Peter Smit

Peter "The Hurricane" Smit (24 December 1961 – 15 August 2005) was a Dutch martial artist who competed in kyokushin karate, kickboxing and Muay Thai.

Biography

Smit started training in Kyokushin karate at 16 years old. In 1981 he debuted training in kickboxing. He fought his first international tournament, the Open Ocean Pacific Kyokushinkai championship, in 1985 in Hawaii. Smit got his nickname "The Hurricane" from a Dutch colleague Fred Royers by "becoming a champion like a hurricane" when he beat six opponents in a single day.

In 1986 he fought against Hiroki Kurosawa during the 18th Open Japanese Championships Kyokushinkai in Tokyo. Smit lost a debatable decision after three extra rounds. Smit trained with Michel Wedel in Japan, and the following year in the Netherlands in preparation for the European Championship. Peter Smit became European Middle weight champion Kyokushin in 1987 in Katowice, Poland.

In 1990 Smit became a Muay Thai world champion when knocked out Changpuek Kiatsongrit in the Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok in front of his own public, the first time that had happened in the history of muay thai.

Smit was attacked in a Rotterdam nightclub by two people. The scuffle ended up in the nightclub car park with Peter suffering a broken ankle. His attackers had tried to kill him attempting to run him down with their car. A cast was put on the broken ankle but Peter cut it off with a hacksaw and fought Rob Kaman neglecting the injury. The ankle injury never healed properly and he had to end his career early.

After the end of his career over Smit suffered from depression and became addicted to cocaine. He ran into trouble with the police committing thefts to support his addiction and ended up serving a 7-month sentence in jail in 2000. He rebuilt his life when he was released from jail, drug free, however, had he difficulties training due to the ankle injury.

On 15 August 2005, he was shot to death in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Fight record

Titles Ocean Pacific Champion Kyokushin Karate 1985 2x Dutch Champion Kyokushin Karate Light heavyweight 1985 and 1986 Kyokushin Karate lightheavyweight European champion 1987 WKA Kickboxing World Junior Lightheavyweight champion 1990 Das Führer's Street Fighter champion 1990 IMF World champion Muay Thai 1990 WKA Lightheavyweight European Champion kickboxing 1990