Ramon Dekkers

STATS
Name: Ramon Dekkers
Nickname: “The Diamond”
Date of birth: 1969
Birthplace: Breda, Holland
Fights: 200 (approx) W 175 KOs 90
8 times World Champion in Kick Boxing and Thai Boxing
Current status: Retired

Dutch born Ramon Dekkers is probably one of the best known western Thai boxers of all time. Ramon Dekkers is to kickboxing what Muhammad Ali was to boxing or Diego Maradona to soccer. He is an athlete who always pursued excellence and perfection; a fighter whose heart was greater than his bodily power. In spite of all his health problems, he showed great spirit and courage. He created kickboxing history; but in doing so he damaged his body irreversibly.

It could be said that since some fighters beat Ramon, they were better athletes. Then again, the same happened to the great Muhammad Ali. Every fighter loses eventually, but greatness in contact sports is not accomplished by any single fight but rather through a remarkable career. Most of the fights Ramon lost were lost on points or because he was not “clever” enough to avoid or cancel a fight like most professional fighters often do because of injuries.

Ramon Dekkers was born in Breda, Holland, a small rural community an hour south of Amsterdam. He was born on 4 September 1969. Ramon Dekkers is a man who enjoyed the challenge of fighting most of all. He fought for 20 years and had almost 200 fights with 175 wins, 90 by KO. He fought many fights in Thailand under Thai rules. He is 8 times World Champion in Kick Boxing and Thai Boxing.

He has fought against some of the top Thai and international fighters of his time. He has competed around the world and won several championships throughout his career. Dekkers is noted as a skilled fighter with powerful punches and kicks, and had a tendency to go head -to-head with his opponents, which made him a favorite with the Thais.

Dekkers gained financially from fighting in Thailand. They paid him very well to fight in their country. He was voted as the Fighter of the Year in Thailand in 1992 so his name will go down in history.


Here are some of the first titles he won:
• Dutch Title at 18 years of age against Ramkisoen from the Chakuriki Gym on 15-11-1987 in Breda/Holland. He won on KO in the 2nd round
• European Title (MTBN) from Richard Nam in France on 27-02-1988 in the Jaap Edenhal in Amsterdam/Holland.
• European Title (NKBB) from Morris who was from England on 14th of April 1988 in Eindhoven/ Holland.
• World Title (IMTA) from Mungkordum Sitchang, World Title in 59 kg, on 2-12-1989 in Salle Lionel Terray in France. He won by decision.
• World Title against Nangpon (IMTF) for the World Muay Thai Championship, 18-02-1990 in the Jaap Edenhal in Amsterdam/Holland 18-02-1990
Most of Ramon’s losses were on “points.” Sometimes he fought 2 fights in 1 week and that in my opinion wore him out and caused some of his losses and injuries.


THE BEGINING

Ramon got involved in the martial arts around 1986. He visited a gym in Breda where he saw Thai boxing and liked what he saw. He started training in that gym. The gym’s trainer was Cor Hemmers. He was the first and only trainer Ramon had. Cor remembers him as a little blonde guy, 15 or 16 years old, that came into his gym He had done some general boxing before and then he said, “I want to start Thai-boxing.” He trained about 3 months – his mother dropped him every day, brought him to the gym and picked him up after training. And then, Cor thought, this is a very explosive guy with some real talent. He saw that Ramon had potential and could build up to a good fighter. Hemmers had been beginning a team. He had no real fights by that time – everybody was new and he thought well, since this guy was 16 years old, maybe they could make a first fight with him – a Thai boxing fight. So, he discussed that with Ramon and with Ramon’s mother. That was also the way that Cor got to know Ramon’s mother. He felt she was a very attractive woman and they started dating. They fell in love, married, and that is how Ramon became his trainer’s stepson. Cor married Ramon’s mother and kept on training him for his first fight. In that first fight, Ramon won in a spectacular KO at only 16 years old. He fought a good boxer with a good boxing history, but he knocked him out. Cor immediately saw that he had good power compared to his weight – he was a very light guy at that time, about 55/56 kilos – but he had a punch like maybe a 70 kilo guy. And then came his 2nd fight, his 3rd fight and so on. He kept on knocking people out so his name was growing in the Muay Thai world although he was still a young guy. Then he grew up into a very spectacular fighter – all his fights were explosive and always spectacular. In the beginning of his career Ramon's manager was Clovis Depretz, the manager of legendary Rob Kaman. This explains why Rob Kaman was in the ringside during many of Ramon's matches, including his farewell fight. They often trained together and became good friends. He and Ramon were dubbed by many as "The Double Dutch duo" in Thailand.

