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A few months ago, I received a phone call from Bobby Robare asking me if I would like to be part of a seminar he was putting on with Ramon Dekkers. Now Bobby and I go quite a ways back and we have grown pretty close over the years. I always feel very sure of myself when he is in my corner together with my other trusted cornerman Ryan Roflo. Bobby does not play any games; he says what's on his mind right in your face, which can be pretty ill received at times with some people, but for me, I know I can trust what he says is the truth... So when he said he would arrange for my wife Andi and I to have dinner the night before the seminar with Ramon, I was absolutely extatic! Ramon has always been one of my heroes and now I had the chance to meet him on a personal level! I had met Ramon back in '88 in Breda at Maeng Ho, but I was barely 18 and in the beginners class. Ramon is my age but he was already in the A level fighters' class at that time so I really did not get to talk or get to know him back then... 
The last few weeks leading up to the seminar, I tried to explain to people in our gym who Ramon was and what he had accomplished. When I told people how much of a champion Ramon is and how powerful all his techniques are, some people would tell me that I was their champion and to them I was very powerful also, so what was the big deal? Although flattered and honored by those responses, I just could not understand why some people didn't seem to care and I started to be frustrated with their ignorance. Ryan told me to rest assured, the fighters in our gym knew what he was about and others just didn't realize or didn't care, but that was of course their prerogative.
Friday. March 23 came along and after I closed up our USA Credit Bureau office, we raced over to Orlando to meet up with Bobby and Ramon. The normal travel time of 2 hours was prolonged by lotsa traffic and such, and I was surprised that Bobby reacted so mellow when I called him to say we were gonna be an hour late (I later discovered that his watch was still set to winter time so he thought we were an hour behind LOL). Dinner was great and I noticed Ramon ordered the same way I do...he'd ask what they had on draft and then got a Heineken from the bottle...Ramon was very easy going and kinda quiet, almost shy. My wife loved "the way he smiled" (whatever that meant). We talked about how things are back in Breda and I was able to ask him some things I wondered about him that had been on my mind for many years...it was GREAT.
Saturday 11AM. We met up with Bobby and Ramon at Gracie Barra. Andi got set up to take in the money from the participants and stamp their hands. Ramon wanted a triple espresso, so I gave him my Burger King turbo coffee. At noon, the place was packed with people and I was glad to see our guys showed up all wearing our black fight team shirts...impressive. Ramon was ready to get started and told me he wanted to show his techniques on me and have me translate it into English.  Ramon would start with a combo of maybe three moves and then kept on adding to it to end up with one of his crazy combos of maybe 8 to 12 moves. The four hours flew by and between trying to video tape it and helping out it was awesome. Ramon is not one to take training lightly that is for sure. At one time Bobby and and I were talking business and Ramon said:"No business talk now, talk after this". Another time he said:"Are we training or taking pictures". This just showed his focus and seriousness about Thaiboxing. It was hilarious. Ramon's power was incredible. I have trained with many people and NO ONE, not even the heavy weights yield that much power. He gave me a light high roundhouse and although I blocked it, it stunned me. He gave me a few easy liver shots that made me very uncomfortable and his lowkicks felt like I ran my leg full force into a telephone pole. All this he did very easily never opening up full force once...if he were to open up, I'm sure nobody there would have been able to handle it, not even Bobby and he certainly is no cookie either. The fighters from our gym were amazed and impressed and some that had told me they would love to spar him were happy they didn't. Again if you don't experience it with your own eyes, you JUST DON'T KNOW. I felt like an amateur and so whimpy at times, but Ramon never said or showed anything indicating that I fell short. He took lotsa time to answer people's questions and take pictures at the end. I could see that Ramon was getting a little tired of all that kind of stuff, but he never showed it to the participants. I thought that was another really classy thing he did. After the seminar we all ate Thai and Vietnamese food together, that we washed away with a few Singhas...  Sunday 11AM. We met up with Bobby and Ramon and we all drove over to Daytona Beach. We all surfed while Ramon drank all the beer and laid in the sun. Bobby, who hates the beach, seemed to enjoy himself too conversing with Andi. After a while we had lunch and said goodbye and thank you to Bobby and Ramon. We stayed and surfed....This was an awesome weekend, one of the best ever, so thanks again to Ramon for being a class act and an even greater thank you to Bobby for putting this seminar on and giving Andi and me the chance to spend a special time with a very special person... 
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