I still remember August 24th of 2000 as if it was yesterday, when I received a mail from Tomoko Kurosawa, wife of former Kyokushin fighter and champion, Hiroki Kurosawa – where she told me the sad and terrible news, Andy had passed away.

At that time, those days after August 24th of 2000, I was writing an article about Andy Hug, who passed away so suddenly at far too young an age - and in a very tragic way, after a short period of illness with leukemia, at the Nippon Medical Hospital in Japan.

I wrote the article for several reasons. First of all to honor and pay my respect to an amazing human, whom I personally admired so much, and still do, for who he was - and for what he accomplished in his short lifetime. I also wrote the article to pay my condolences to Ilona and Seya Hug, who so sorely lost a husband and a father. I was hoping that Ilona, Seya, and close family members and friends of Andy's in times of need - might find a little relief reading, about the enormous impact there beloved had on thousands of people around the world.

Three years after Andy's death, in late August of 2003, I had the privilege of talking to Ilona Hug, who is as kind, friendly, humble and warm as Andy Hug was. Ilona Hug gave me a copy of her book; "Andy Hug. Der Taifun und die Weisheit der Kampfkunst", written by Ilona Hug and Erik Golowin. The book and my conversations with Ilona, gave me the inspiration to write this new article about Andy.

There are also two articles that keep coming to mind, when I am trying to find a red thread and an entrance angle with which to start this article. First and foremost, it is an article by Jerome Winters from MAN-Magazine called; "Life goes on." It is a warm and openhearted interview with Ilona Hug, who describes how life goes on, three year after Andy died under mysterious circumstances in Japan, and how she and her son Seya Hug, are responding to the death of a father and husband.

The other article that also inspired me, is an article about Andy Hug, that I found on the Bout Review USA homepage, written by editorial director and co-publisher Fernando Avila, called: "Larger Than Life." The article written by Avila, is a chronological story about Andy's fighting career, starting in 1987 where Andy Hug is fighting Matsui, at the 4th World Open Tournament finale in Kyokushin Karate, and up through his K-1 career.

Like Fernando, I will also write about some of Andy Hug's most spectacular and important fights, starting in 1987 at the 4th World Open, and up through his career in Kyokushin, Seidokaikan and K-1. Then I also will try to describe, the impact Andy had on his sport and on the martial arts community, being a pioneer and inspiration for many people around the world, as a fighter and human being.

Avila hits and interesting spot, when in his article he is mentioning and describing Andy – and the first K-1 fight between Andy Hug vs. Patrick Smith, at the K-1 1994 Grand Prix. A fight that in my book should have been a no contest – or a disqualification of Patrick Smith, for hitting Andy after the referee had said stop.

Patrick Smith had just sent Andy down, by a clean right hook to the chin, when he illegally hits Andy once again. Andy is in the process of getting up from the floor, by a very fast knock down, only 10 seconds into the fight in the first round. Andy is hit, but does not seem to be shaken at all, and is up back on his feet less than a split second after he has been sent down. On his way up from the floor, Andy is hit once again by Patrick, even though the referee had said stop, and is about to start a new count for Andy.

The referee is forcing himself between the two fighters, waving his arms in the air, signaling for the two fighters to stop fighting, when Patrick smashes Andy with another powerful hook to the head - and Andy naturally goes down once again. Instead of disqualifying Patrick, the referee stops the fight, giving the victory to Patrick Smith? And episode similar to what happened between Nicholas Pettas vs. Jerome le Banner, and Botha vs. Abidi.

The interesting part of this fight and this episode was Andy's calm way of handling the situation in the minutes after the fight standing in the ring, the time up to the rematch – and then during his rematch against Patrick Smith later that same year at the 1994 K-1 Revenge.

Even though the fans and the ordinance in the Dome, at the K-1 1994 Grand Prix where throwing garbage into the ring, screaming and yelling in anger and frustration over the ridiculous and absurd judgment, and even though Andy's own corner was complaining to the officials, Andy never complained publicly about the incident himself. Not during, or after the fight to the K-1 organization, even though the fight and way of loosing it, burned Andy throughout his entire career.

Andy had this outstanding fighting philosophy, heart and outlook on life, that if someone defeated him, he would train even harder to become stronger and better, instead of complaining and giving embarrassing excuses for why he lost. It was this philosophy that made him respected by all of his opponents in Kyokushin, Seido and K-1. Big fighters like Peter Aerts and Mike Bernardo have often mentioned Andy's enormous heart, by calling this philosophy "The Andy Spirit."

