Andy Souwer (born 9 November 1982) is a Dutch former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a two-time K-1 World MAX champion (2005, 2007)[2] and four-time Shootboxing World tournament champion as well as former It's Showtime 70MAX world champion,[3] fighting out of Mejiro Gym in Amsterdam.
Biography and career
Souwer started kickboxing when he was 7 years old at Ling Ho Gym in Den Bosch. He had his first kickboxing fight when he was 8 years old.[4] He won all his fights, in all the weight classes he fought and became Dutch Champion.
In 1998, only 16 years old, Souwer fought his first A-Class MTBN Title match, which he won on points. When he was 18 he had three different World titles.
Souwer first went to Japan in 2002 to compete in the S-Cup 2002shoot boxing competition where he became the winner after defeating Chinese sanshou title challenger Zheng Yuhao.[3] He made his K-1 debut the next year and won his first K-1 World Max champion title in 2005.[4]
Andy Souwer is the 2007 K-1 World Max Champion. He defeated Gago Drago followed by Albert Kraus and finally Masato to win the championship.
He faced Masato again in Masato's retirement match at the Dynamite!! 2009 event, and lost.[5]
He was scheduled to face Naruepol Fairtex at Fighterzone Kickboxing World Series MAX in Singapore on 25 February 2012. However, they were not paid by the promoter and the fight did not happen.[6]
He lost to Dzhabar Askerov by split decision in the main event of Yokkao Extreme 2013 in Milan, Italy on 26 January 2013.[13][14]
Souwer led a team of shoot boxers against a team of Pancrase fighters at Shoot Boxing 2013 - Act 4 on 23 June 2013.[15] There was some controversy leading up to the event, with Souwer saying of the Pancrase representatives "in Holland, they are what we call B-level fighters" and Shoot Boxing founder and president Caesar Takeshi storming out of a pre-fight press conference, apparently so upset at Pancrase's disrespectful selection of opponents that he could no longer bear to be a part of the proceedings.[16] Souwer knocked out his opponent, Kota Okazawa, with a left hook in round one.[17]
Souwer was scheduled to fight Maximo Suarez at Enfusion Live: Tenerife in Tenerife, Spain on 13 July 2013 but withdrew for undisclosed reasons.[18]
He took a unanimous decision over Yasuhiro Kido at the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Final 16 in Mallorca, Spain on 14 September 2013.[19][20][21]
He defeated Steve Moxon by unanimous decision at Shoot Boxing Battle Summit Ground Zero Tokyo 2013 in Tokyo, Japan on 15 November 2013.[22][23]
He was scheduled to fight Enriko Kehl at the K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Quarter Finals - Part 1 in Foshan, China on 28 December 2013.[24] However, he was unable to compete after suffering from a bout of appendicitis in the weeks prior to the event which forced him into hospital where they had to perform a routine but emergency surgical procedure to remove the troubled organ. His opponent, Kehl, was also unable to fight on the card after suffering numerous cuts in a fight with Buakaw earlier that month and was moved to K-1 World MAX 2013 World Championship Tournament Quarter Finals - Part 2 and matched with Shane Campbell.[25]
Andy Souwer and Shemsi Beqiri were set to fight at SuperPro Fight Night VI in Basel, Switzerland on 25 January 2014 but Souwer withdrew due to his bout of appendicitis and was replaced by Foad Sadeghi.[26]
He lost a split decision to Tsukuru Midorikawa at Rikix: No Kick, No Life 2014 in Tokyo, Japan on 11 February 2014.[27][28]
Souwer made his professional boxing debut on 17 March 2014, winning by TKO after his opponent Paata Varduashvili retired in his corner at the end of the fourth round in Den Bosch, Netherlands.[29]
He defeated Yuri Bessmertny via UD at Legend 3: Pour Homme in Milan, Italy on 5 April 2014.[30]
