Just Watched Bonjasky-Leko I

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Pretty close fight that ended for Leko 49-48.5. That stupid half point scoring can be translated to 48-47. (Quick note to noobs: K-1 used to have 5 round matches!)

The fight was in 2002. The year before Bas Boon got all the Golden Glory guys flushed down the toilet and Remy won the K-1 Las Vegas and then the K-1 Grand Prix.

I doubt the Golden Glory guys really think Remy was responsible for Leko's humiliating attempt at MMA, but when you need a picture on the dart board, it had better not be one that actually deposites cash in your bank account. Hence the hate for the 2-time Grand Prix champion.

In the 2002 fight, Remy tried to use the knees, but Leko shut him down (Vegas rules helped.) The fight overall was pretty close. Neither fighter was hurt after 5 rounds and the decision was clearly based on clean hits. Leko had more. Surprisingly though, Remy got through with jabs more than kicks.

Now in 2006, Leko is a tad smaller and Remy is a tad bigger than in 2002. Remy has a 7-1 record in the GP and Leko has a 0-4. Both fighters have appeared to find their A games recently. Leko has made everyone forget the losses to Hari and Karaev. Remy got revenge against Mo and executed Goodridge.

For the only rematch in the tournament, this one looks as unpredictable as any of the other fights.

Note to gamblers: STAY AWAY!

[( o Y o )]

this really is going to be a tough one to call, I agree. I really can see either one of them taking it.

I wonder if it is close, whether the results of the Challid and Sem fights play any part in the JD. I don't think K-1 would be terribly sad to see Remy out first round, but they may well not like the idea of 3 of 4 semi finalists being GG.

[Toffa]

I just think that Leko is too experienced for a one-dimensional fighter like Bonjasky. Leko has been in the ring with everyone, Bonjasky's kicks and knees are not going to bother him. Leko will (should) win a decision by blocking all the kicks and knees and landing his jabs and low kicks.

[( o Y o )]

I just think that Leko is too experienced for a one-dimensional fighter like Bonjasky. Leko has been in the ring with everyone, Bonjasky's kicks and knees are not going to bother him. Leko will (should) win a decision by blocking all the kicks and knees and landing his jabs and low kicks.

Possibly, but Remy has shown great ability to take shots on the guard and still land counter kicks and the odd punch. Particularly midkicks. Not only that, but he did it against three punchers this year already, "beating" all of them.

Both guys must be feeling confident going in. I really cannot pick this one.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

I just think that Leko is too experienced for a one-dimensional fighter like Bonjasky. Leko has been in the ring with everyone, Bonjasky's kicks and knees are not going to bother him. Leko will (should) win a decision by blocking all the kicks and knees and landing his jabs and low kicks.

That is one of the reasons I dug out the old tape from 2002. Leko did not have that much control. He had enough to take a narrow decision but neither guy got hurt.

I hope the Golden Glory thing doesn't factor into the decision. Remy has won and lost too many fights through stupid officials. It has hurt the sport and made his record a whole "YEAH, BUT..."

Leko has been in the ring with Hari (x2), Karaev, Lighty, Williams, McDonald and Sefo. None of these fights tell me anything about his abilities to handle Bonjasky. Will his jack-in-the-box spinning kick drop Remy like it did Hari and Williams? It didn't in 2002, so my bet is "No". Will Remy come to the ring with a broken hand? Who knows? GG are a pretty tight bunch of comrades. I still bet "No". Will Remy drop is output from 70 strikes per round down to 35 like Sefo? Not likely.

[Dado]

Same here, this one is tough to pick.

I think if Remy doesent suprise Leko with any of his jumping knees or head kicks, then Leko can definately shut his offence down and work him with his quick punching. I think Leko wont let Remy off the hook if he gets him on the backfoot.

[( o Y o )]

I think Leko wont let Remy off the hook if he gets him on the backfoot.

But who has ever got Remy on the backfoot? Mirko...and even that stoppage was a bit short as Remy was infact intelligently defending himself. And if LeBanners body shots weren't enough to slow him during three rounds, Leko's wont.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Same here, this one is tough to pick.

I think if Remy doesent suprise Leko with any of his jumping knees or head kicks, then Leko can definately shut his offence down and work him with his quick punching. I think Leko wont let Remy off the hook if he gets him on the backfoot.

Dig out your copy of the 2002 fight. Leko's "superior" boxing didn't look that superior.

[Dado]

But who has ever got Remy on the backfoot? Mirko...and even that stoppage was a bit short as Remy was infact intelligently defending himself. And if LeBanners body shots weren't enough to slow him during three rounds, Leko's wont.

