Dževad Poturak Biography
Dževad Poturak (born September 20, 1977) is a Bosnian heavyweight kickboxer, fighting out of Jumruk Gym in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is the former WAKO Pro World Low-Kick champion and K-1 Fighting Network Prague 2007 tournament champion.
He holds notable wins over Daniel Ghiță, Melvin Manhoef, Sergei Lashchenko and Jörgen Kruth.
Career
Poturak first came to prominence when he defeated Siniša Puljak to win the WKA European Championship on December 21, 2003. He then made his K-1 debut at K-1 Grand Prix BIH 2004 in June 2004, losing to Josip Bodrozic. He did not return to the promotion until April 2006 when he took part in the eight-man tournament at K-1 Italy Oktagon 2006. He was defeated in the final by Sergei Gur after beating Ricardo van den Bos and Humberto Evora.
The following year, he took part in the Grand Prixs at K-1 European League 2007 Hungary and K-1 Fighting Network Turkey 2007 but was unable to win either. In his last event of the year, on December 15, 2007, at K-1 Fighting Network Prague 2007, he was finally able to win a tournament by defeating Daniel Jerling, Duško Basrak and Roman Kleibl. He returned to defend his crown the next year at K-1 Fighting Network Prague 2008 but was knocked out by Ashwin Balrak in the quarter-finals.
On May 21, 2011, he took part in the four-man tournament at SuperKombat World Grand Prix I in Romania. He lost to Sergei Lascenko at the first stage via knock out due to a knee to the body.
On July 30, 2011, Poturak faced Alain Ngalani for the IKA Super Heavyweight World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, US. In the first round, Poturak knocked Ngalani to the canvas and continued to punch him on the back of his head when he was down. Originally, Ngalani was announced as the winner via disqualification. However, the decision was later overturned by the Las Vegas Sports Committee and was ruled a no contest.
He next faced Sebastian Ciobanu at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012 IV on October 20, 2012, in Arad, Romania, with a wild card spot for the SuperKombat Final Elimination up for grabs. He lost via unanimous decision
He lost a split decision to Ibrahim Aarab on November 10, 2012, in Craiova, Romania in a non-tournament bout at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix 2012 Final Elimination.
He rematched Sergei Lascenko in the reserve bout for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15, 2013, and won via unanimous decision. He was then entered into the semi-finals of the compe*ion against Ismael Londt after Badr Hari withdrew with a broken foot. He retired in round two after having his rib broken from a knee.
He lost to Igor Jurković by unanimous decision at Final Fight Championship 6 in Poreč, Croatia on June 14, 2013. Poturak announced his retirement just four days later, stating that he will have one last fight against Stefan Leko at Final Fight Championships 7 in his home town of Sarajevo on September 6, 2013.
On December 8, 2013, Dževad organised another tournament in his nativ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina called No limit K-1 rules, and he announced that this will be his last fight. He fought Mamoudou Keta in an exhibition bout. At the end of first round Dževad took off his gloves and retired from the sport, fight was declared No Contest. After that Dževad Poturak decided to return to rings with No Limit 7 event for WAKO PRO World *le Low Kick +94,00:kg professional fight against world champion French kickboxer Abdarhmane Coulibaly. The event No Limit 7 was realized on 15 August 2014 and he has beaten his opponent by knockout after a rough fight.
Hand injury forced him to cancel fight for the FFC light heavyweight championship against Champion, Pavel Zhuravlev. Fight was expected to be at FFC 27: Night of Champions on December 17, 2016, in Zagreb, Croatia.
Championships and accomplishments
Professional Kickboxing
- K-1
- K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final 3rd place
- 2007 K-1 Fighting Network Prague Champion
- 2007 K-1 European League Hungary Runner-up
- 2006 K-1 Italy Oktagon Runner-up
- WAKO Pro
- 2014 WAKO Pro World Low Kick Champion +94.2:kg
- WKA
- 2003 WKA European Heavyweight Championship
- KOK
- 2019 KOK European Heavyweight Championship
Kickboxing record
See also
- List of male kickboxers
- List of K-1 Events
