Tarik Solak

Tarik Solak (born 1964 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish kickboxing promoter.

Early life

Solak was born in Ankara to a working class family hailing from Yozgat.[1] His family emigrated to Australia when he was five and Solak grew up in the Northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick among the Turkish community and in a crowded family.[2] He started his martial arts training in taekwondo under Jemal Hasan and achieved the rank of 4th dan.[2] He later pursued a career in kickboxing and became a gym manager.[2]

Early promoting career

Solak started his career as a kickboxing promoter in 1993 with an event where Turkish fighters trained by Jemal Hasan such as Tibet Hamza, Gerald Ilhan, Recep Saka, and Gürkan Özkan were featured.[3] In the following year, Solak staged another show where Tibet Hamza vs. Gürkan Özkan bout was the main event.[2] Major Australian sports broadcaster Fox Sports began covering Solak's promotions and by 1998, Solak organised a major event at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex.[2][3]

K-1 Oceania

In 1999, Solak met K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii in Japan.[3][4] After becoming the CEO for K-1's Oceania region, Solak promoted the first K-1 World Grand Prix event in Melbourne in 2001. Later K-1 fighters Mike Zambidis and Mark Hunt got their opportunities at K-1 events promoted by Solak.[2][3]

A-1 World Combat Cup

In 2003, Solak left K-1 and, by 2004, founded his new promotion A-1 World Combat Cup. A-1 was created with a show business concept that blended kickboxing with various spectacles.[3][5] After several events in Australia, in 2005, A-1 held its first event in İstanbul[4] and Solak bolstered his ties with the European kickboxing scene through his partnership with French co-promoter Kader Marouf.[6] A-1 was well received by the Turkish public in following years and events promoted by Solak had serious representation in Turkish media.[1] By 2006 and later, the show business aspect of A-1 was even furthered by Solak with the tournament A-1 Model Boxing that featured female fashion models.[7][8] Turkish edition of Forbes magazine asserted in 2008 that the success of A-1 in Turkey resulted in a 'kickboxing economy' with very significant dimensions.[4]

References
  1. Sporun Ahmat San'ı Tarık Solak Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Savaş Özbey; 10 October 2005; Hürriyet
  2. Global Promoting Phenomenon: Tarik Solak, Suheyl Yekenkurul; 14 April 2005; Turk of America Archived 13 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Tarik Solak: The ascension of a remarkable promoter, Nabil Rezgui; 4 February 2007; Muay Thai TV
  4. İşte gerçek 'Dövüş Kulübü' Archived 14 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Murat Arslan, Sinan Özen; Forbes Türkiye; 4 August 2008
  5. Qu'est ce que le A1?
  6. Kader Marouf: « The » ring godfather, Nabil Rezgui; 5 September 2006; Muay Thai TV
  7. Yumruklar havada uçuştu, 22 April 2006; Vatan
  8. Sabırla bekliyorlar, 2 April 2009; Burhan Ayeri, Akşam
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