If you ask any true fan of Muay Thai or kickboxing their top 5 list of legends in the sports, Ramon Dekkers better be there. If he is not, there is a good chance the person you are speaking with doesn’t know shit. For those who are not familiar with Dekkers and for those who are, we want to highlight some key facts about the late legend.
- Dekkers was born in Breda, The Netherlands in 1969.
- He started training kickboxing at the age of 12.
- His first fight was at the age of 16 which he won via knockout.
- After much success in European Muay Thai, Dekkers went after the native Thai league.
- In 1990, Dekkers won the International Muay Thai Federation title by beating a famous and popular native Thai fighter in Amsterdam.
- It was quite unusual for a foreign born Thai fighter to have so much success against native Thais and earned Dekkers the reputation as the best Muay Farang (foreign fighter) to ever live. He was an 8 time world champion.
- Dekkers had a famous rivalry with native Thai fighter Coban Lookchaomaesaitong and it is still considered one of, if not the greatest rivalry in Muay Thai history.
- Dekkers was a member of and trainer for the famous Golden Glory gym based in the Netherlands.
- Dekkers retired in 2001 but would later return to fight a few more times until his eventual retirement in 2006.
- One of Dekkers’s last fights was against America Duane Ludwig. Dekkers could only use 1 arm during this fight due to injury but still managed to knock Ludwig down every round and win the decision.
- Dekkers was given an award from the Royal Family of Thailand as official Muay Thai ambassador to all foreigners. This was an extremely high honor and one Dekkers was very proud of.
- Unfortunately, Dekkers passed away in 2013 after suffering a heart attack and the young age of 43 years old. He passed in his native Breda.