Andy did become stronger after his absurd defeat at the K-1 1994 Grand Prix, and in his rematch at the K-1 1994 Revenge against Patrick Smith, Andy was in focus and in control, demanding justice by knocking out Patrick in the first minute of the first round, by a kick to the lever and a knee strike to the head. Here, Avila mentioned one of Andy’s most remarkable trademarks, his dedication to his sport, his heart and spirit - and his enormous will to push his own limits, being the best he could be, in any aspect of his life, as a human being and a fighter.

Throughout Andy's fighting career, there where a handful of fights where the judges played an enormous role, and this was tragic for the outcomes. The two most remarkable and discussed fights – were also the two most important fights for Andy in his entire career. The first was his fight against Matsui, at the Kyokushin 4th World Open in 1987, and against Francisco Filho at the 5th KyokushinWorld Open in 1991.

Andy's biggest dream, was to become Kyokushin karate World champion. It was a realistic dream and goal for Andy, because he was the absolute best fighter in the world, in the period from the middle 80's and up till the early 90's, when the 4th and 5th World Open in Kyokushin took place. But it was also in this period, where Andy was to have his biggest disappointments as a fighter, and properly also his two most controversial, important and most painful looses in his fighting career.

For many Kyokushin fighters and karate-ka around the globe, the 4th World Open in 1987, stands as the best and strongest World Open in the history of Kyokushin. The level of fighters taking part in the tournament, like Ademir da Costa, Kurosawa, Matsui, Peter Smith, Masuda, Michel Wedel, Yosihikazu Koi, Michael Thompson, Shichinohe, Yoshitaka Nishiyama and Kenji Midori just to name a few, made the tournament second to none, and the hardest ever.

It was not only the extreme high quality of the fighters taking part in the same tournament, that made it so special, it was also the first time in the history of Kyokushin, where a non-Japanese was fighting in the finale. 17 years after the fight between Andy Hug and Akiyoshi Matsui, the Kyokushin society is still divided into two groups, when it comes to who people think should have won the title.

Tristan Thiele, who was a fanatical Dutch Kyokushin student and a sparring/training partner, for the former great karate and kickboxing champion and top fighter Peter Smith, in the late 80's - told me a personal anecdote about Andy, from the 4th World Open Tournament in 1987.

Tristan Thiele was a member of the national Dutch team – and had the opportunity to be in one of the two dressing rooms for the non-Japanese fighters (The "gaijin" dressing room). Tristan told me, that the dressing room was filled with a very diverse group of people. Some were warming-up for a fight, others were discussing techniques or opponents, and others were just wandering around. There was a hustle-and-bustle going on in there, and from time to time, the noise was unbearably high. Amidst all of this turmoil, there was one person with a very serene aura about him. Keeping as one, to himself, not talking to anyone-and-everyone, fully relaxed yet fully focused. That person was Andy Hug. Tristan told me, that at one moment in the dressing room, he even saw Andy sleeping. That was when he realized what separates warriors from fighters.

Rumors say, that Sosai Mas Oyama – the founder of Kyokushin karate, demanded that Matsui should win the fight and world title, at any cost. A rumor that Oyama started himself, when just before the World Open was to begin he said on TV, that as a long as he's alive, the champion of the world in Kyokushin karate will always be Japanese.

Mas Oyama had Shihan Yuzo Goda judging the final fight, between Andy vs. Matsui. Yuzo Goda was Oyama's right hand, and Head Instructor at the Honbu Dojo, so it was easy for Oyama to fill out his plan – having a Japanese to become champion. It gave Goda and the four corner judges, no other choices than voting and giving the victory to Matsui. A classic and sad incident in the history of Kyokushin, as it also happened at the 2nd World Open in 1979 to Willie Williams from the USA, when he suddenly became a dangerous contender to the title – and suddenly got disqualified.* The list is never ending, when it comes to rumors and embarrassing decisions in Kyokushin tournaments.

* Willie Williams was shceduled to face Antonio Inoki later in the same year. Regarding this disqualification incident at the 2nd World Open, Williams himself, in the documentary film called Shikakui (square) Jungle, stated, "since I knew I would be expelled from Kyokushin Karate for fighting a pro-wrestler, I decided to brawl like a pro-wrestler." However, till this date, the reckless performance of Williams in the semi-final of the 2nd World Open remain as one of the unsolved mysteries in the history of martial arts.

Part 2 >>