INJURIES

Wh ile he fought his way to the top, a lot of injuries set in and set him back for a time, before he eve ntually came back to the top. He doesn’t know exactly what happened with his ankle but after almost 200 fights, his ankle was finished. He had 6 operations in 2 years on the same leg. And even his doctor said, “It’s over. You can’t fight anymore.” But Ramon had to fight. He wanted to fight. After 2 months in the hospital, Ramon started training. He worked hard for 3 months and as he says, it was tough. But after 2 years, he was fighting at the sa me level as before the surgeries. At that point he started changing and developing new techniques to be more like a ‘southpaw’ and he trained for other com binations as well. He didn’t kick with his right leg anymore – only with the left. Even his punches were different because he couldn’t stand and walk and move on his feet like he had done before. Though his injuries were always an obstacle in his training, as soon as Dekkers was well, he was back in the gym, working like a madman on the heavy bag, doing the repetitions necessary to develop his power. He also worked many drills with partners. After every injury Ramon had a special schedule for his training program. He and Hemmers trained in a special way to get him back to the fighting level. He knew that because of his injuries he had weaknesses and he tried to strengthen other weapons and work more on his defense techniques so that he would not be handicapped.
Dekkers (at some point before his injuries) had taken his kicking to the next level as many people thought he was starting to kick just like a Thai. It was both power and commitment that made him great. And with that power and commitment, sometimes came the injuries because Dekkers always trained with the intensity of a madman, doing everything – including those kicks – with full power. There was no holding back, just like he was always punching with the intention of knocking somebody out. One of the reasons why he had so many injuries on his shins and ankles in his later years was because of these kicks. There was always full power behind them and he didn’t care if somebody blocked. Of course, those kicks were so fast that they usually could not be blocked. But when they were blocked, then of course, the injuries were really quite great. But that did not deter Ramon Dekkers. He kicked anyway. As the years went by, it became clear that Ramon was becoming more and more susceptible to cuts. Of course, fighting a very difficult martial art like Muay Thai where you can use hard contact like the elbows and the knees, Ramon knew that he would get cut in fights. That’s of course almost unavoidable. But the cuts became more and more of a factor. All the scar tissue that Ramon had developed during all his fights became a big problem for him. Sometimes an elbow would open up a huge cut on the side of his head, which would finally result in his losing the fight.
Dekkers was never deterred by the blood. He would always come back and try to go for the knockout. But it was becoming more and more as if the Thais were starting to figure him out and use their own techniques (using those elbows in the clinches) against him. It was starting to frustrate the man from Holland. But that frustration only led him to be that much more determined to not only re-establish himself in the hearts of Thailand but also in the hearts of the fans around the world – with that punching and kicking style that had made him famous throughout the universe of fighting. Even under those typically Thai techniques like elbow, he outclassed some of his Thai opponents. He cut a man like Sangtienoi with an elbow, which is really amazing. No other foreigner had been able to do that. No other “farang” foreigner had been able to cut the Thais with the elbows – to fight like Thais. And he was out-gaming them, beating them at their own game. They sometimes made him bleed; but he also in return made them bleed.

TECHNIQUE

Some fighters sometimes find it very difficult to motivate themselves before a fight but Ramon wanted to be the best. He just wanted to win the fight, prove his ability to everyone, especially in Thailand, so that’s how he motivated himself. Ramon was a model professional when it came to preparing for a fight. He watched videos of his opponents and when he had studied the videos, he started training. One important thing about Dekkers is that he uses the constant repetition of the technique to develop his technique. Dekkers, being an astute student of his craft, knew how to work not only by himself, but also with that ever important training partner. If you see Ramon and Cor Hemmers training with the Thai pads you will realize that they have created a science out of this kind of training. Another thing you see in Dekkers that is very unusual is that he can fight like a devil, but at the same time he can always train in a very precise and astute way. When he fights, he seems relaxed, but then suddenly he attacks in a vicious manner that surprises all spectators. He is really a scientist in this respect. In Thailand all athletes are great kickers. Ramon’s kicking abilities are exceptional but his favorite fighting techniques are his punching techniques. One of his stronger weapons was his left hook. He was not just some free-swinging wildman in the ring. He was a cold-blooded technician with the intention to terminate his opponents.

