Santino Verbeek (27) is a well-known name in the kickboxing world. In addition to being the reigning world champion in the WFL -86 kg class, Santino currently fights for the prestigious ONE in Asia. ''The big goal is to eventually become champion at ONE or Glory. I want to get everything out of my career.''
STARTED AT THE AGE OF 6
Santino's long martial arts career begins all the way back in 2001, when his stepfather took him to the karate dojo at the age of 6. He trained with great pleasure until he was 12, until the moment came when Santino longed for even more action. He switched to kickboxing, after which his first kickboxing match quickly followed.
A LEGENDARY TRAINER
Santino joins Sokudo Gym, the gym where he has been training for years. His trainer is none other than 'Mr Perfect' Ernesto Hoost, one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. He won the K-1 title 4 times and now guides the next generation to the top. Santino draws a lot of inspiration from Ernesto Hoost, which you can see in his style in the ring: calm, effective and tight combinations. Ernesto and Santino prefer to use the pads from Twins and Venum for their hard workouts.
SETBACKS
Corona throws a spanner in the works for all kickboxers in March 2020. Santino also doesn't see action for a long time and watches the time pass. Where in mid-2022 the lockdowns seem to be a thing of the past and kickboxing matches are being scheduled again, Santino has plenty of fights on the schedule. In his preparation, a major setback follows: he breaks his hand and surgery follows. ''That is really frustrating, also because of the fact that we've just had 2.5 years of corona with no fights behind us. This does require discipline of course, but I notice that I do it with so much passion and pleasure that I simply can't do without.''
THE FUTURE
Despite his age, Santino already has more than 50 fights to his name. With a ONE contract in the bag and the top contenders in sight, it seems a matter of time before he fights for this world title. In addition to ONE, Glory is Santino's next goal, but at the moment the focus is on rehabilitation and his comeback. The right boxing gloves are very important after a hand injury like this. Santino uses the boxing gloves from Cleto Reyes and Hayabusa for this. We wish Santino all the best with his rehabilitation and future fights. With his work ethic and mindset, anything is possible.
