[Midnight Cougar]

Originally Posted by FedorIsTooGood

Yeah you didn't misspell kinda since you left it out, got the word overrated correct to!

However, you still wrong =)

Danny Bill......Way better than Dekkers

Senchai........Way better than dekkers

Fujiwara......WAy way better than dekkers......

SHould I keep goin???

[hoppss]

i liked the double ko in the HL movie haha

[SoccerKick_KO]

the black dude the other poster says is unstoppable

[Grappleganger]

Samart

[FightScience]

God you guys are dumb

1.Tong Po

[CC3]

Problem with Dekkers...he was very good for farang standards, however, the reason why some call him overrated is that to be recgnised as the best ever in Thailand...you need to have been a champion to be in the top staidums. Like that has been mentioned there have been better farangs than Dekkers. Fujiwara, Dany Bill, Igari (there are more but the poster Kamatari is more familiar with the japanese fighters who have been champs in thailand). Only thing that set Dekkers apart from other successful farangs was that he was white

[Sudoraba]

There is an arguement for Dekkers as one of the greats aside from the fighter of the year award he got.

First of all I want to say though that people who say he got robbed by judges often aren't looking at the whole picture. Thai scoring works a lot different than say K-1 scoring but is usually more fair than people realize. The truth is that gambling is a huge part of the stadiums and Thai betters bet on the farang as well as their countrymen, so if a fight is judged poorly they get angry as well. Betting ironically keeps the judges honest. However people used to K-1 style scoring don't notice kicks and knees as much as head hunting so to them it looks like a robbery. The truth is that these people just simply don't understand Thai judging.

That Dekkers wasn't even the best Farang is probably true. Fujiwara and Dany Bill were both mentionned and for sure they can claim to be technically better as well as arguably better fighters. Bill in particular bested Dekkers in a match and made it look easy. And Dekkers isn't one of the four foreign stadium champions either, of which only one is European anyway. In terms of Muay Thai technique Dekkers had his sure share of weaknesses, for one his clinchwork was never that great and he had a weakness for elbows that only grew as his face amassed more scar tissue. These shortcomings always made it so that he'd have to go for the knockout in that exciting style that he's known for. Because unless he knocked the Thai out he'd be outpointed under Thai rules(not served a biased judging loss as so many think). This coupled with the fact that going strong from the opening bell works against him in the later rounds was what made it hard for him to win decisions since Thai fights are judged with extra weight given to the last rounds. So yes in that sense he was disadvantaged to say guys like Dany Bill who learned to fight like the Thais in a way that worked towards winning decisions under their ruleset.

However these aren't arguments to why people should consider him one of the greats, this is. And here's the thing Dekkers is a lot more well known than Bill and Fujiwara. It's not really great white hope syndrome as a previous poster mentionned, it's about style. And heart. Dekkers threw everything with a hundred percent and he never gave up. While he may not have been a stadium champ, or the most technical fighter, or even the best foreigner few others could equal the ferocity that he unleashed in the ring. He fought with a style that required courage and will to backdown. In short he fought with a style that inspired people. He wasn't as graceful and effortless as say Dany Bill was but he inspired more people the way he fought and that's why everyone mentions his name. Even in Thailand. And that's why people talk about him when they discuss the greats.

[KrazyKanadian]

Look, for people who don't understand...

The guy who said Dekkers is overrated doesn't mean Dekkers sucked, nor did he mean that Dekkers wasn't a great fighter. He means that Dekkers is overrated when you consider him the best of all time in MT, which is true.

Definitely deserves mention for being great, or as one of the best, but not THE best.

[CC3]

Sudoraba and KrazyKanadian: you guys explained better than anyone else could ever explain it.

Am i allowed to consider JWP a great farang also? Or is he still to "new school"

But the best ever in MT...too many names could be thrown in

Also, like sudoraba said Thai scoring is different to K-1 scoring. I think people seen wayy to many k-1 fights and start judging thai fights the same as k-1 fights.

[WWBRD?]

Saekson Janjira but really Apidej Sit Hirun.........by far