SIX SECONDS WITH STAN

Stan Longinidis versus Dennis Alexio, Melbourne, December 6, 1992

Stan Longinidis defeated Dennis Alexio via Knockout in Round One

If pride is one of the seven deadly sins, then humility is its opposing virtue.

Those inflicted with self-consumed pride are sadly deprived of the beauty of humility.

Stan Longinidis has been blessed with humility in spades.

I played with some absolute champions during my AFL career with Geelong and Hawthorn, from Gary Ablett Senior and Jason Dunstall through to Gary Ablett Junior, and Shane Crawford, and so many brilliant players in between.

Not only were the majority of these champions outstanding footballers on the field, more importantly they were outstanding people off it.

Because despite the record number of AFL games, Premierships, Brownlow Medals, Norm Smith Medals and multiple All-Australian selections, they were, and still are, just outstanding human beings, and as grounded and humble as they come.

Stan Longinidis reminds me of many of my former champion teammates.

Superstar athletes. Superstar blokes.

It’s a beautiful thing, humility.

There are several quintessential constants that we all remember fondly when reflecting on the best years of our lives.

For me, those years would be high school and slightly beyond, from 1987-2000, a period filled with memories of supporting the Carlton Football Club, being drafted to Geelong and then Hawthorn, high school exams, INXS, The Steve Vizard Show, Spring Carnival Racing and end of season holidays discovering Europe for the very first time.

If there was one name in Australian sport who is synonymous with the very best years of my life it was without question, Stan The Man Longinidis.

A true sporting icon in this country, Stan Longinidis’ career, whilst broadly recognised, is in my opinion nowhere near enough celebrated.

101 Fights, 88 Wins (65 via Knockout), 8 Losses, 5 Draws, 8 World Championships (first Australian to win in three disciplines), Australian Sporting Hall Of Fame Inductee 2013 (first martial arts athlete ever to be inducted).

It simply doesn’t get any better than that.

But not if you ask Stan Longinidis.

“I’m very proud of my achievements throughout my career but I certainly don’t hang my hat on them,” Longinidis says humbly.

“I’ve had some enormous challenges in life since retiring - far greater than anything I ever faced in the ring - and getting through those challenges and entering the next phase of my life with my academy and motivational speaking is even more exciting than any of those past achievements.”

It’s a beautiful thing, humility.

Indeed, Stan Longinidis has faced his fair share of adversity since retiring from professional kickboxing in 2000.

In 2014 Stan would be diagnosed with an aggressive form of bowel cancer, but not long after making a full recovery would then lose the most important woman in his life, his mother Suzi.

Stan remembers learning of having cancer like it was yesterday.

“It was December 23, I had a colonoscopy and the doctor says to me, ‘Stan, we have bad news. You have aggressive cancer and we have to move fast’. I lost 2/3 of my intestine and they removed a tumour as big as a tennis ball.”

“It was an opponent I couldn’t see, a phantom, it really tested my faith.”

“But there was nothing I could do about it. My destiny was in God’s hand. I just had to surrender to it."

“The remarkable thing was that, within two weeks, 35 people I knew went off and had tests.”

Adds Stan’s long time business manager, Maria Petrou;

“I remember one night about 3am, as I slept on a couch next to Stan’s hospital bed he woke up vomiting non-stop blood,” Maria says.

“As he got up I went to grab him and he fell to his knees still vomiting blood. I yelled for the nurse but she froze at the sight. I pressed the emergency button and yelled again ‘get a doctor now’. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. This was Stan ‘The Man’.”

I could write about the life and career of Stan Longinidis all day.

His story is one of true inspiration, self belief, perseverance and ridiculous courage - and when I look over the vision of his career the one definitive standout aspect to a novice kickboxing punter like myself is the sheer difference in size of some of the absolute beasts that Stan confronted in the ring more often than not, which only reinforces the fact the Stan Longinidis is one of the bravest men in the history of Australian sport - and went places during his career that even Angels fear to tread.

It’s a beautiful thing, humility.

So which of Stan’s 101 career fights would he TOTALLY Recall as the greatest of his illustrious career?

With 88 career wins at close to 90% win rate, you’ve got yourself a serious selection of classics to choose from, but when prompted it doesn’t take long for Stan to respond with authority.

“I have some great memories from my fighting career but certainly the most career defining fight was Dennis Alexio here in Melbourne in 1992,” Stan says.

Dennis Alexio was the golden boy of American kickboxing, having lost only one bout in his career from 55 starts (54 -1) prior to fighting Stan here in Melbourne.

The undisputed World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion at the time, Alexio held titles for all the major kickboxing associations including PKA, IKF, ISKA, KICK and WKA.

Stan Longinidis, meanwhile, was the first Australian to win a world kickboxing title when he took the KICK full contact Super Heavyweight Championship in 1991, and also held the WKA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

The bout took place on 6 December 1992 at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre in Melbourne, Australia in front of 8,000 spectators, with the fight set for ten, three-minute rounds.

The fight also took place under "Oriental rules" which allows for leg kicks.

Alexio had spent the majority of his career fighting under full contact rules which only allows kicks above the waist and requires foot pads to be worn.

Six seconds into the fight, Longinidis hit Alexio with a devasting low kick, breaking Alexio's fibula and tibia immediately on impact. 

Officially, the fight lasted just fifteen seconds and Longinidis was named the winner via technical knockout.

“It was a special win because the odds were completely stacked in his favour,” Stan says.

“No-one really gave me a chance coming into the fight - yet it was all over in the blink of an eye,” he adds.

Stan The Man Longinidis was a brilliant fighter whose legacy with forever continue throughout Australia and across the entire globe.

While his career was one of courage and brilliance in every sense of the word, it should also not define him, as he has since gone on to achieve even more greatness through his STAN THE MAN GROUP and now also as a high profile motivational speaker.

He was a superstar athlete but more importantly, is still a superstar human being.

Thank You Stan, for TOTALLY Recalling one of the greatest fights of your illustrious career.

It’s a beautiful thing, humility...

Aaron Lord