Semmy Schilt: The Best in the World

Last Updated on Monday, 31 December 2012 19:30 Monday, 31 December 2012 19:26

Written by Dave Walsh

When you hear the term “best in the world” images might conjure up in your head of Floyd Mayweather, Jr., Anderson “Not Braddock” Silva and maybe even CM Punk, but it should remind you of Semmy Schilt. Semmy Schilt took what was his fifth major crown on December 31st in Tokyo, winning the first ever Glory World Series Grand Slam tournament, which is spiritually his fifth K-1 World Grand Prix title. That is, in a way, unheard of, and should place Semmy Schilt among some of the combat sports greats throughout history.

Semmy Schilt has found a way to completely dominate the field of a sport, being the most decorated Heavyweight (in his case Super Heavyweight) Kickboxer in history. Semmy has beaten a who’s who of Kickboxing talent. Hell, last night alone he defeated Brice Guidon, Rico Verhoeven, Gokhan Saki and Daniel Ghita, and there were very few doubts throughout each fight of if he’d take the whole damn tournament, which in a field of fighters such as that, is really a big deal. He’s run roughshod over the division for years now, with emphatic wins over those names plus Errol Zimmerman, Badr Hari, Remy Bonjasky, Jerome Le Banner, Peter Aerts, Ray Sefo and more.

It is time to say that Schilt has gone beyond being just the best in Kickboxing, but that his name belongs among some of the greats in Boxing and MMA as well as his accomplishments are incredible and that he is without a peer in Kickboxing. If he retired last year this would still be true, but this tournament win was just another layer of icing on the cake.

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