In stark contrast with my last post on Gokhan Saki vs Melvin Manhoef, here’s the Badr Hari vs Hesdy Gerges fight from the same “It’s Showtime” event in the Amsterdam Arena. It’s quite an entertaining fight and Hari was clearly dominating. Though I have to give credit to Gerges for showing a lot of heart: he takes a lot of punishment but doesn’t back down. Take a look at the staredown first:
You can clearly see Badr getting into Hesdy’s face and then he starts talking trash. There’s nothing wrong with psyching out your opponent but at least you can do it with a bit of class. Turns out it’s an indicator of what’s to come…
Here’s the fight:
What a waste. Losing a fight by kicking a downed opponent in the face when you can clearly beat him by staying within the rules. Hari definitely trains hard and he has the potential to be a big name in the sport. But at heart, he’s just a street thug. He showed the same unsportsmanlike-like conduct against Remy Bonjasky and was hardly apologetic afterwards. This is the second time he pulls such a stunt. I wonder how long before the K1 officials decide to boot him out…

When I competed, I faced some guys like that too. They used the competitions as an excuse to legally beat somebody up; I always loathed those assholes. Hari shows the same mental characteristics: He trains hard and loves to fight but only when he can win. When the other guy starts firing back some serious shots, he gets pissed and just can’t control himself anymore. You can see it in the way he starts flailing and also in the fouls he commits.
It’s really too bad. He has a shot at dominating the K1 for a long time but is shooting himself in the foot by lacking respect for his opponents.
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Bram says
Frankly, I’m surprised Badr Hari still has a team. If it were up to me, I’d have kicked him out of my gym the first time and if I were Manhoef, I certainly wouldn’t have gone up there to speak on behalf of the prick. Bleh
Wim says
Badr draws in crowds because he’s aggressive as hell and KOs opponents. That’s the only thing that really matters for now. but if he keeps it up, he’ll probably become persona non grata anyway.
Bram says
Frankly, I’m surprised Badr Hari still has a team. If it were up to me, I’d have kicked him out of my gym the first time and if I were Manhoef, I certainly wouldn’t have gone up there to speak on behalf of the prick. Bleh
Wim says
Badr draws in crowds because he’s aggressive as hell and KOs opponents. That’s the only thing that really matters for now. but if he keeps it up, he’ll probably become persona non grata anyway.