Cor Hemmers, his trainer and step-father saw the enormous power that Dekkers possessed from his early steps as a fighter. I mean this man was 63 kilograms and he fought and punched and kicked like a heavyweight. It was really incredible the way he fought and the way he worked. He was fighting just like a Thai, trapping the leg, delivering kicks to the body, kicks to the leg. His kicks were like swinging a baseball bat. Dekkers was renowned – not only for those devastating punches but also those hammers below the waist, those shins of steel which he would occasionally set up with the punches, and then blast the low kick occasionally. He was really becoming feared for that power. He would actually try to kick through his opponent. And, the opponent’s legs definitely fell prey to that. He would crack guys open time after time. This caused fighters to shiver when they saw the name Ramon Dekkers – thinking that they had to go in the ring with this ‘demonstration of destruction.’ It had gotten to the point where Dekkers’ opponents were so afraid of him that they fought merely to survive. But this presented a new problem for Ramon. Rather than to try and shoot it out with his opponent in the middle of the ring, he had to drive them to the corner and to finish them off with his punches and kicks.

Ramon Dekkers, of course, was one of the most superbly prepared fighters ever – a man who never let go. He was always very dedicated in training, always strong, always powerful, always with lots of stamina. He needed that because some of his opponents were so afraid of him that they ran away. They tried to hide but they couldn’t hide. The ring was just too small and Dekkers did exactly what he wanted – exactly what he set out to do – and that was to create a knock out. Usually a devastating KO. At some point Thai fighters were starting to fight differently. In the beginning, it was only kicking and kneeing but then, they started being more complete. More boxing, elbows, kicking – they were even trying to deliver punches to the body, liver punches. They looked at a lot of videos of Ramon to study his fights and they were trying to imitate him. Because the Thais are very proud people and were also very proud of their Muay Thai, they actually called in trainers to instruct the fighters who would fight Dekkers, just to make sure the Thai fighter would win. When Dekkers found out that they were bringing in trainers, this only reaffirmed his own commitment to getting back into the gym, to hammering out not only the tried and tested techniques that had gotten him to the top of the world of kick-boxing and Muay Thai, but also to get through with some furious new combinations under the tutelage of his trainer and mentor Cor Hemmers. Dekkers was really determined – more than ever – to not only be at the center of the stage, but also to be the stage itself. Cor thinks the most important thing was that because they were so close, one could make a move and the other would feel it. When they were working together, whether with pads or with gloves, Cor says they were like a well-oiled machine. They learned a lot from each other. And later on, when Hemmers visited some camps in Thailand, he saw that they had started to duplicate their system. He saw his bag combinations. He saw the things that Ramon did. They started to go a little more to the boxing techniques because in the beginning, the Thai were only kicking and kneeing. So it seems that Ramon had a lot to do with the evolution of the style of the Muay Thai fighters.

FAME AND GLORY IN THAILAND

Even if you can speak no other words of the Thai language, most European and American visitors to Thailand will quickly become familiar with the Thai word “farang” (often mispronounced even by Thais) as “falang” –“farang” with a slightly trilled 'r' is the correct pronunciation.) It's basically used to describe Caucasians. It is not a racist thing. Ramon Dekkers is probably the most respected “farang” Thai boxer of all times. Dekkers had the guts to go to Thailand and kick butt directly at the famous Lumpinee stadium. He kicked butt but also got his butt kicked. But no matter what, he stood up there and showed that the Dutch fighters are a menace. He is probably the most respected foreigner in Thailand – fighting like the Thais. He fought them all – he fought them on their rules, in their land, in their rings – and he beat them. He was beaten sometimes himself - mostly on points - but he never turned down a fight. The Thai fighters have always and will always respect Ramon Dekkers for one thing: he never turned down a challenge. Dekkers in turn has always respected the Thai fighters. All these guys are the true champions of the sport.

