Azem Maksutaj (born July 8, 1975) is a former kickboxer who competed in the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. He originates from Kosovo but relocated to Switzerland at an early age where he began training in Muay Thai at fifteen. After capturing the Swiss national title at lightweight during his first year of competition in 1992, he then went on to win European and world honours 1994 while fighting around the super middleweight mark. The late 1990s saw Maksutaj move between light heavyweight and cruiserweight, taking five world titles in those divisions, before eventually making the jump to heavyweight in 2001 where he spent the remainder of his career, acting as a journeyman in the K-1 promotion while also winning another four world titles. Despite spending much of his career as an undersized heavyweight, Maksutaj was known for his toughness as well as his technical skill. He won a total of fourteen world titles in various weight divisions before retiring in 2010 with a hundred professional contests under his belt. Early life Maksutaj, a Kosovar Albanian, was born the second of four children in Deqan, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo) in 1975. His father moved to Switzerland as a guest worker in the late 1970s, so he saw his father only sparingly while growing up. In 1990, at the age of fifteen, Maksutaj and the rest of his family joined up with his father in Winterthur, Switzerland during the wave of Yugoslav immigration to the country. Unable to speak the language and struggling to integrate, he soon began training in Muay Thai at the Wing Thai Gym as a way to escape his troubles. Career Career beginnings (1992–1997) After just twelve months of training and his first year of competition, Maksutaj won the Swiss national Muay Thai - title in 1992 by beating Jesus Perez who was eleven years his senior by knockout in the second round. Still just eighteen years old, he knocked out Thomas Rasmussen of Sweden on May 7, 1994, to win the European - Muay Thai title in his home town of Winterthur, before travelling to Milan, Italy later that year and defeating local fighter Sergio Bertalozzi by fifth-round KO to win the World Muay Thai Association World Middleweight (-) Championship. He lost his world title to Perry Ubeda the following year when he visited the canvas three times in the