Badr Hari Alive and Kicking

By Parvez Fatteh, TMO, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Badr “The Golden Boy” Hari made his triumphant return to the world of kickboxing after approximately one year away from the sport. This past May, Hari took on Tony Gregory on the It’s Showtime card in Lyon, France in the Super Heavyweight division. The crowd enthusiastically welcomed Hari from an exile that he claims was self-imposed. However, his return came in the wake of his infamous disqualification in a fight against Hesdy Gerges in May of 2010 in Amsterdam, in which Hari was disqualified after kicking Hesdy in the face.

Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and of Moroccan descent, Hari is a former K-1 heavyweight kick-boxing champion. As of May of this year, the 26-year-old Hari was ranked as the number two kick-boxer in the world by LiverKick.com. He has also been officially praised by the king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, for his outstanding accomplishments in the sport.

On this day in May, in France, however, Gregory never truly posed a threat to the great Badr Hari. Despite being booed out of the ring at the end of his last fight, Hari was this time welcomed openly by a raucous crowd that was eager to get re-acquainted with the exploits of kick-boxing’s bad boy. Despite being one of the greatest kick-boxers in the world, Hari has unfortunately has been involved in a number of controversies involving unsportsmanlike conduct in the ring and alleged violent assaults outside of the ring.

Nonetheless, Hari has side-stepped the controversy, and on this day in Lyon, he brushed aside yet another challenger, as Gregory went down and went down hard. Though many have called for a rematch with Hesdy Gerges for the It’s Showtime heavyweight title, it has been announced that Bari’s next fight will be against Romanian Daniel Ghita in September. Ghita has been ranked as one of the top five kick-boxers in the world. Ghita lost a controversial decision to Gerges earlier in the year and should provide stiff competition for Hari. But Badr Hari has been through plenty and should be ready for the challenge.

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