Ghita: “2014 is my year - and it starts with Zimmerman”

Daniel ‘The Savage Samurai’ Ghitafaces Errol ’The Bonecrusher’ Zimmerman in a heavyweight superfight at GLORY 13 TOKYO on Saturday December 21.

It is his first fight since the disappointment of coming second place in the GLORY 10 Heavyweight Championship Tournament which took place in Los Angeles, California in September.

Back in 2010, Ghita (49-10, 38 KO’s) fought Zimmerman (101-10-1, 42 KO’s) for the first time and won the fight by KO, stopping ‘The Bonecrusher’ with a right hand.

Now he needs to score another big win over him in Tokyo if he is to get himself back where he belongs and set himself for the 2014 run he believes he can have. As an added incentive the GLORY Heavyweight Title is on the line in 2014, present holder Semmy Schilt having not defended it since winning it in May 2012.

“He is very strong, one of the best in the world. He always goes for the knockout. It is going to be a really hard fight for both of us,” Ghita says.

“He has a lot of good weapons, good punches, good kicks and knees. He is a really complete fighter. He has quality in all areas. But I am going to win.”

The Romanian heavyweight has had a tough year. Aside from being dogged by problems in his personal life due to the breakdown of a long-term relationship, Ghita has also been on the losing side of some close and controversial results.

2013 started the wrong way when he was stopped by Semmy Schilt (43-6-1, 20 KO’s) in the final of the GLORY 4 Heavyweight Grand Slam on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo, Japan.

There was some controversy to the stoppage - Ghita said he could have continued and a lot of fans felt he should have been given the chance. He wasn’t. The $400,000 prize went to Schilt.

Just a few months later, Ghita was back in action. This time he travelled to Turkey for an April showdown with bitter rival Gokhan Saki (79-15, 56 KO’s) at GLORY 6 ISTANBUL.

Even walking to the ring, he didn’t seem himself. Then in the first round Ghita seemed to suffer an arm injury from an illegal technique. The fight turned out to be one-sided. Ghita offered very little and Saki put him away with a 12-strike combination.

There was a lot of talk about Ghita’s future as a contender; was he finished? Back-to-back stoppage wins over Brice Guidon (28-10-0, 13 KO’s)and Anderson ‘Braddock’ Silva (36-10-1, 24 KO’s) answered that question. Ghita’s power and killer instinct were as strong as ever.

But he still had his critics. They accused him of having abandoned his strong kicking game in favor of trying to become a boxing stylist.

This critique which was leveled against him after the Saki fight in particular. Ghita broke Saki’s arm with kicks in their first meeting. At GLORY 6 he largely boxed, and paid the price.

“Well, I think it’s better for all fighters to develop every quality they can. Boxing was a quality which I was missing somewhat and so I developed it. But don’t forget I still have my kicking game and now you’re going to see it like 50-50,” is his response.

However, perhaps privately he felt he was moving too much in one direction, or becoming stuck in a rut. Before the GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES tournament he departed the Kamakura Dojo in the Netherlands and set himself up with a new team.

“I moved on for my own benefit but we didn’t really have too much time to change the style and make the changes which were needed for such an important tournament. The recent period was good for me and my team. The tournament wasn’t the right result but we will see what happens in 2014,” he says.

Ghita went into the GLORY 11 CHICAGO tournament as one of the favorites, alongside perennial nemesis Saki. The two were in opposite brackets and were expected to meet in the final.

Instead Saki was eliminated by young underdog Rico Verhoeven (42-0, 10 KO’s), who then went on to have a ‘Rocky’-style slugfest with Ghita in the final before being declared the winner of the tournament.

Days after the tournament concluded, official striking statistics came out via the CompuStrike team. They revealed that Ghita had actually been the busier fighter by a slight margin.

But for the judges sitting ringside that night, Verhoeven had seemed to be dominant - especially in the final minute - and they had unanimously awarded the fight to him.

“I guess the judges only counted the punches? I was kicking but it seems they didn’t count my kicks, only Rico’s punches. It isn’t fair, but what can you say? It is too late to say anything now. The decision was made and that is it,” said Ghita.

“But for me and for many fans, people in the kickboxing life, I did more in the fight than Rico did. Maybe you had some judges who have a boxing background and they saw only the boxing, I don’t know.

“Other than the decision, I don’t think anything went wrong in the fight really. In the opinion of most [kickboxing] specialist people who saw the fight, I won rounds one and three, he won round two. So I should have won by two rounds to one.

“But the judges can decide whatever they want and obviously they made their decision. Next year I will be in the tournament again and this time the judges won’t get the chance to make the wrong decision. It won’t go to the judges.”

The GLORY Heavyweight Championship Tournament isn’t the only thing on Ghita’s mind for 2014. He is feeling reinvigorated and, with his turbulent personal problems coming to a close, he is ready to set some records straight.

“I really want rematches with Rico Verhoeven and Gokhan Saki for next year. In 2013 I had some personal issues, in my private life, and it wasn’t really a good year. But these issues are being resolved and next year will be very different,” he says.

“I would tell the fans that Daniel Ghita is the best fighter in the world. He is a complete fighter. 2013 was a hard year for various reasons but in 2014 you are going to see Ghita become number one. 2014 is my year - but it starts here, in Tokyo, on December 21.”

GLORY 13 TOKYO airs on SPIKE TV in the USA at 9pm ET/6pm PT

In Japan the event airs on FUJI TV and in total it will air in over 170 territories around the world - check local listings for details and check out the official Glory World Series YouTube Channel for pre-fight build-up, interviews, trailers and more.