Cătălin Moroşanu

Cătălin Moroşanu
Born	June 30, 1984 (1984-06-30) (age 27) Cotnari, Romania
Other names	The Carpathian Death
Nationality	Romanian
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	98 kg (220 lb; 15.4 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Boxing
Stance	Southpaw
Fighting out of	Bucharest, Romania
Team	Local Kombat Team, SC Cotnari-Scorpions Iaşi, Respect Gym București
Trainer	Mihai Constantin
Years active	2005–present
Kickboxing record
Total	34
Wins	29
By knockout	18
Losses	5
By knockout	3
Draws	0
last updated on: November 19, 2011

Cătălin Moroşanu (born June 30, 1984) is a Romanian heavyweight kickboxer, who fights out of the Respect Gym București. He has competed in the Local Kombat, SuperKombat and K-1 promotions and holds notable victories over Gary Goodridge, Freddy Kemayo, Mighty Mo and Stefan Leko. Moroşanu is known for his wild, brawling fighting style. He has stated that he is a fan of Bob Sapp, and even went so far as to compare his fighting style to him.^[1]

He is also a former professional rugby player, and won season ten of the Romanian version of Dancing with the Stars.

Career

2005-2007

Moroşanu was born in the village of Cotnari in Iaşi, Romania. After a short career as a professional rugby player, he began kickboxing professionally in 2005 and spent the majority of his early career competing in the Local Kombat promotion in his home country.

He made his K-1 debut on April 5, 2007 at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 against Stefan Leko.^[2], and was handed the first defeat of his career by the German veteran as he lost via unanimous decision. Folowing this, he returned to Local Kombat to take three more wins, over Dimitry Podgaisky, Sergei Gur and Nicolas Vermont, by the end of the year.

2008

In 2008, Moroşanu was invited to take part in the K-1 European Grand Prix. The opening round was held at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Budapest Europe GP Final Elimination on February 9 where he was able to defeat Turkish fighter Erhan Deniz via unanimous decision after an extra round. In the quarter-finals at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam on April 26, Moroşanu was knocked out with a knee strike by Frenchman Freddy Kemayo just seconds into the opening round.

Following a first round knock out of Junichi Sawayashiki at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Taipei on July 13, Moroşanu rematched Kemayo on November 6 at Local Kombat 31 in Buzău, Romania. He was able to avenge his defeat by winning the match by unanimous decision.

He ended the year by defeating Trinidadian brawler Gary Goodridge in a match for the WKN Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship at Local Kombat 32 on December 12. After being dominated for most of the fight, Goodridge quit on his stool at the end of the second round.^[3]

2009

Moroşanu began 2009 with a fifty-eight second knockout of Musab Gulsari at the K-1 Rules Tournament 2009 in Budapest on February 28. In his next match on May 16 at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Mlada Boleslav, he lost by another knee KO in an upset loss to Slovakian Tomas Kohut. He bounced back, however, by knocking out Wiesław Kwaśniewski in round one at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Sarajevo.

His impressive KO wins then earned him a chance to compete in a superfight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul Final 16 on September 26, where he faced Japanese karate fighter Taiei Kin in a highy-controversial bout. Towards the end of the first round, the "clapper" (the device used to signal the remaining 10 seconds of the round) sounded. Moroşanu seemed to think the sound indicative of the ending of the round, and began walking towards his corner, only to be met by a punch from Kin (who was rightfully continuing in the context of the official rules regarding the fight). The end bell, signifying the officially sanctioned end of the round, sounded moments later. Moroşanu deliberately continued to fight, hitting Taiei (whom was defenseless after dropping his hands at the end of the round) with a two punch flurry, knocking him unconscious. Moroşanu was disqualified from the fight, thus giving the victory to Taiei by means of disqualification.

The audience present at the show booed the decision, which awarded Taiei the victory. The crowd believed the punches to have been thrown before or exactly when the bell had sounded. However, video evidence refutes this. ^[4]

He rebounded by beating Samoan-American slugger Mighty Mo in a close match at K-1 ColliZion 2009 Final Elimination on October 24. The bout was ruled a draw after three rounds, so an extra round was permitted to decided a winner, after which Moroşanu was ruled the victor by split decision.

