The Savage Samurai

Daniel Ghiţă (born April 22, 1981) is a Romanian super heavyweight kickboxer. He is a former WKN European Muaythai champion, currently competing in the K-1, It's Showtime and Local Kombat promotions. He made his K-1 debut at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 against Nobu Hayashi. Aside from kickboxing, from 2001 to 2008, Ghiţă was a secret service (SPP) agent assigned to protect the Romanian President

Biography and career

"The Savage Samurai" made his debut in the World Muay Thai Championships in 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand. Daniel won all his matches by knockout before the semifinal where he lost against Alexey Ignashov by one round (the only match the Belarusian won by decision and not KO).

Ghiţă's career continued with outstanding performances: European Muay Thai champion in Germany in 2000, bronze medal at the World Muay Thai Championships in Thailand in 2001 and European Muay Thai runner-up in Portugal in 2002. In 2003, he recorded the fastest KO at the World Muay Thai Championships in Thailand, 30 seconds against an Australian fighter.

In 2004, Daniel entered the Local Kombat fighting circuit in Romania. His good record there gave him the opportunity to fight also in theK-1 fighting circuit. His K-1 debut was in 2007 at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 against Nobu Hayashi.

On August 11, 2009 Ghiţă broke Peter Aerts' record of fastest K-1 tournament win by defeating all three of his opponents in a total of 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Peter Aerts' record at that time was 6:43 and stood for 10 years before Ghiţă's milestone, however, Aerts' record was set at a K-1 Grand Prix Final Round, whereas Ghiţă's record was set in a qualifying GP.[4]

In October 2010, Daniel Ghiţă became the first Romanian fighter to qualify for the K-1 World Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, defeating Errol Zimmerman by KO in the last qualifying tournament in Seoul.

At the tournament he fought Gokhan Saki in the quarterfinals. He however turned up to the fight with a injury to his leg and it showed in the fight as he was unable to dictate the pace of the fight at all. He managed to get a extra round after it seemed Saki had already won. He started to get more tired in the round and lost by decision. There is still talk of whether Ghiţă was injured or was sick before the fight but it is definite that his training was hindered by something.

On March 6, 2011, Daniel Ghiţă faced the Chakuriki fighter Hesdy Gerges and the current It's Showtime Heavyweight champion in Amsterdam. Ghiţă was a slight underdog as Gerges almost beat Semmy Schilt the previous year and gave Badr Hari trouble in their fight. Though from the first round Ghiţă scored more effective shots, until the second round where a knee that skimmed his groin was ruled an 8 count. Ghiţă dominated the third round throughout but lost by unanimous decision. However it was only because of the wrong 8 count which if it had not been counted then an extra round would been held, where many people thought Daniel would have won.

Ghita was scheduled to face Polish-Australian fighter Paul Slowinski at the It's Showtime 2011 Lyon, but his opponent pulled out and was replaced by Fikri Ameziane. As expected the fight was one-sided for one round, with Ghita beating his opponent with ease in the first round. After defeating Erhan Deniz in June, it was announced Daniel would face Badr Hari as the main event for Showtime in Amsterdam in September. Ghita was expected to be Hari's return fight opponent but many expected it to be too much for Hari after a year away from the ring. Because of Daniels win over Errol Zimmerman, and his impressive fights against Gerges and Saki he is considered to be one of the few fighters that can beat the nearly unstoppable Morrocan.

Titles

2010 K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Tokyo Final 16 Qualifying GP champion

Local Kombat Heavyweight champion

2005 WKN European Thai-boxing Heavyweight champion

2002 European Muay Thai champion in Portugal

2001 IFMA World Muay Thai Championships Bronze medalist (+91 kg)

2000 European Muay Thai champion in Germany