Badr Hari retires from kickboxing and will be heading to the US for a boxing career

Badr Hari has decided to retire from kickboxing to start a new career as a boxer. On January 28, 2012, Badr Hari will fight his last kickboxing match on the IT’S SHOWTIME event in WTC Expo in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. After this fight, he will go to the United Stated to fully work on his boxing career.

This announcement will be a shock to the millions of kickboxing fans all around the world, but the sport of boxing will welcome and embrace this charismatic fighter.

In the U.S., many see Badr Hari as the man to relaunch the popularity of boxing, and he’s being seen as a mix of Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

Badr doesn’t just want to say goodbye to kickboxing and therefore he has chosen Gökhan Saki as his last opponent in kickboxing. Many millions of fans of combat sports have been waiting for this fight for years, and now they have the opportunity to see it.

If K-1 will host a World Grand Prix this year, Badr will also participate to that. The Grand Prix Final is scheduled for December 10 in China. If this World Grand Prix will take place, depends if K-1 will be able to pay its debts to IT’S SHOWTIME and others. If not, the fight on January 28 will be Badr’s only remaining fight as a kickboxer.

An amazing combat sports arena will be built in the WTC Expo venue in Leeuwarden, in which all spectators have the feeling they are in the ring themselves. Unfortunately, only 5000 people can watch this event live in the venue. The presale starts October 15, and only on this day, the € 125 tickets will be available for € 100.

Fight card January 28, 2012 in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands:

Badr Hari vs Gökhan Saki
Daniel Ghita vs Hesdy Gerges (IT’S SHOWTIME world title heavyweight)
Tyrone Spong vs Melvin Manhoef
Errol Zimmerman vs Rico Verhoeven
Ben Edwards vs Ricardo van den Bos
Murat Direkçi vs Robin van Roosmalen
Lhoucine ‘Aussie’ Ouzgni vs Yohan Lidon (IT’S SHOWTIME world title 73kg max)
Gago Drago vs Hinata Watanabe
Chahid Oulad El Hadj vs Harut Grigorian
Danyo Ilunga vs Mourad Bouzidi
Michael Duut vs Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva
Henry van Opstal vs Hafid el Boustati