One week after his fight with
Sangtienoi, Ramon
fought a rematch with Coban (1991) in Thailand. Coban had thought, going
into this fight, that he was the man who had Dekkers’ number. After all he
had easily stopped him before in their
previous meeting. But this
time Dekkers was very angry by losing the rematch to
Nangpon, so he wanted to
make a crisp and clear impression in the minds of all those in Thailand.
Ramon knew that he had to knock him out; that he had to do everything to win
this fight. The Thais thought, after the victory by
Coban in France, “finally we
have an opponent who can beat Dekkers for our own audience in Thailand.”
Coban had never been knocked out before and it was a huge surprise for the
Thais. And Ramon used an incredible punching power. That has always been
great – incredible punching power with high kicks, leg kicks…he never
stopped punching until Coban went down. Coban came back then, it was counted
8, but then again Coban came forward and right into his doom. Ramon jumped
in with an elbow but it was a left hook that ended matters right away. Ramon
gave him almost 25-30 punches on his head before he went down. Landing solid
combinations, Dekkers claimed victory by TKO after the referee halted the
fight. It was Ramon’s finest hour, his own admission, a huge victory in
Thailand against a true champion.
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Watching this fight, you cannot help but be impressed by
the expressions on the faces of the Thais. They could not believe what
happened. The crowd was in awe indeed. As a matter of fact, they sat there
with their mouths closed and it was an eerie silence. It was the biggest
victory of Ramon’s career. What a surprise! It was quiet in the stadium.
15,000 people and nobody said anything.
That fight had been broadcast all over Asia and Europe. That was the fight
where Ramon’s name became really terrifying. Coban was at that time the
biggest name from Thailand. He had never been knocked out. He knocked out
opponent after opponent. At that point, Ramon became a big star in Asia. And
not only Asia as the fight was broadcast on screen sports in Europe, watched
by millions.
After the fight with Coban, the Thais asked Ramon if he wanted to stay in
Thailand for one month. Cor Hemmers arranged for his whole family to come
over. And he fought one more fight. Ramon Dekkers was now becoming the
fastest rising star in Thailand in Muay Thai and he was being matched
against the best. But that rising fame was a dual edged sword. The Thais
paid good money to see him fight, yet, of course, they did not want him to
win.
With an intense rivalry brewing after each fighter had claimed one
victory over the other, the stage was set for a third fight. In 1992, the
two got it on once again in
Thailand. |
