Швейцариялық кикбоксингші Азем Максутайдың өмірі мен мансабы

Swiss kickboxer

Azem Maksutaj (born July 8, 1975) is a Swiss former kickboxer who had competed in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Originally from the Kosovo, he relocated to Switzerland at an early age where he began training in Muay Thai at fifteen. After capturing the Swiss national title at lightweight during his first year of competitions in 1992, he then went on to win European and world honours in 1994 while fighting around the super middleweight mark. The late 1990s saw him move between light heavyweight and cruiserweight, taking five world titles in those divisions, before eventually making the jump to heavyweight in 2001 where he spent the remainder of his career, acting as a journeyman in the K 1 promotion while also winning four other world titles. Despite spending much of his career as an undersized heavyweight, Maksutaj was known for his toughness as well as his technical skill, Muay Thai. He won a total of fourteen world titles in various weight divisions before retiring in 2010 with a hundred professional contests under his belt.

Maksutaj, a Kosovar Albanian, was born the second of four children in Deqan, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo) in 1975. His father moved to Switzerland as a guest worker in the late 1970s, so he saw his father only sparingly while growing up. In 1990, at the age of fifteen, Maksutaj and the rest of his family joined up with his father in Winterthur, Switzerland during the wave of Yugoslav immigration to the country. Unable to speak the language and struggling to integrate, he soon began training in Muay Thai at the Wing Thai Gym as a way to escape his troubles.

After just twelve months of training and his first year of competition, Maksutaj won the Swiss national Muay Thai title in 1992 by beating Jesus Perez who was eleven years his senior by knockout in the second round. As a rising star of Swiss kickboxing, Maksutaj was invited to fight at Japan's K 1 Fight Night, the first ever event held by the K 1 promotion outside Japan, on June 10, 1995, in Zürich, Switzerland. There he lost to Surinamese veteran Orlando Wiet via a second round KO. Returning to K 1 a year later at K 1 Fight Night II on June 2, 1996, he gave a "Fight of the Night" performance in a losing effort against Seido karate stylist Taiei Kin. He was knocked down in round two and lost by a unanimous decision after a five round war. He fared no better in his next match when he took on Jörgen Kruth at the K 1 World MAX North European Qualification 2007 in Stockholm on November 24, 2006, as he lost by KO from a knee midway through the opening round. Maksutaj returned to the local circuit to stop his losing streak and took a number of wins including a points victory over Erhan Deniz in Bratislava, Slovakia on September 7, 2007, before returning to K 1 at the K 1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam on April 26, 2008, to face an up and coming Tyrone Spong. He was outclassed by the Surinamese youngster from the start, getting dropped from a knee to the body early in the opening stanza, and knocked down again with punches at the end of the round. The second knockdown did not count as he was saved by the bell, but Spong soon finished him with another knee strike to the body in the second, bringing Maksutaj's losing streak in K 1 to five. In one of his last fights before retiring, he was awarded a disqualification win over Domagoj Ostojić after his Croatian opponent continued to punch and kick him after knocking him to the canvas in round one of their contest in Zadar, Croatia on May 11, 2008. Maksutaj made a brief comeback to the ring to knock Jean Luc Ajinca out in three rounds at Bern's Wankdorfhalle on January 29, 2010.

Maksutaj got married in Winterthur, Switzerland on June 1, 2007. His son was born a few weeks later. A documentary of his life and career entitled Being Azem was released in 2010.