Andy Hug

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Andreas Hug boxer
Andreas Hug
Data
Birth Name Andreas Hug
Fight name Iron Man (Tetsujin)
Weight class Heavyweight
nationality Swiss
birthday September 7, 1964
place of birth Zurich , Switzerland
Date of death August 24, 2000
Place of death Tokyo , Japan
style karate
size 1.80 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles 47
Victories 37
Knockout victories 22nd
Defeats 9
draw 1

Andreas "Andy" Hug (born September 7, 1964 in Zurich ; † August 24, 2000 in Tokyo ) was a Swiss martial artist and winner of several European and world championships in kickboxing , Thai boxing , Kyokushinkai and K-1 .

Hug won the K-1 in Zurich several times, and in 1996 he also won the big "K-1 World Grand Prix Final" in Tokyo.

Life

Andy Hug was born in Zurich and grew up with his brother and sister with his grandparents in Wohlen . He never saw his father, a foreign legionnaire in the service of France , he died under mysterious circumstances in Thailand . Hug's mother had to work and left the children with their parents in Aargau , where Andy grew up in simple circumstances. Andy's grandfather was a bricklayer and died while the boy was still at school.

At the age of six he started playing football and was later even included in the Swiss U-16 team. At the age of eleven he discovered karate as a martial art. In 1978 he was Swiss champion in his category and had won numerous tournaments. For financial reasons, he had to choose between football and karate and joined the national full contact karate team at the age of 16. In 1981 he founded his own karate club in Bremgarten .

Towards the end of his school days, Andy hung around regularly with youth gangs, but at the same time concentrated on martial arts. He did an apprenticeship as a butcher and worked in a butcher in Wohlen. After two years he was fired because his work was no longer compatible with his intense sporting commitments and the occasional injuries that came with it.

Andy achieved his first international success in 1981 at the Dutch championship in Alkmaar in the Kyokushin Kaikan . In 1983 he took first place at the European Cup in Budapest, Hungary . In 1984 he first took part in the World Cup in Tokyo and made it to the fourth round, whereupon he was beaten by Shokei Matsui. In 1985 he won the third European Championship in Barcelona , played his second world championship in Tokyo in 1987 and, to everyone's surprise, made it to the final as the first non-Japanese player, whereupon he lost again to Shokei Matsui. After winning another European Championship in 1989, he took part in the World Cup for the third and last time in 1991 and lost in the third round after a controversial decision against the Brazilian Francisco Filho.

With his outstanding agility, his surprising tactics, his physical strength and his professional demeanor, Hug won a large following in Japan . With his move from Kyokushin Kaikan to Seido Kaikan in 1992, Hug completed his development into a professional fighter and became a star in Japan.

Andy Hug "K-1 World Grand Prix Final 1996" in Tokyo

After winning the Seido Kaikan World Cup in 1992 and a silver medal the following year, Hug moved to K-1 , won the first round by knockout in November 1993 and defeated Branko Cikatić , the winner of the K-1 Grand Prix '93 , in March 1994 A month later, Hug started the K-1 Grand Prix '94 as a favorite, but lost to American Patrick Smith in the first round of the quarter-finals. In December 1994, however, he won the World Championship of the Universal Kickboxing Federation against Rob von Esdonk. In the qualifying round for the K-1 Grand Prix '95 he lost to the South African Mike Bernardo, but was able to retaliate at the K-1 Grand Prix '96 the next year and won a spectacular victory in the final against Bernardo. Two more times, in 1997 and 1998, he reached the final of the K-1 World Championship and was three times world champion in Thai boxing for the WKA Association .

Surprisingly, on August 17, 2000, the news came that Andy Hug had leukemia . After learning of his serious illness, he wrote the following letter to his fans:

“I think you will be shocked when you find out what state of health I am in. When the doctor explained to me, it was a huge shock, even for me. But I want to inform you about my state of health so that I can fight this disease together with you. This disease is the worst enemy of all my struggles. But I will win. And as in the ring, I will draw strength from your cheers and defeat this strong opponent. Unfortunately I won't be able to take part in the tournament in October. I will fight this disease in Japan and one day I will stand before you again. We hold out!

Greetings Andy Hug "

He fell into a coma on August 23 and died the following day at the age of 35. Hundreds of people attended his funeral in Kyoto on August 27, including world-famous Japanese and foreign K-1 fighters and the Swiss President Adolf Ogi .

In Wohlen, where he grew up, a memorial was inaugurated four years after his death, designed by his wife Ilona. Ilona and Andy first met in the summer of 1987 and married in Inwil in August 1993 . The son Seya was born in Lucerne in November 1994 . Andy Hug's life was documented in the 1995 documentary Andy Hug - From Rocky to Samurai .

literature

  • Ilona Hug, Erik Golowin: Andy Hug: The typhoon and the wisdom of martial arts. Zytglogge, Bern 2002, ISBN 3-7296-0646-8 .

Videos

Web links

Commons : Andy Hug  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ from the official website ( memento of July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b The day on which the Aargau samurai died. Tages-Anzeiger, August 21, 2010 (archive)
  3. ↑ Biography - Childhood ( Memento from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Biography - Youth ( Memento from March 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ a b Biography - Karate ( Memento from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Biography - Defeat ( Memento from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Biography - Champion ( Memento from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Andy Hug (1964-2000) kickboxing legend
  9. ↑ Biography - Perspektiven ( Memento from February 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Biography - Family ( Memento from February 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Hug, Andy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hug, Andreas (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss martial arts, European and world champions in kickboxing, Thai boxing and K-1
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 2000
Place of death Tokyo , Japan