From wikipedia.org :
Ramon "The Diamond" Dekker (born September 4, 1969) is a retired Dutch kickboxer and an eight time Muay Thai world champion and was the first foreigner to be bestowed the "Muay Thai Fighter of the Year" award.
He began learning martial arts at age 12, studying Judo for a few months. He then started boxing for a year. After that, Dekker started practicing Muay Thai under Cor Hemmers. He was awarded his first title at age 18, when he won the Dutch National Championship on November 15, 1987.
Ramon got involved in the martial arts around 1986. He visited a gym in Bredo where he first witnessed Thai boxing. He started training at the Breda gym. Ramon's future stepdad was the gym's trainer who later became Ramon's coach. Ramon trained for about 3 months – his mother dropped him off every day, brought him to the gym, and picked him up after training. Cor saw that Ramon had the potential to be a good fighter. Ramon was 16 years old. Hemmers had been building a team and had no real fights by that time. Before Ramon's first muay thai fight, Cor discussed it with Ramon and his mother. During Ramon's training, Cor became more and more involved with his mother, and the two eventually married.
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In his first fight at 16 years of age, Ramon won in a spectacular KO against a well-established fighter. After this fight Ramon went on to win many more fights by knockout. Weighing only 55 kg, opponents said he hit like a much heavier fighter Continuing his winning streak knocking people out, the name of Ramon Dekkers grew in the Muay Thai world as an up-and-comer. In the beginning of his career Ramon's manager was Clovis Depretz, the manager of Rob Kaman. This explains why Rob Kaman was at 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.
Dekker fought some of the best fighters Thailand had to offer. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost. His losses were because of different factors. Especially in the beginning it was hard for Dekkers to fight at ful
l Thai rules. The scoring methods were different than he was used to so he lost a lot of point decisions. He also lost because he never refused a fight, even when his opponents had much more experience or were a lot bigger.
Dekker would fight anyone, any time, even though he was recovering from injuries. Nevertheless the Thais had and still have great respect for Dekker' determination and ability.
Farewell Fight
On Sunday, March 18, 2001, Ramon Dekker fought his farewell fight against Martino Deflorin in Rotterdam. The Netherlands' "Golden Glory" team took on the rest of the world. The fight ended in the 4th round with Dekker knocking a game Deflorin out with a left hook. Throughout the bout, Dekker controlled the fight, displaying the style and aggression. After the fight, Ramon joined the "Golden Glory" team members center stage for a 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.
Comeback
After his retirement Dekker kept himself busy training his two teams, Team Dekker and Golden Glory. In 2005 however, Dekker surprised the fighting world by agreeing upon a contract with K-1. He was, however, to fight under MMA rules against Genki Sudo. Dekker, who never had fought MMA, and took the fight by a few days notice, lost by heel hook.
However, manager Bas Boon also arranged at least one more standup fight on regular K-1 Rules. Dekker fought American Duane Ludwig in a superfight during the K-1 Max 2005 event. A few days before the fight Dekker injured himself, tearing a ligament in his right shoulder. The entire fight he punched only with his left arm, so he could not even setup his famous boxing combinations. Nevertheless Dekker knocked Ludwig down in every round, and won the fight by decision.
His final retirement was a superfight against Joerie Mes at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam event on May 13, 2006. After both fighters suffered knockdown in the second round, it was Mes who earned the decision victory. Immediately after the fight Dekker took the microphone and announced his final retirement.
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