Kickboxing often provides some of the mosthard-hitting KOs out of all martial arts. If you want the perfect example of that, there's Cédric Doumbé’s recent takedown of Alim Nabyev at Glory 66, and even during Badr Hari's legendary comeback fight against Errol Zimmerman at K1 several years ago - you can check a highlight video of the latter here.
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But today we are looking back on a specific fight from the 2000s that we dug up from the Enfusion archives, a renowned Dutch kickboxing organisation that follows the same rules as K1. This particularly intense fight was like a modern-day MMA version of the legendary battle between David and Goliath, just like the climactic fight that took place between Butterbean and Genki Sudo.
The David vs Goliath battle that ended with a KO in the first round
In 2015, Ismael Lazaar went up against a South African fighter named Andrew Thomson in a heavyweight division fight. Although there was easily a 12-inch height difference between the two men, their weights were quite similar and the Moroccan fighter had such an impressive amount of power behind his punches that made him a worthy opponent. All he needed to do was land just one.
And he proved this from the very first round. He managed to land a devastating right hook to his opponent who took two more hits before falling flat on his face, taking several minutes to get back on his feet. This impressive KO confirmed just how talented and powerful Lazaar was, who later took on Rico Verhoeven in 2017. Verhoeven ultimately won via unanimous decision.