Most professional fighters often avoid some fights in order not to ruin their perfect record. That does not necessarily mean that they are afraid of their opponent; sometimes they know that they are not ready to fight a dangerous opponent because of an injury, or they want to study him more. Some even wait for the opponent to pass his prime and fight him after he has had his share of injuries and loses. Ramon was not one of these fighters. If there were a world championship as far as courage and heart are concerned, Ramon Dekkers would be a true champion. When Ramon knocked the Thai champion Nangpon out with a good left hook, everybody in Thailand was quiet as they saw on television this small blonde guy from Holland knocking out their Lumpinee champion. Suddenly the way was open. They started to invite Ramon and his team to Thailand. And then, it got crazy. Ramon became so famous in Thailand – there were police escorts when he arrived from the airport. And he was a hero in Thailand because he fought a lot of tough Thai champions and he beat them. He lost sometimes because of his failure to win on points in the big stadium. As his trainer, Cor Hemmers had a lot of discussions with the people there but they explained to him that this was their way of judging. They claimed that they only look at who makes the best Muay Thai techniques – who makes the toughest Muay Thai techniques. And the one who makes the best Muay Thai technique – it’s always the Thai fighter when it comes to a decision. Thai-fighters have the advantage. So it was very difficult to win on points. But the fans liked Ramon – they really loved Ramon and when he was fighting, everybody was watching on television. Fifty million people were watching his fights – taxicabs were stopping on the road. It’s hard to imagine actually what was going on at the time that Ramon was fighting in Thailand. The Thai people hold such reverence for him that he has a strange nickname - "The Diamond" - as Ramon is an extremely polished Thai fighter. In Thailand, great Thai boxers are referred to as "diamonds." He was the first “farang” (foreigner) in Thai history to ever win Fighter of the Year in Thailand in 1992. Ramon was very happy and honoured to have had this happen. It was a great reward after all the years of hard work and labour. He has surpassed legendary Rob Kaman and Toshio Fujiwara, both of whom were very well respected “farang” (foreigner) fighters in Thailand.

This man is respected around the world, except in North America where he is a well-kept secret! He is relatively unknown except by the Muay Thai fans. During his era there was nobody in North America who could beat this man, but the American Martial Arts media turned a blind eye to Muay Thai and concentrated on Full Contact Rules competition or Kickboxing competition. Dekkers is respected in Thailand but there has been not a single North American fighter who was that respected in Thailand in a similar manner. Forget the fluff that you read in magazines about fighters like Benny Urquidez meaning anything in Thailand. That is straight PR by their management and it is not the truth. Benny Urquidez was a great kickboxer and a legend but he was not ring proven in Thailand. Thai boxers visiting the U.S. are surprised that most people have never heard of Ramon Dekkers or Sakmongkol . Instead, names like Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, and Benny Urquidez are often associated with the best in the sport. Wallace, Lewis, and Urquidez may be the best in full-contact karate or kickboxing, but they were definitely not the best in what the world considers to be Thaiboxing or Muay Thai. As a matter of fact, kickboxing to most parts of the world is now known almost exclusively as Muay Thai. I know the many fine Muay Thai practitioners in the United States would rather see their art shown in its full glory. Until the competition promoters accept what is truly the meaning of World Championship, countries that choose to compete at their own level rather than at a global level will continue to lack the experience needed to produce true champions. If the truth is accepted, then you can build from there and eventually reach the level of the true best. Holland is great at Muay Thai because they choose to compete at the global level and they choose to learn from their defeat rather than make up their own world champions in order to misrepresent the sport to their people. They do not seem to hide behind some organization (WKA or ISKA) that chooses to protect its status quo by producing its own world champions with its own stable of fighters. Ramon is also not very well known in Holland, at least not as much as he is in Thailand and Japan. He said it was kind of strange not being very well known in his own country, but he is used to it by now. In the beginning it was very hard. When he walked on the streets in Thailand, everybody recognized him – and asked for autographs and pictures - while in Holland this did not happen so often. Ramon thinks that people in Holland have a wrong image of kick boxers – they think that they are all criminals and do bad things. Ramon Dekkers believes that the athletes in the sport train very hard and it is a shame they do not get the same honors as other athletes. In his opinion kickboxers are top ‘sportsmen’ training hard, training every day, watching what they eat and how they eat, not staying out late etc. They are very serious, training harder than football players. He hopes that in the future all the athletes in this sport get their due and will be famous in their homeland. Hopefully, this can be done through good promotion of the sport by all promoters