2010

On February 6, Moroşanu defeated Deutsch Pu'u via technical knockout in the first round at the K-1 ColliZion MAX 2010 Europe GP in Budapest, Hungary. In his next bout, he faced Errol Zimmerman at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Bucharest on May 21 and lost via TKO in round one. Just twenty seconds into the round, Zimmerman rocked Moroşanu with a flying knee and right hook which forced the referee to stop the fight.^[5]

Following this, he picked up a unanimous decision win over Igor Mihaljević at a show in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 29. On November 27, he rematched Gary Goodridge at K-1 Scandinavia Rumble of the Kings 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden and was able to better "Big Daddy" once again as he won via TKO (referee stoppage) in the second round.^[6]

2011

In 2011, Moroşanu began competing regularly for the newly-founded SuperKombat promotion. On March 18 at SuperKombat: The Pilot Show in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania, he took a unanimous decision victory over Yüksel Ayadin.^[7]

On June 16 at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix II in Constanța, Romania, he took revenge over Stefan Leko, the man who handed him his first career loss, winning by unanimous decision.^[8]

In October, he took another two decision victories in the space of two weeks by defeating Michael Andrade and Ibrahim Aarab at the SuperKombat World Grand Prix III and SuperKombat World Grand Prix IV, respectively.^[9][10]

Personal life

Moroşanu is a law student, and also owns his own kickboxing gym in his home country of Romania. A notably interesting fact about Moroşanu is that the K-1 promotion arbitrarily created the image of him as a crop farmer. In one of their promotional video-clips, Moroşanu appears driving an old tractor.^[11] In yet another clip from the company, Moroşanu appears to be drinking and promoting a brand of wine, which supposedly gives him super-hero like fighting powers. The wine is supposed to be, albeit fallaciously, his own signature line.^[12]

From March 19 through May 7, 2010 Cătălin Moroşanu participated in the most popularly viewed show in the history of Romanian television, Dansez pentru tine (the Romanian version of Dancing with the Stars). He stated that his motivation and financial winnings would go to support a young widow, who wanted to make her daughter's life easier, and filled with the happiness that she deserved but had lost with the death of her father. He was considered to be the single most talented and entertaining male participant in the competition, and was the fan favorite. He made it to the Final elimination round, and won the 1st place spot at the end of the show, earning 60,000 Euros for Magdalena Ciorobea (his dancing partner in the show), collecting over 13,000 votes.

Titles

• World Kickboxing Network
  • WKN Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

