Recently saw the latest poster of Klaus and his son. At this time, Klaus's son was already a well-known rising star in Europe. Very much like his dad.
Last year, when I was in Zhangqiu, Jinan, I did an interview with Klaus. We were in Klaus's room, talking about Klaus's career, his experiences in Japan, and finally, Klaus's son.
Klaus's son came back late, and he could see that he was a little afraid, but he still kept a smile on us to ease some of the embarrassment of not being able to speak.
For two consecutive years, Klaus came to China with his son. For Klaus, he doesn't need so many coaches, assistants to perfect a lot of preparations and details in the game, he just enjoys the game and takes his son around the world to experience the game. Although his son is not very old, it is conceivable that in his son's mind, he has experienced many lives that children of the same age cannot experience.
For two consecutive years, two competitions, Klaus against Li Zhuangzhuang, a Chinese player who is much younger than him, won the previous year, last year, Klaus once had a chance to win, but at the last moment, Klaus really couldn't move. At the age of 38, Klaus has reached his limit. The Klaus, arguably the first widely recognized world champion in the world of combat, finally lost to time. Like a twilight hero, his consciousness is still there, he understands how to beat opponents in the game, but his body can't keep up.
Every champion will go through such a stage. Some people go to the top of the world and go down the mountain little by little, and some people have not yet reached the top, and they look at the scenery on the mountain and go down. Some people climb to the top of their own, but find that there are mountains in the world that are much higher than this mountain, and they have no time.
I originally thought that except for the first kind of people, the latter two were actually very sad.
It wasn't until I was at work and broadcast, the beautiful Grim Reaper, that Klaus came into contact with a long time. You understand that the so-called open-mindedness, this realm. True can only be achieved by people who have been weathered in the ring. The first half of Klaus's career is very much like the third, he quickly reached the peak of his career, and gradually discovered what is called the Yangtze River back wave to push the front wave, under the impetus of the media and capital, the fight ushered in a golden age. Under such a wave, a Klaus may really be nothing. He was quickly covered up. Finally, one day, he understood. It's just that he didn't choose to go up the mountain, but stood at his height and told the young people behind him how to take fewer detours and climb higher.
Klaus's son, that's how he watched Klaus come over little by little. Unlike many spectators, Klaus watched his father's game from an early age. Watching his father take the stage, enjoying the cheers of the audience, watching his father play against players of various countries, ages, and styles. He had seen his father take the championship one night in a row, and he had seen his father bruised in the face by a much younger player in the ring.
In this world, there are many different people watching fighting, some people watching for ten years, some people watching for an hour, some people only brushing on their phones for five minutes. You can't expect all the spectators to understand what was going on in front of and behind the scenes. Just like Klaus, many people were still saying that Klaus was not OK one minute ago, Andy Suva was not ok, and which boxing king "stood up", and the next minute, they took out the photo of Klaus ko Zheng Zhaoyu's game, just to attack Zheng Zhaoyu. In their eyes, the game is not a story, not a life, and the boxer and the game are a tool to achieve their own venting purposes. And some boxing fans can really read it. So they understand that fighting is not an absolute zero-sum game. They don't demonize any players, they look at every game as a mirror. Every game is a game of the highest state of human body and spirit, some people win, some people lose, but the spirit of fighting will remain in their hearts.
Klaus has a boxing fan in Japan named Sammy. Zegang, although Klaus's career of more than a decade has been very bumpy, Sammy will rush to the scene almost every race to cheer for Klaus. It wasn't until 2013 that Sami died of illness. As Sami's idol, he is also a lifelong friend. Klaus uses his name in his own boxing gym to hold an annual tournament to select the best boxers in the gym.
Klaus had his own boxing gym in the Netherlands called "Ichiban", which was also heavily influenced by his K-1 in Japan. I once asked if "Ichiban" reminded others that he was the first king, the first world champion. Klaus told me that "one- and one-size-fits-all" is number one. To box in this gym, you have to be the first in the world. Even though he is 38 years old, he still wants to play with different players in various parts of the world like Boqiu.
Klaus said that the reason why I did not retire was not only for money, because I still firmly believed that I was still the first in the world, and one day when I thought that I was really not the first in the world, it was when I really retired.
Suddenly, you understand that what these legends say about the world first and the world we understand has always been different. In your mind, the first thing in the world is the ranking, that is, the certification behind your social accounts, and the headlines of media hype. When you live in your own feathers, in fact you can only play in the narrow areas you understand, you will become more and more careful, picky opponents, even picky rules, picky about every event arrangement, every little detail of the game, and even spit on a pool of water in the ring.
But when you are not involved in this, you find that you are freer than all others. Competition is a job, you have a good job and a bad job, even if some games you just play like, but that's part of life. At the beginning, he may be a bowl of rice, whether it is good or not you have to eat, but when you are not worried about food and clothing, the game is a bottle of wine, taste it when you are fine, full of the mellow aroma of the years.
Fortunately, Klaus lived to understand. Fortunately, these legends I know are filled with these lights in their hearts.
Hearing that Klaus's son wants to represent the Netherlands at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics because his father won the K-1 world championship in Tokyo in 2002, he wants to inherit his father's will, prove himself on the stage of the world's highest level, and fight for honor for the country.
Klaus Jr. (Gladys Klaus) played his first free-play match against a three-year-older opponent and weighed more than him, but Klaus Jr. won the game anyway, and Klaus the Elder was proud of him. Nowadays, Klaus Jr. specializes in boxing, but also plays free-form fighting rules, with Klaus the elder as his coach, and the two have become very tacit partners in the training ground. Old Klaus could clearly understand what Klaus Jr. lacked and what kind of training he needed to strengthen. Today's Klaus Jr. has almost taken the belt of the Dutch junior amateur competition, and he will soon turn 18 years old and have the opportunity to compete in the professional arena and continue the journey of "Klaus". As he often says, "it's a kraus thing," the legend of the new generation of the Klaus family has just taken place.
Many people are not undefeated in the ring, but there is no doubt that they are the real winners of life.