Martin Holm (November 27, 1976 – June 24, 2009) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Muay Thai kickboxer and former WMC Muaythai World Champion. In K-1 he fought against some of the biggest stars at the time, like

Ernesto Hoost Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where he came just on ...

Ray Sefo Ray Sefo (born 15 February 1971) is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist of Samoan descent. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner Up, is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion, and was an eigh ...

, Michael McDonald and

Glaube Feitosa Glaube Araújo Feitosa (born April 9, 1973) is a Brazilian former kickboxer and a kyokushin full contact karate practitioner who was competing in K-1. In 2005, Feitosa won K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas tournament and was a K-1 World G ...

Biography and career

When Martin Holm was seven years old, he started swimming in the local swimming school. A few years later he became interested in

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in aroun ...

and practiced it for four years. Soon after he became interested in

Shotokan Karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" throug ...

. When he was 14 he entered one of the best Muay Thai gyms in Stockholm at that time, "Slagskeppet Muay Thai," where he met Jörgen Kruth and immediately was taken by the sport. Martin was 18 years old and vacationing in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

with his trainer Po Lindvall and Jörgen Kruth when he had his first fight. He was not prepared for the fight but his opponent was an experienced local Muay Thai fighter. Holm attacked hard, fired a lot of shots and won the fight by a knockout with knee strikes at the 30 second mark in the first round. In 1998 or 1999 on the advice of his first trainer Po Lindvall Martin decided to follow his training friend Jorgen Kruth to Vallentuna Boxing Camp www.vbc.se, in an attempt to get to the next level as Lindvall was leaving his trainer carrier and VBC was the most excellent promoters of fighters at that time. From Vallentuna he had some professional fights and later entered K-1 two years after Kruth. Holm fought over 30 times for Slagskeppet and his first trainer Po Lindvall and won 4 European and 3 World titles before earning a WMC World Title match in 1999 in

. In 2002, he made his K-1 debut at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Nagoya. He knocked out

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n Jokki Oberholtzer at 1'38" in the first round. His next fight was against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian karate practitioner

. Holm won again by a first round knock out. In 2002, in Saitama, Japan, he faced his toughest opponent yet, K-1 superstar

from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Holm lost the evenly fought battle by majority decision. He finished his rookie year in K-1 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Finals undercard against

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Michael McDonald. In 2003, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, Holm fought against four-time K-1 World Champion

and lost by unanimous decision. In 2004, after his fight against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

Xhavit Bajrami Xhavit Bajrami (born October 30, 1975) is an Albanian-Swiss former kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. A Seido karate practitioner and Andy Hug student, Bajrami built up an undefeated record domestically before he was recruited b ...

, Martin Holm retired from fighting in order to focus on his family and newborn son. After three years off, in January 2007, he announced he will be making his comeback to K-1. Martin Holm was found dead at a playground outside of his home in Täby north of Stockholm on 24 June 2009. The cause of death was suicide by hanging from a swingset. Holm had been privately struggling with depression and an emotional imbalance.

Titles

* 1994 WAKO Amateur Kickboxing European Champion * 1994 SIMTA Pro Muay Thai European Champion * 1995 WKA Amateur Kickboxing European Champion * 1997 WKA Amateur Kickboxing World Champion * 1998 IAMTF Amateur Muay Thai European Champion * 1999 IFMA Kings Cup Winner * 1999 WMC Pro Muay Thai World Champion

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

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Solna, Sweden Solna Municipality ( sv, Solna kommun or , ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is one of the ...

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Jan Nortje Johannes "Jan" Nortje (born 11 April 1975) is a South African professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist and undefeated professional boxer who has fought for Strikeforce, DREAM, K-1, Inoki Genome Federation, PRIDE Fighting Championship and ...

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Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

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References

External links

Profile
at K-1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Holm, Martin 1976 births 2009 suicides 2009 deaths Swedish male kickboxers Heavyweight kickboxers Swedish Muay Thai practitioners Sportspeople from Stockholm Suicides by hanging in Sweden

Biography and career

Titles

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

See also

References

External links