29 wins (18 KOs), 5 losses Result Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Win Patrick Liedert KO (punches) SuperKombat World Grand Prix Final 02011-11-19 November 19, 2011 1 2:59 Darmstadt, Germany Win Ibrahim Aarab Decision (unanimous) SuperKombat World Grand Prix IV 02011-10-14 October 14, 2011 3 3:00 Piatra Neamț, Romania Win Michael Andrade Decision (unanimous) SuperKombat World Grand Prix III 02011-10-01 October 1, 2011 3 3:00 Brăila, Romania Win Stefan Leko Decision (unanimous) SuperKombat World Grand Prix II 02011-07-16 July 16, 2011 3 3:00 Constanța, Romania Win Yüksel Ayadin Decision (unanimous) SuperKombat: The Pilot Show 02011-03-18 March 18, 2011 3 3:00 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania Win Gary Goodridge TKO (referee stoppage) K-1 Scandinavia Rumble of the Kings 2010 02010-11-27 November 27, 2010 2 2:24 Stockholm, Sweden Win Igor Mihaljević Decision (unanimous) Sarajevo Fight Night II 02010-10-29 October 29, 2010 3 3:00 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Loss Errol Zimmerman TKO (referee stoppage) K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Bucharest 02010-05-21 May 21, 2010 1 0:24 Bucharest, Romania Win Deutsch Pu'u TKO (referee stoppage) K-1 ColliZion MAX 2010 Europe GP 02010-02-06 February 6, 2010 1 - Budapest, Hungary Win Mighty Mo Extra round decision (split) K-1 ColliZion 2009 Final Elimination 02009-10-24 October 24, 2009 4 3:00 Arad, Romania Loss Taiei Kin DQ (Kin KO'd after the bell) K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul Final 16 02009-09-26 September 26, 2009 1 3:00 Seoul, South Korea Win Wiesław Kwaśniewski KO (liver punch) K-1 ColliZion 2009 Sarajevo 02009-07-03 July 3, 2009 1 1:20 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Loss Tomas Kohut KO (knee) K-1 ColliZion 2009 Mlada Boleslav 02009-05-16 May 16, 2009 3 - Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic Win Musab Gulsari KO (left hook) K-1 Rules Tournament 2009 in Budapest 02009-02-28 February 28, 2009 1 0:58 Budapest, Hungary Win Gary Goodridge TKO (corner stoppage) Local Kombat 32 02008-12-12 December 12, 2008 2 3:00 Ploiești, Romania Wins WKN Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Win Freddy Kemayo Decision (unanimous) Local Kombat 31 02008-11-06 November 6, 2008 3 3:00 Buzău, Romania Win Junichi Sawayashiki KO (left hook) K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Taipei 02008-07-13 July 13, 2008 1 2:04 Taipei, Taiwan Loss Freddy Kemayo KO (knee) K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam 02008-04-26 April 26, 2008 1 0:35 Amsterdam, Netherlands 2008 European Grand Prix quarter-final. Win Erhan Deniz Extra round decision (unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Budapest Europe GP Final Elimination 02008-02-09 February 9, 2008 4 3:00 Budapest, Hungary 2008 European Grand Prix opening round. Win Nicolas Vermont TKO Local Kombat 28 02007-12-14 December 14, 2007 3 - Brașov, Romania Win Sergei Gur Decision Local Kombat 27 "Porţile de fier" 02007-11-03 November 3, 2007 3 3:00 Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania Win Dimitry Podgaisky TKO Local Kombat 26 02007-06-15 June 15, 2007 2 - Iași, Romania Loss Stefan Leko Decision (unanimous) K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 02007-04-05 April 5, 2007 3 3:00 Bucharest, Romania Win Omar Belamar TKO Local Kombat 25 02007-02-03 February 3, 2007 2 - Sibiu, Romania Win Panayotis Diakos KO Local Kombat 24 02006-12-16 December 16, 2006 2 - Bucharest, Romania Win Mihăiţă Golescu Extra round decision Local Kombat 23 02006-11-05 November 5, 2006 4 3:00 Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of K-1 events
• List of Local Kombat events

External links

• Official K-1 website
• Catalin Morosanu K-1 profile

References

1. ^ http://www.fansofk1.com/article?aID=1076&Category=1
2. ^ "K-1 Romania Bucuresti 4 mai". www.fight.ro. Archived from the original on 2007-02-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070228070135/http://www.fight.ro/_new/?D=23. Retrieved 2007-08-22. 
3. ^ GARY GOODRIDGE READY FOR WKN INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP vs CATALIN MOROSANU
4. ^ http://www.bucharestherald.com/sports/45-sports/6023--morosanu-descalificat-la-k1-seul-pentru-ca-si-a-zdrobit-adversarul-dupa-gong
5. ^ Cătălin Moroşanu, umilit de Errol Zimmerman la gala K1 World Grand Prix de la Bucureşti
6. ^ Catalin Morosanu l-a zdrobit pe Gary Goodridge la K1 Scandinavia: Rumble of the Kings
7. ^ "Monday Morning Head Kicks: March 14th to 20th". www.headkicklegend.com. http://www.headkicklegend.com/2011/3/21/2053348/monday-morning-head-kicks-march-14th-to-20th. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
8. ^ "Super Kombat World Grand Prix II Results". http://liverkick.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=705:super-kombat-world-grand-prix-ii-live-results&catid=39:europe&Itemid=59. 
9. ^ "Pavel Zhuravlev - winner SuperKombat World Grand Prix". http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://superboxing.ru/news/pavel_zhuravljov_pobeditel_superkombat_world_grand_prix/2011-10-03-3448&ei=Cl6pTtywH5Cw8QPz_tWLDA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CF8Q7gEwCTge&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dsuperkombat%2Bworld%2Bgrand%2Bprix%2B3%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1152%26bih%3D637%26prmd%3Dimvns. 
10. ^ "SuperKombat World Grand Prix IV Results". http://liverkick.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=942:superkombat-world-grand-prix-iv-results&catid=39:europe&Itemid=59. 
11. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7Fh65f5QuE
12. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo6wEMtKqKM&feature=relmfu

Persondata
Name	Morosanu, Catalin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1982-01-29
Place of birth	Cotnari, Romania
Date of death
Place of death