The Natural
Nieky Holzken
The most complete boxing in Dutch kickboxing: quick hands, heavy body work, and genuine defensive head movement.
Nieky Holzken held the GLORY welterweight title through the promotion's strongest years in that division and did it with the most complete boxing of any Dutch fighter of his generation. His hands were quick enough and his body work heavy enough that opponents who tried to out-strike him rarely lasted the distance intact.
What distinguishes him from the Dutch template is the defence. Where the tradition accepts exchanges as the price of volume, Holzken slips, rolls and counters like a boxer, which made him unusually hard to hit cleanly for a fighter who spent so much time in range.
His later career included a move into professional boxing, which is the natural direction for a kickboxer whose hands were always the better half of the game.