So I asked Julie to ask her internet pal, George Ruiz, about it. This was his reply:
"I had posted it on Boot to the Head and it lasted about 5 hours before someone pulled it off Dailymotion. It was fantastic and really showed off what savate could do against a really strong muay thai fighter. It's the holy grail of savate videos and I'm glad to have gazed upon it at least once."
And whilst we're mentioning Ramon Dekkers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGJOmIQm8Ms
Cheers, James
-- Edited by savatejames at 15:39, 2007-02-15
__________________
"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights." - Muhammad Ali
i can say from personal experience that being constantly dumped on your arse in an otherwise relatively even fight is annoying, demoralising, decisive, and also somewhat humorous. natch.
"...most people think that savate fighters cannot compete with kickboxers or muay thai and K-1 champions. Theoretically, it makes sense because savate allows a smaller number of attacks and defenses. But, a real fight is different from theory. I understood it when Francois Pennacchio faced Ramon Dekkers in a kickboxing match many years ago in Milan. The Frenchman was underrated because he got his ring education through savate. Even if Pennacchio became world champion in kickboxing, he always considered himself a savateur and said it proudly in every interview. On the other hand, Ramon Dekkers had knocked out everybody in Europe and was one of the few western muay thai fighters to have scored major wins in Thailand and Japan. Well, the fight between Francois Pennacchio and Ramon Dekkers was totally different from what anybody could have imagined. Pennacchio tried to sweep Dekker’s feet and was successful sending him to the canvas. The Frenchman tried a second time and it worked again. So, Pennacchio kept sweeping Dekkers for the whole night. Pennacchio was also too fast for the Dutch superstar and won on points. Ramon Dekkers knew how to use every part of his body as a weapon, but didn’t know how to protect himself from savate’s footsweeps."
