Badr Hari

Badr Hari (Arabic: بدر حري) (born 8 December 1984) is a Dutch kickboxer.

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 so he asked to address the Dutch audience.

Hari could not be understood as 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 quickly realized he was a natural talent and from the age of 11 he was fighting regularly as a junior.

In his teenage years he worked with the legendary trainer Thom Harinck at Chakuriki Gym and it was at this time he started to become well 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.

In January 2005, Hari left the Chakuriki Gym and joined Simon Rutz's It's Showtime team.

After a few months' training at the Mejiro Gym he returned to Harinck's, but left again a couple of weeks later.

Since then he has been coached by Mike Passenier, who has also trained Joerie Mes, Bjorn Bregy and Melvin Manhoef.

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 got his opportunity for revenge in November 2005 when he 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 2006, 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.

Hari once again showed his bad boy reputation by abusing Graham and starting a street fight at the press conference.

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 cold.

Graham's kick broke Hari's jaw in multiple places and sidelined Hari for twelve months.

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 but immediately he and his corner protested, claiming the kick was a foul.

When the referee did not respond, Hari and his corner men caused a commotion and refused to leave the ring until they were escorted out by K-1 officials.

Hari left in anger and trashed his changing room.

Six months later, Hari would get a rematch.

He is a former K-1 Heavyweight World Champion (2007–2008), It's Showtime Heavyweight World Champion (2009–2010) and K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 and 2009 finalist.

He is widely considered one of the greatest kickboxers of all time.

Badr Hari, born and raised in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is of Moroccan Berber descent.

His parents are Moroccans from the Houara tribe of the Sous region who moved to the Netherlands.

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.