Kickboxing Rankings
Posted by Fraser on April 30th, 2009
To continue my push for K-1 talk, I figured now was as good a time as any to launch some kickboxing rankings. These are a work in progress and will be updated regularly, so I welcome your feedback. In the interest of some sort of unified rankings, I opted not to include every single weight class, but instead go with the two simple categories of Over 70 kg, and Under 70 kg (the division between K-1 and K-1 MAX). My apologies to purists who would like every separate weight class listed. We’ll start with the Over 70 kg list, and add Under 70 kg next week. On we go:
Top 10 Kickboxers (Over 70 kg)
1. Remy Bonjasky
2. Peter Aerts
3. Badr Hari
4. Semmy Schilt
5. Errol Zimmerman
6. Ewerton Teixeira
7. Keijiro Maeda
8. Gokhan Saki
9. Tyrone Spong
10. Alistair Overeem
Honorable Mention: Jerome Le Banner, Ruslan Karaev , Zabit Samedov
I actually picked a terrible time to begin this as the top of the list is a mess. Bonjasky at #1 is a no brainer – he hasn’t lost since the 07 Grand Prix. After that things get a little hairy. Clearly Aerts, Hari and Schilt round out the top 4, but ordering them is hard thanks to Overeem. Remove Hari’s loss there and it’s easy – Aerts beat Schilt and Hari beat Aerts. But I have a tough time putting Hari at #2 after losing to a man you could generously describe as a part time kickboxer. I go with Aerts at #2 for 2 reasons – he’s the only one of the 3 who has bounced back from his loss with a win over a top ranked opponent (Zimmerman), and he recently defeated the #1 ranked fighter in the world for 3 years running (Schilt). Surely that counts for something. Still, you could make an easy case for any order of these 3. Some of this will be cleared up soon as Hari is set to face Schilt in May in what should be a spectacular fight. The winner of that will pretty clearly be #2.
After those 4 there’s a pretty significant drop down to #5. This is no slight to Zimmerman, it’s just that no one else is in the league with the top 4 right now.
The other noteworthy name here is Overeem, who some folks may bristle at – after all, it’s unknown if he has any intention of even returning to kickboxing. But he knocked out the (at the time) #2 ranked fighter and fared better against Bonjasky than Hari, or Saki, or Manhoef did in the past year. Despite a 1-1 record in the last year, I can’t see denying him a place.
May 1st, 2009 at 12:31 am
Thanks for this. It’s pretty handy to have a reference like this where everything is laid out neatly… including the impossibility of laying things like this out neatly.
May 1st, 2009 at 11:47 am
If Peter Aerts is really #2, that is a hysterical condemnation of the “sport.”
May 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Why’s that?
May 1st, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Because he’s old, slow, and was washed up 10 years ago?
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:45 am
Ha, fair enough. Twas a genuine question (I’m clueless about kickboxing!).
May 2nd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
This is a pretty fair list. I would change Aerts and Hari though. Even though Hari dq’d himself and got knocked out, he still smoked aerts. On another note, Someone should post rankings for K1 world MAX.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I know what you mean about Hari and Aerts. I struggled with that. But like I said, I give Aerts the nod largely because a follow up win over Zimmerman trumps Hari’s follow up win over Freddy Sinestra.
K-1 MAX rankings (and other under 70 kg fighters) are coming later this week. That’s a much stronger list.
Snowden - I know what you mean about Aerts, though I think you’re a bit harsh on him. But this is sort of what I was talking about in my last column - it’s a transitional time for K-1 where they don’t have a lot of guys who have yet stepped up and really taken those top spots. Aerts is not what he once was, but then again he once was the best in the world, and he’s still pretty good. I’d say the current HW scene here is similar to the MMA HW scene 2 years ago when Couture was past his prime, but still good enough to be #2 in a weak top 10. Only difference is that K-1 lacks that dominant Fedor-esque #1 since Schilt lost.
May 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I don’t want to speak for Jon here because I don’t, but we’ve talked about this aspect of K-1 plenty over the years and so I feel we’re likely on the same page. Look: Aerts was a great fighter…in the mid-late 1990s. It is 2009. No offense to him, but his best efforts were years and years and years ago. Schilt’s dominance came against the same names from the mid 90s, like Aerts, Hoost, and Lebanner. The entire division was bolstered during the 2000s not with hot emergent talent but with old guys and varying frauds and freakshows like Botha, Sapp, Musashi, and Akebono.
Simply put, in a healthy heavyweight division, Aerts wouldn’t be in the top 15.
June 21st, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I like buakaw por pramuk.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
thats the worst bull shit i ever heard who has the world heavy weight championship belt Klitchko so shut the fuck up and take this shit off
September 29th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
lol what
March 26th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Hoost should at least be in the top 5.. And if it was including all weight classes Ramon dekkers is up there he’s such a badass fighter. More credit should be given to fighters that have fought 60-70 plus times.. I think it’s amazing some fighters have that many fights under their belt for such a high injury sport