Lebanner was controlling that fight as Remy was on the backfoot the whole time. I noticed Remy frequently got put in the corner and in this situation Lebanner didnt pressure him at all, so Remy circled out. If you watch you can notice this happening a lot.

By 'backfoot' I mean put Remy on a defensive stance. Such as when we see him attacked by punchers. Leko will put pressure on Remy in such a situation no doubt, and even if it doesent damage Remy, Leko would have scored enough points from it. And Leko is someone who can definately match Remy's pace.


Dig out your copy of the 2002 fight. Leko's "superior" boxing didn't look that superior.

Ive never seen that fight, but I would be a bit reluctant to use a fight from 5 years ago to judge what will happen this time.

We all know Sefo beat Leko ages ago but that didnt influence the result of the second fight.

[( o Y o )]

Lebanner was controlling that fight as Remy was on the backfoot the whole time. I noticed Remy frequently got put in the corner and in this situation Lebanner didnt pressure him at all, so Remy circled out. If you watch you can notice this happening a lot.

Leko will put pressure on Remy in such a situation no doubt, and even if it doesent damage Remy, Leko would have scored enough points from it. And Leko is someone who can definately match Remy's pace.

I guess if you want to say LeBanner was putting Remy on the backfoot that fight, you'd have to say the same about a lot of Remys fights...he covers up and moves back a LOT...but he generally keeps scoring while doing so.

Added to that Stephan has no where near the size or strength of fighters like LeBanner and Mo with which to pressure him with...and the fact Remy tends to use his knees and jumps a lot more on smaller guys.

I have no doubt Leko could beat Remy here by picking off points and moving, but I think way too many people are getting caught up in this "remy is overrated" stuff when he has beaten a lot of good fighters while Leko has been playing in PRIDE and injured. The only area I would give leko a clear advantage in this fight is his current level of confidence.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Ive never seen that fight, but I would be a bit reluctant to use a fight from 5 years ago to judge what will happen this time.

We all know Sefo beat Leko ages ago but that didnt influence the result of the second fight.

The 2002 fight featured the Leko who KOd Aerts and a very green Bonjasky. All the comments about him being on dimentional were more pronounced then than now.

2006 - 2002 = 4

Remy can fight moving backward. Other guys can't, but Remy if pretty good at it. Look what he did to Goodridge.

I don't see Leko getting smoked like he did against Hoost... everytime. I see this as a long hard fight.

[Tommy_Arashikage]

It remains to be seen whether Leko can return to that 2001/2002 form. Their last fight was pretty close as it was, I can only imagine how close it will be in December. Not to mention, Remy's hands are slowly improving, though I doubt they are anywhere near Leko's level yet.

[unicorn]

The problem of Bonjaski with Leko looks imo like this : Bonjaski needs to launch series to outpoint the opponent. Out of Remy's (say) 4 strikes, 2 can be deemed tags or defensive strikes, whilst 2 will be reckonably hard strikes. This sort of tactical approach is at risk with Leko's game because he is not easy to nail and will interrupt by counterattacks any attempt to be nailed. Not even very solid brawlers (JLB) did catch Leko on series. Hoost did, but Hoost's style is uncomfortable for Leko. Leko was vulnerable only to circular punches and occasionally to surprising counterattacks (Karaev). Bonjaski has none. His fight pace is too "steady" for this type.
On the other hand, Leko has a terrible right hand, and Bonjaski proved specifically vulnerable to this (Mo, Filho). Many of the guys schooled by Cor Hemmers have this common thing : once they set in the right hand, things start to look bad (Amrani, Leko, Kraus, who trains with a former Hemmers' student). The footwork and combination construction in midrange is sophisticated. Bonjaski needs a guy who can be nailed in midrange to set in a high work rate and finish or outpoint him. Leko is "the" hard to nail target.
At a second look it doesn't look so easy for Leko because :

Bonjaski has considerable reach advantage.
IF he is smart to lead with lead hand (sometimes he was, sometimes not) he can stop Leko from tagging and setting in midrange work.
He has a good midkick on half step back and can bother Leko's right hand.
He has good counter knee strikes.
He has surprising kicks, only that with Leko he should not rely on attacking with kicks, Aerts and many others did and Leko was very happy with that because he has awesome punch counters on the opponent's kick attack.
So Bonjaski should rely on counterkick, counterknee, use reach and try to stay out of Leko's right hand range. It is not easy but can be feasible.

[LethalSassonic]

None of the Golden Glory fighters think much of Remy, they consider his moves very predictable. I know Leko is very confident, he probably thinks this is an easy fight. Remy looked like a destroyer against Goodridge though, so a mental adjustment may have occured, and of course we all know Leko is officially back, that's why this fight looks real good on paper!!!

