Semmy Schilt towers over the kickboxing world both literally and metaphorically. Standing at 2.12 meters (just under 7 feet) he is the tallest of the world’s elite kick boxers and also the most accomplished. His four K-1 World Grand Prix wins equal those of the legendary Ernesto Hoost but Schilt is the only person ever to win three of the tournaments back-to-back. His height is a great advantage of course, giving him a range that few can match, but he also has a technical skillset that employs his natural advantages to the full. He is an expert at keeping opponents on the end of his jab where he can set them up for low kicks and right crosses that are delivered from outside their own countering range.
Very tough and very powerful, Zimmerman’s main deficit has been a lack of consistency which has at times seen him go through periods of alternating wins and losses, seemingly at random. He freely admits he has sometimes preferred the nightclub to the dojo and that is probably the underlying cause. At one point it seemed Zimmerman would never truly live up to his potential. But at the beginning of 2011 he seems to have entered a new mindset and that has led him to rack up seven consecutive wins, six of them by stoppage. Coming into this fight off the back of a first-round TKO of the iconic Jerome LeBanner in March, Zimmerman’s confidence is at an all-time high. Zimmerman is giving up a considerable height advantage to Schilt, as do most of the giant Dutchman’s opponents, but he does at least have the benefit of having been in there with Schilt once before. The two fought in Japan in 2010 and Schilt won a comfortable unanimous decision. When they meet again under the GLORY banner we will see what lessons Zimmerman learned.
The game plan for Zimmerman to beat Schilt has been laid down three times by another GLORY signing, Peter Aerts, most recently in their late 2010 fight. He covered the distance between them immediately and got to work with hard overhand rights and lefts to back Schilt up and make it difficult for him to stand off and pick him apart in the manner to which is accustomed. Zimmerman, who is of almost identical height and weight to Aerts, must do the same. He knows that heavy pressure and the threat of the knockout is the only way he can beat Schilt. But knowing something and doing it are two different things - Zimmerman has to impose his strategy early on before Schilt can get him on the end of long straight lefts and painful front kicks that deter him from coming in.
The longer Schilt keeps Zimmerman at range, the more chance the Curacao man’s luck will run out. It takes only one stiff jab from Schilt to stun even the toughest fighter and their usual response is to cover up as Schilt then piles on the pressure with a flurry of blows. But that is exactly what he wants, as he likes to employ the knee to the midsection and jaw to do real damage and take the fight right out of the opponent. Its a tall order for Zimmerman and the odds are stacked against him, but there has never been a better time for him to fight Schilt. He is in the best form of his career and his confidence is riding high. If ever he can take a win over the world’s most accomplished heavyweight kick boxer, the time is now.