Twenty-four professional bouts, twenty-four victories. Eighteen coming by way of knockout.
That is a sound resume for any boxer.
But add to that prizefighter’s resume the fact that he serves as the Chief Commander of the Krav Maga Instructional Division of the Israeli Defense Force (I.D.F.) and that sound resume becomes an intimidating one.
It becomes the resume of Ran Nakash.
Before coming to the sweet science, Nakash — who hails from Haifa, Israel — trained in various fields of martial arts, including kickboxing and karate. But it is his expertise in Krav Maga, the official hand-to-hand combat defense of the Israeli military, that is perhaps his most impressive skill set.
Krav Maga, which translated into Hebrew means “contact fighting,” is a hand-to-hand combat defense style which aims at taking down an enemy as quickly as possible. It is a system of defense that was founded by Imre “Imi” Lichtenfeld, a Hungarian-Jewish boxer, wrestler, and former member of the Israeli military, in the 1930s.
From an early age, Nakash became engaged in various forms of martial arts, all roads which eventually led him to boxing.
“I started training at the age of ten, kickboxing — Muay-Thai,” Nakash said. “I kickboxed for seventeen years and have been boxing for four,” he continued. “It just came naturally.”
But kickboxing or Krav Maga were not all that Nakash did in his previous seventeen years before coming to boxing. In addition to placing first in Israel’s kickboxing championships, Nakash has also won Israel’s free style fighting championship and the full contact karate championship.
Further, in 1997, when Nakash’s main focus was kickboxing, he placed second in the world Muay-Thai championships in Thailand.
For Nakash, who is the 13th ranked Cruiserweight by the WBC, that same year also marked the first of three years he would spend as lead instructor at the IDF’s school for Krav Maga.
Nakash then spent five years as head of the Krav Maga division in the security center of Israel’s court system. Along with this title came the responsibility of training special security personnel to prepare them to serve as personal bodyguards to “judges, senators, councilmen, and businessmen.”
It wasn’t until 2007, however, that he was tapped to become the Head of the IDF’s Krav Maga school.
According to his website, RanNakash.com, it is a position that put the undefeated fighter in charge of:
– The teaching and instructing of chosen IDF soldiers into Krav Maga instructors.
– Choosing the Krav Maga curriculum of each unit. With an emphasis on Special Forces.
– Fitting specific forms of Krav Maga to each unit’s special needs.
– Creating the curriculum and instruction of the IDF’s anti terror school.
– Many more important aspects of this position simply cannot be exposed due to their level of confidentiality.
While training Krav Maga, Nakash is responsible for teaching all who seek his wisdom. However, in the ring, Nakash is solely responsible for himself — something he has been perfect at, having yet to suffer a loss.
Although boxing and Krav Maga may seem intertwined, Nakash is quick to expose differences between the two.
“It is not the same,” said Nakash. “Krav Maga is very different than boxing. All the things you aren’t allowed to do in boxing, you do in Krav Maga; and the opposite.”
Upon further inquiry, however, Nakash did admit to the mental advantages that his Krav Maga training and his experience in the Israeli military have given him.
“The advantages are the mental things: to go all the way, never bail out, keep going forward,” Nakash said. “That’s what we teach the soldiers in Israel.”
Tonight at The Arena in South Philadelphia, Nakash will fight his thirteenth bout on American soil, his eleventh in the City of Brotherly Love.
“Philadelphia is like a second home,” Nakash said. “This is my eleventh fight here, so I know everybody, it is great.”
The man tasked with attempting to blemish Nakash’s perfect record will be Victor Barragan (11-5, 3 KO) of Oxnard, California.
For Nakash (24-0, 18 KO), a win against Barragan will put him one step closer to a title-shot and add one more impressive victory to his already intimidating resume.
You can reach Kyle Kinder @ Twitter.com/KyleKinder
