Background and career
Badr Hari (Arabic: بدر هاري; born 8 December 1984) is a Dutch-Moroccan former professional kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter. Born in Amsterdam, Hari made his professional kickboxing debut in 2000, and quickly rose to fame with his aggressive and explosive style. In 2002, he became the WPKL Dutch Muay Thai champion and The Eight Tournament champion (Muay Thai). In 2007, he became the K-1 Heavyweight World Champion when he defeated Yusuke Fujimoto by knockout in 56 seconds. In 2009, Hari reached the final of the K-1 World Grand Prix for the second time. Also that year, he became the It's Showtime Heavyweight World Champion. He would defend his title against Mourad Bouzidi, before losing it to Hesdy Gerges in May 2010 by disqualification. In 2012, Hari faced a two-year suspension from kickboxing after being found guilty of assault charges. Two years later, he won the GFC Fight Series 1 Heavyweight Tournament Championship when he defeated Peter Graham by technical knockout in the first round. In 2016, he made his Glory debut in a highly anticipated bout against Heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven, which he lost by technical knockout (arm injury) in the second round. Hari is widely considered one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. He is credited for increasing the popularity of kickboxing in Morocco, becoming a national icon and a source of pride for many Moroccans due to his success in the sport.
Hari was born and raised in Amsterdam. He is of Berber descent and his parents are Moroccans from the Houara tribe, who relocated to the Netherlands before Hari was born. Hari began practicing kickboxing at the age of seven, under the guidance of former World Champion Mousid Akamrane. As a teenager he trained at the Sitan Gym of Mohammed Aït Hassou. When the Sitan Gym moved to Rotterdam, he joined the famous Chakuriki Gym run by Thom Harinck. Hari was fighting under the Dutch flag until a loss against Stefan Leko in 2005. It was the first time his parents attended one of his fights and he was asked to address the Dutch audience. Hari could not be understood and the audience proceeded to boo him, after which Hari was quoted saying "I thought to myself, I have never witnessed such ungratefulness". From then on Hari has represented Morocco and stopped working with Thom Harinck. Mike Passenier became his new coach.
At the age of seven, Hari was sent by his father to the kickboxing gym to learn how to defend himself from bullies in the neighborhood. People realized he was a talent and from the age of 11 he was fighting regularly as a junior. In his teenage years he worked with the trainer Thom Harinck at Chakuriki Gym and it was at this time he started to become known on the Amsterdam scene. At the age of 18 he had 50 amateur fights on his record and was ready to fight at a professional level. A year later he was fighting in front of an audience of thousands at the Johan Cruijf Arena, the biggest soccer stadium in the Netherlands. His opponent was Alexey Ignashov. Hari took the fight on short notice and lost, but won respect from the crowd and from Ignashov for his display of heart.
Hari's road to fame began with a pair of matches against Stefan Leko in 2005. The first took place at an It's Showtime 2005 event in June 2005. Hari had started trash talk between him and his opponent before the fight but Hari's unusually long ring entrance ended up being longer than the fight itself, where Hari was knocked out by Leko's trademark spinning back kick. Hari in November 2005 entered the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 tournament as a reserve fighter against Leko, making his K-1 World GP debut at the age of 20. Hari knocked out Leko by a spinning back high kick to the jaw at 1:30 in the second round. After the bad blood between both fighters, Hari helped his opponent up and escorted the dazed German to the corner.
In 2006, Badr Hari was scheduled to participate in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam on 13 May, but fought in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Auckland, in New Zealand, instead as a last minute replacement. His opponent in the first round was Australian Peter "The Chief" Graham. In the actual fight Hari was knocked out by Graham's trademark "Rolling Thunder". The heel hit Hari hard on the head and knocked him out.
Hari returned to the ring at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 final elimination in Osaka, Japan against Ruslan Karaev. Karaev hurt Badr with a straight right that left Hari slouching over in the corner, then Karaev delivered a kick to Hari's face: Hari was counted out by the referee/ Six months later, Hari would get a rematch. Despite being knocked out, Hari was once again picked as a reserve fighter in the K-1 Grand Prix 2006 Finals against Paul Slowinski. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Hari then fought the Danish Nicholas Pettas at the K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! event and broke Pettas's left shoulder in the second round with a right high kick. Hari got his revenge against Karaev at the K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama. Karaev and Hari's matchup was one of two bouts to qualify for the first K-1 heavyweight title match, scheduled on 28 April 2007 in Hawaii. Hari landed a right cross to score a KO.
