upstairs with a two piece biscuit that put the Dutchman to sleep.



The sound on each of these is cringe inducing.

Hari could counter too, his fight with Peter Aerts was six minutes of Hari trying to find right hands all over the place.

One which Hari really excels at, and which is underappreciated in combat sports nowadays, is landing the right hand off of the cross face. The cross face, a forearm in front of the neck and face, is used to keep an opponent from clinching—as George Foreman used to do, and Floyd Mayweather still does. The hard part is removing the cross face and turning your hips over to punch, without letting them close the distance. It's a real art form and Hari is a master of it. It was the story of Hari's most recent bout with Peter Graham.



Mayweather using the cross face to keep separation.

Unfortunately, most fighters who get a reputation for overwhelming their opponents end up coming to focus on it. Just as happened with Mike Tyson and Prince Naseem, Badr Hari became a parody of himself. It was all out aggression at all times, not just when pursuing the finish. His second bout with Zabit Samedov showed a lack of the polish we are used to, and Samedov was able to drop and finish Hari by catching him mid flurry.

The buzzword with Hari was always discipline. This was obviously a guy who couldn't stay calm. He had all the power and speed in the world, but as soon as he started swinging, the chin came up and the hands came down. And the worst part was, a lot of the time it worked out—so he was free to forget about the consequences.

Since K-1 spiralled into bankruptcy, Hari has fallen off the map. All the best heavyweights in the world are in Glory—and he has yet to fight there. Instead Hari fought in K-1's desperate Croatian grand prix—designed to cash in on an ageing Mirko Cro Cop—and then for “Legend Fighting Show” and “Global FC”. A sole knockout loss in the last four years is not enough to justify Hari fighting for these shows.

You will remember that very early in his career, Hari met the great Alexey Ignashov at the height of his powers. There are some interesting parallels that can be seen in the two starkly contrasting fighters. Ignashov is remembered as the finest heavyweight talent of his time (being the only other man to stop Semmy Schilt) but he faded before his star could burn its brightest by way of his vices.

Where Hari was let down by his temper—both in the ring and out of it. Ignashov was a tale of sadness, and a turn to alcoholism. The two fighters could not have gone about their business in the ring more differently, but both of them succumbed to their temptations and haven't quite appeared to be themselves ever since. I fear that with Hari, as with Ignashov, we will forever be left to wonder “what if...”

Pick up Jack Slack's ebook, Fighting Karate at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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