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

None of the Golden Glory fighters think much of Remy, they consider his moves very predictable.

So they predicted he would win the Grand Prix in his first year, repeat in his second year and put 7 GP wins in a row? LOL.

If Leko (96kg) is overconfident against Bonjasky (107kg) he could get hurt. Remy is a big man who moves much better than the other men his size. Leko will not just dart in a frustrate Remy for 3 rounds.

[Dado]

The 2002 fight featured the Leko who KOd Aerts and a very green Bonjasky. All the comments about him being on dimentional were more pronounced then than now.

Which is exactly my point:

"Ive never seen that fight, but I would be a bit reluctant to use a fight from 5 years ago to judge what will happen this time."

Im not on either fighters side, im just presenting my opinion as to why I think Stefan could beat Remy.



Remy can fight moving backward. Other guys can't, but Remy if pretty good at it. Look what he did to Goodridge.

Gary Goodridge is completely different to Leko in every single way. We all know Gary doesent have any laterall movement and that he prefers to slug it out, which is the main reason he got caught with that jumping knee from Remy. He coasted on the ropes and he defended by being stationary. Do you seriously see Leko leaning on the ropes for 30 seconds while Remy offloads kicks and knees onto him?

Leko impressed me against Sefo in that he only pressured as much as he needed to, regardless of it being a dull fight for many people this was a smart strategy and consequently none of Sefo's KO shots found their mark. Leko can and will implement the same strategy although I can safely assume that he will be more ambitious with his offence. Ive never seen him bothered by big kickers.

[LethalSassonic]

So they predicted he would win the Grand Prix in his first year, repeat in his second year and put 7 GP wins in a row? LOL.

If

Yeah, I didn't say I agree with team GG on this. It's kind of outlandish, but they all think they can beat him no problem. 2003 and 2004 like many "remy doubters" they cite the weaker tournament fields those 2 years.

[sparkles]

Leko is very skilled. He proved that in the past by beating the likes of Bernardo (outboxing yes), going 5 with a good JLB, knocking out Aerts, ...
Anyway he's pretty light which gives him an edge in speed compared to heavier guys. He's been through a lot lately, his KO losses in pride, Hari got really under his skin and was humiliated at the GP final by suffering a dreadfull KO loss. To make things even worse he lost to Karaev as well, he hit the deck twice more in that fight. Leko lost his confidence and fought very tentative, moving forward yes, but throwing almost nothing where he did attack a lot in the past. vs Sefo he was once more very aware of Sefo his power knowing that even Kareav had him down and he was pretty gunshy. Good preparation and tactic work by Golden Glory saved him and only in the extra round he became loose eventually boxing with Sefo, outjabbing him and landing a hard jab in Sefo his face several times, nicking points

This win might have boosted Leko his confidence, but ... Bonjaski will beat him.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Yeah, I didn't say I agree with team GG on this. It's kind of outlandish, but they all think they can beat him no problem. 2003 and 2004 like many "remy doubters" they cite the weaker tournament fields those 2 years.

I wonder how they view the first 3 Grand Prix tournaments. The record of oldest champ and youngest were set in the first 2. Would they really disparage Aerts and Cikatic's achievements? How about Hoost's 2-1 title in 2002?

GG really need to tone down the hate. The three guys all come off as true gentlemen, so I wonder were all the venom is coming from.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Leko impressed me against Sefo in that he only pressured as much as he needed to, regardless of it being a dull fight for many people this was a smart strategy and consequently none of Sefo's KO shots found their mark. Leko can and will implement the same strategy although I can safely assume that he will be more ambitious with his offence. Ive never seen him bothered by big kickers.

I was more disappointed in Sefo. He is so confident that it is borderline delusional. Yes, his right hand can end a fight, but when very skilled opponents are wise to it, it is bloody hard to land it. Odd that his greatest strength is also his worst weakness.

Kudos for Leko for pulling Ray into the Leko-game. That is the mark of a good fighter.

Leko cannot implement the same strategy against Remy because Remy doesn't have a favorite finishing technique. He just throws 70 strikes per round and knocks anyone he wants (JLB included) out of their fighting stances.

Leko got knocked down by JLB from a kick and Andy from that freaky roundhouse knee.

Back to 2002, Remy was the underdog and won 2 rounds. He isn't the underdog this time.

[BEEF]

I think Lekop better not be over confident. People usually give JLB crap for having a glass jaw...Leko's is far worse imo(probably because he is a lot smaller). Leko better fight smart because Remy can be lethal with those flying knees.

[CentralKickboxing.Org]

Leko is too experienced to worry about the flying attacks, just as Remy is too experienced to worry about the spinning attacks.

Leko will try to out box Remy. Remy will try to out work Leko.