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Ramon "The Diamond" Dekkers (born September 4, 1969) is a retired Dutchkickboxer and an eight time Muaythai world champion and was the first foreigner to be bestowed the "Muay Thai Fighter of the Year" award.Template:Citation needed
Ramon Dekkers was born in Breda, North Brabant (a province of the Netherlands). He began learning martial arts at age 12, studying Judo for a few months. He then started boxing for a year. After that, Dekkers 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 Breda 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.
Record[]
In his first fight at 16 years of age, Ramon won in a spectacular KO against a well-established older boxer. Ramon went on to win many more fights by knockout. He only weighed about 55 kg, but some opponents said he was much stronger than he looked,Template:Citation needed as he kept on knocking people out, his name grew in the Muay Thai world as an up-and-comer.Template:Citation needed 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.
Dekkers 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 full 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 opponent had much more experience or was a lot bigger.
Dekkers would fight anyone, any time, even though he was recovering from injuries. Nevertheless the Thais had and still have great respect for Dekkers' determination and ability.
Farewell Fight[]
On Sunday, March 18, 2001, Ramon Dekkers fought his farewell fight against Marino Deflorin in Rotterdam. The Netherlands' "Golden Glory" team took on the rest of the world.Template:Citation needed The fight ended in the 4th round with Dekkers knocking a game Deflorin out with a left hook. Throughout the bout, Dekkers controlled the fight,Template:Citation needed displaying the style and aggression.Template:Citation needed 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 Dekkers, 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 Dekkers kept himself busy training his two teams, Team Dekkers and Golden Glory. In 2005 however, Dekkers surprised the fighting world by agreeing upon a contract with K-1. He was, however, to fight under MMA rules against Genki Sudo. Dekkers, who never had fought MMA, and took the fight by a few days notice, lost by heel hook.Template:Citation needed
However, manager Bas Boon also arranged at least one more standup fight on regular K-1 Rules. Dekkers fought American Duane Ludwig in a superfight during the K-1 Max 2005 event. A few days before the fight Dekkers 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 Dekkers 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 Dekkers took the microphone and announced his final retirement.Template:Citation needed