END OF A GREAT CAREER

Later in his career Dekkers’ visits to Thailand became less frequent but nonetheless, the Thais sometimes would go to him and seek him out in his home turf and this created sort of a thing where Ramon and his team had to rise up and figure out a way to win. Of course, the wear and tear on Ramon was becoming more and more clear. Hundreds of fights, years of wars – that takes a toll. But still, everytime, it was again Ramon Dekkers who was fighting for his life, fighting for his fans, fighting for his career because he did not want to give up. He did not want to stop a career that was going so strong – even though he had all the injuries and had had all the operations. And actually he was at this stage of his career, already sort of a handicapped fighter, a man who could actually only kick with one leg. The surgeon who had operated on him so many times would have been shocked and surprised to know that he was still fighting, still using that leg to kick. And, it was an interesting thing because Dekkers fought, in some ways, not only for himself, for the armor of his legacy. But he fought for the fans. He felt a huge obligation to keep the fans happy. Because it was the fans after all, that had led him through such an illustrious career, had paid his bills for him, had paid him the great purses he’d made in his many fights. So, he did feel that obligation and he felt the obligation to those who had supported him. He kept trying to support them by continuing in this miraculous career with win after win, with another crushing devastating knockout over another very tough Thai fighter. You could see this in the way he fought. He never gave up and usually went, once again for a total knockout – a devastating and a finishing blow. In some ways, Ramon Dekkers had reached a stage in his career in which winning or losing didn’t really matter so much anymore. He had perfected the art of Muay Thai, using the elbows, the knees, the kicks, the punches, all exactly the way it should be used.It was his defensive ability, along with his offense, that made him the complete package.

On Sunday, 18 March 2001, Ramon Dekkers fought his farewell fight against Marino de Florin in Rotterdam. Holland's legendary "Golden Glory" team took on the rest of the world in a night of non-stop thrills and spills and high octane ring action. In a bid to witness this historic occasion, tickets were sold out months in advance and the 10,000 fans were not to be disappointed. This was to be the last fight in an unbelievable career for "the Diamond", and as Dekker came out in a blaze of lights, the video screens projected many of the Dutchman's bone crushing knockouts to the sell-out crowd. Bringing an unbelievable record of 175 wins(90 by KO) into the ring, Ramon made sure the Swiss fighter had his work cut out for him. The fight went the distance with Dekker clearly in the driver’s seat, displaying the style and aggression that kept him at the top for so long.

After the fight ended in a KO in round 4, Ramon joined the "Golden Glory" team members center stage for a thrilling finale. Rob Kaman came down the rampart, Golden Glory torch in hand, presenting it to Dekker, who in turn passed it to each team member, as video clips of his victories were shown on the display screens - an unforgettable moment in the history of Dutch Thai Boxing and Kickboxing. There’s no doubt that Ramon Dekkers has etched a place in history as one of the greatest fighters of all time. If ever there was a fighter who epitomized, from head to toe, what you need to know about stand-up fighting in the ring against Thais, against Americans, against people from around the world, it was Ramon Dekkers – the great one.

Muay Thai

Muay Thai is a Thai mixed martial art form. It has many techniques of fighting. While using Muay Thai techniques, also known as "Mae Mai Muay Thai," fighters use the entire body including fists, elbows, shins, feet and knees.

The basic Muay Thai training techniques include punch techniques (jab, straight right/cross, hook and uppercut), elbow techniques (horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying) and kicking techniques (push kick, roundhouse kick, etc.). The following are some special Muay Thai techniques:

The Clinch

This technique is exclusively used in Muay Thai fights. While combating the fighter applies this technique by holding his opponent either around the neck and head or around the body. It is known as Thai clinch.
To apply the clinch, the fighter has to hold his opponent either around the neck and head or around the body. The fighter also has to press his forearm against his opponent's collar bone while his hands are around the latter's head rather than his neck.

A common clinching technique used in Muay Thai fights is to just tap the head downward then give a throw. The fighter can also throw the opponent to his left in case the latter is using a knee from the right. It can cause the opponent to lose his balance.

The Kru

This is a tough technique. A new fighter takes a lot of training and hard work to learn this technique. The technique is provided by the fighter’s Krue or Thai boxing training. The trainer makes the fighter work hard and learn the technique. It is a tradition for the fighter to express his respect to his trainer through a ritual called Wai Kru.

There are some elements that are part of Muay Thai training techniques. These include:-

•Running – A trainee has to run 18 km running per day (around 12 km in the first half and around 6 km in the second half).
•Stretching – The trainee has also to do stretching for around 20-30 minutes. It improves muscular elasticity and reduces the stretch reflex.
•Shadow boxing – This training includes around 20 minutes of shadow boxing. Shadow boxing is usually practiced in front of a mirror.

Muay Thai training takes a lot of hard work. To become a good fighter young people have to go through a lot of physical and mental strain. It takes sheer dedication, commitment, and “never-say-die” attitude that a trainee transforms himself into a sound Muay Thai fighter.