Aerts has a strong arguement for #1. Plus he clearly beat Hoost in a 5 rounder when both at their peak. 1. Hoost 2. Aerts 3. Schilt 4. LeBanner 5. Hug 6. Filipovic 7. Bonjasky 8. Bernardo 9. Hunt 10. Hari
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ernesto Hoost 2. Peter Aerts 3. Semmy Schilt 4. Remy Bonjasky 5. Andy Hug 6. Andy Souwer 7. Masato 8. Mark Hunt 9. Mike Bernardo 10. Branko Cikatic 11. Mirko Filipovic 12. Stefan Leko (my fave k1 fighter) 13. Badr Hari 14. Buakaw Por. Pramuk 15. Albert Kraus 16. Alexey Ignashov 17. Ray Sefo 18. Michael McDonald 19. Musashi 20. Jerome Le Banner /Francisco Filho
Seems like I have to get into Mike Bernardo more since everybody is rating him so high. I started watching K1 since 2001. I only remember him as a journey man at best. But it seems like his succes days were over by then.
Hoost is the most complete K-1 fighter ever, that's also why he was called Mr Perfect. Aerts is another legend, he had more flaws then Hoost and overall a less good record, but he also was there at the very beginning. I can't believe someone ranked Lebanner on N° 20, he also was there from the beginning and has always been a top dog. In fact I had him as the next dominating K-1 champ in 2002 ... untill Hoost shattered his arm which pretty much ruined the rest of his career. He has wins over K-1 champs as Hoost, Aerts, Hunt, Bonjasky ... I think these 3 fighters are the top because they have always been competing with the best and this since the beginning of K-1. Hug was a great warrior, but we have seen the best of him; he was almost 37 when he died. Bernardo was a dangerous and vicious puncher, but his career didn't last that long. Bonjasky is a great athlete, although his success is also for a big part the result of the older fighters being well past their prime and the young fighters not yet in the prime. His 2003 title was a good example of that.
Thats how I think about it also. Except for LBR. He is not no. 20 but also no no. 3 Schilt and Bonjasky achived far more. Souwer, Masato, and Pramuk also if we are talking both K1 and K1 MAX. He can. If he wins 5 times, so two more to go. He did 3 times in a row and that is a record. Reason for the K1 to keep him out of the final 8 last year I think is that they did not want him to even Hoost being 4 times K1 champion. Schilt would have done it 4 times in a row in dominant fashion. Then he could have claimed he was the no. 1 all time. I don't think Schilt gets the respect he derserves for being 3 time champion
Schilt wasn't kept out of the Final 8. He lost to Aerts and was knocked out of the competition in the Final 16.
I know but at least they could have given him some back up fight. They found a way to let Hoost in anyway at least one time.
Aerts is n # 1 in my book. Hoost is # 2... For a few specific reasons... Hoost lost twice against Sapp...(ok , sapp was cheating , the ref did nothing but still..) Also , Aerts was dominant for a longer period of time. Not to mention , Aerts has some of the best high kick KOs in K1 history... Hoost looked too vulnerable against Schilt (even in his prime when he was confronted to the guy in pride fc under K1 rules )... A past prime Aerts managed to beat Schilt.
Btw , Schilt will obviously never get the respect of his predecessors , but the guy has the potential to break new K1 records...He recently lost against Hari but that's just a small detail in his career. I wouldn't give Hari a chance in the rematch.
Well Schilt his skills are nowhere close to the skills of someone like Hoost. He's a great athlete, tremendous stamina, good kicks, violent left jaw and has a very hard body. Size is a huge advantage in K-1 and Schilt exploits that perfectly and that's what makes him so hard to fight. He uses his front kick and jab to keep his opponents away and with his reach advantage he can just pick his shots from safe distance and pile up the points. His boxing (defense+ offense) is pretty horrible really. His loss to Hari was no fluke, once Schilt doesn't have his reach advantage anymore vs a tall opponent he can be hit easily by punches. The tall and fast handed Ignashov knocked him out, Nortje knocked him down, Hari stopped him and even the poor boxing Choi gave him all kinds of problems. Hari is fast, has good hands, good power and he has a long reach. His strong points are the weakness of Schilt. Still a rematch can go either way as Hari can't take a punch. Regarding the top fighters, I think you should take into account how long the fighters have been at the top. Hoost, Aerts and Le Banner were there at the very beginning and have always been top dogs. Le Banner his prime was all of a sudden ended by Hoost his kicks in 2002. Despite that Le Banner is ranked as the fighter who has the most wins of K-1 GP champion. He also was in the final match of the finals twice. You shouldn't look at GP titles only. If you look fi at who Le Banner and Bonjasky met in the finals, you might understand what I'm aiming at. Le Banner 1995 => stopped by Aerts 1997 - 1999 => stopped by Hoost 2001 => stopped by Hunt 2002 => stopped by Hoost ( injury left arm ) 2005 => stopped by Aerts 2006 - 2007 => stopped by Schilt What you see here is that Le Banner ran into a GP champion each time during the finals ( Aets twice, Hoost 3 times and Schilt twice ) When you look at Bonjasky; 2003 => win over Graham - Abidi and Musashi ( ! ) 2004 => win over Hoost (very controversial as "Hoost won the extra" ) - Botha and Musashi ( ! ) 2005 => steamrolled by Schilt 2007 => lost to Aerts 2008 => wins over Le Banner - Saki and Hari DSQ So it's quite obvious that Le Banner and Bonjasky had very different opposition. What would have happened if Bonjasky would have been the one who ran into Schilt, Aerts or Hoost at a K-1 final? I know the answer. So this is why you should be blinded by titles alone, looking at what's behind those stats can be very interesting. Bonjasky btw, a tremendous athlete and great ambassador for the sport. His hands are not that good though.
I would. I think that all you need is power, be able to land on his chin then get inside and unload. Like Hari did in the last fight. Of course it's a lot easier said than done but very possible for a few fighters I think.
