LHOUCINE OUZGNI is predicting that his March 6 fight with Andy Souwer will finish inside the distance
- and that he will be the last man standing.
Wiry knockout artist Ouzgni faces
one of the toughest tests of his kickboxing career when he squares off against two-time K-1 Max champion Souwer at Amsterdam’s
Sporthallen Zuid.
The up and coming Moroccan-Dutchman turns 27 four
days after the 70 kilogram superfight on It’s Showtime’s opening event of the 2011 season - and intends to
blow away Souwer before blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.
“I
think it’s going to be a very good fight, I feel good and I don’t think the fight will last three rounds,”
Ouzgni said.
“It will be a very good birthday present to win on March 6 - I’ve
fought many times on and around my birthday before and I’ve always won.
“I
think the fans are going to be the winner and they will be on the edge of their seats.”
Nicknamed ‘Aussie’, Ouzgni has fond memories of fighting at Sporthallen Zuid having dramatically knocked
out Nieky Holzken in less than a minute at the last Fighting Stars presents It’s Showtime event in September.
Normally water-tight defensively, Holzken was floored twice and polished off by a flying knee in a sudden
ending which stunned the kickboxing world and filled Ouzgni with confidence.
“I
think people noticed me after the Nieky Holzken fight,” Ouzgni reflected.
“The
people in Holland knew me before but it built up my name because it was a very spectacular fight.
“Nobody did that to him before. He is a very strong fighter who has fought many K-1 fighters.
“I was surprised by how quickly it went but I trained very hard for him because I also had Ramadan
at that time.
“It made training twice as hard as normal because I was fasting.
“It gives me more trust in myself that victory and going back to that arena and I think now I’m
ready for these guys.
“That fight was a case of either I belonged at the top or
I was still under the top a little bit.
“It showed I can fight at the top and
that’s why I’m now fighting Andy Souwer.”
At almost 6ft 3in, Ouzgni
will enjoy around a six-inch height advantage over Souwer and insists he has to make the most of his physical tools.
“Andy Souwer is a very good name and is a complete fighter,” said the Alkmaar fighter, who has
around 30 knockouts in more than 50 wins and only two defeats.
“He has power in
his punches, he’s technical but I’m taller than him and I think that will be his problem.
“My height and reach must be my strong thing. I must keep him on the outside, so he doesn’t get
close to me and work his combinations.
“I’ve got to do my thing and not
let him do his thing. I’ve got to stop him with knees and my right hand but I train very good now for everybody and
I think it’s going to be okay.”
Ouzgni is travelling to Spain to watch Souwer’s
warm-up fight against Abraham Roqueni on February 5 and although he expects to see an away win he insists all of the pressure
is on Souwer when they meet.
“I talked to him at an interview and made some pictures
and he said he is going to knock him out in the first round and then come to me,” he said.
“Andy is a very big name in Japan but we are going to fight in Holland, Amsterdam.
“The last time I fought in Sporthallen Zuid I won there and now he must let the people see what he has got.”
Ouzgni won six fights in a row last year but ended 2010 on a sour note when his challenge for the It’s
Showtime 77kg world title ended in an eye injury stoppage defeat to gangling late substitute Artem Levin.
Aussie revealed a long Levin toe nail caused him problems during the fight but said his injury has fully
healed and he is more interested in taking on the biggest names than winning titles.
“I
had to fight Cosmo Alexandre for the world title, then three weeks before I
heard that Cosmo wasn’t fighting,”
he reflected.
“They said to me to ‘name a guy’, I could fight against
him and then become a world champion.
“I said I didn’t want that. I wanted
to fight against somebody who is world championship level, otherwise if I fought and beat somebody who wasn’t I wouldn’t
feel like a world champion.
“Levin has beaten Shakuta and Yodsaenklai and I said
I wanted to fight him. Then if I beat him then I would have felt like a world champion.
“He
was a very strong guy. I’ve never fought a guy before who was taller than me, I’m normally the tallest guy in
my weight in Holland.
“He is a good fighter and a smart guy who sees everything
coming.
“I got caught on top of my hair first by his toe and it felt like blood
was coming down, but there was nothing there.
“It scraped over my head and there
was blood inside the eye. I was told it was my choice if I wanted to fight on and that’s what I wanted.
“But I couldn’t see anything any more and he was strong at that time and the fight was stopped.
“I went to hospital three times after the fight because the eye was a little bit scratched but it’s
fixed now.”
He added: “For me I want to fight the strongest because when
you are on the up there isn’t much point fighting someone who is lower than you.
“I
like to fight the strongest, it makes you sharp and strong, everything. It gives you a goal to train for somebody.”
Trained by Harry Hooft and Hans Nijman at Top Team Beverwijk, Ouzgni has been likened to a lighter version
of heavyweight sensation Badr Hari, a comparison he finds flattering.
But while he has
the body frame to move up to heavyweight, his first target is to slim down to and make a genuine run at the 70kg division.
“It’s very nice to be compared with Badr - I train with him and Tyrone Spong and they teach me
everything,” he said.
“Many people ask me if I will move up to heavyweight
because I’m tall.
“But now I’m not thinking about heavyweight, I want
to try this weight and maybe in the future we can think about that.
“The last
time I fought at 70 kilos was I think eight years ago against Junior Gonsalves and I won on points.
“But when I beat Ali Gunyar I weighed 71, so it’s not a problem. I have to fight Artur Kyshenko on July
23 as well - I will take them all at 70 kilos this year but it’s okay for me.
“I’ve
got a sponsor and train twice a day as a professional fighter and will try for K-1 Max if possible.
“If they want to introduce me, why not? I’ve fought in Russia before, Spain and Curacao, but never in
Japan.”
Ouzgni came to kickboxing relatively late in life as an 18-year-old - having
played football to a high standard for Kolping Boys, who are attached to Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar - but has proved
a natural.
“I was a defender and the club are in the Third Division, but I didn’t
get any pleasure from it any more,” he said of his switch from the football field to the ring.
“Then I trained in Alkmaar at the Ben Ali gym for four years and fought 23 times for them and never
lost, then I came to Beverwijk.
“Everything happens for a reason and I think this
is me, this is my calling.”
If he has anything to do with it, Lhoucine Ouzgni
will be calling the shots as a 70kg fighter - starting against Andy Souwer on March 6.
