He’s only 21 years old, but Canadian middleweight Robert ‘The White Dragon’ Thomas (6-0, 4 KO’s) might just be one of the most confident characters in the sport.
Thomas makes his debut for GLORY at this weekend’s GLORY 16 DENVER event and he literally could not have a bigger challenge - he is facing Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin (46-4-1, 33 KO’s).
The Russian has been ranked #1 in the world for the last several years and has held the division’s top spot since arriving in GLORY.
When Levin’s original opponent was forced to pull out, Thomas got the call. It was an offer most fighters would probably spend a while weighing up, but Thomas says he didn’t hesitate.
“I hopped right on it! What a sweet opportunity. The number one guy in the world? It’s just extra motivation to put in that extra work and get to that next level,” he says.
“I am looking to put on a show. If I bring my best I will shock the world. I’m looking forward to this being my coming out party. If I beat Artem Levin then I am right in there with the top ten guys and in the mix for the championship fights.”
When the fight was first announced, fans drew attention to the apparent gulf in experience between the two. Levin’s professional record is extensive compared to Thomas’ but the Canadian says his own professional record doesn’t tell the full story.
“I only have six fights on my professional record but at amateur I have over fifty sanctioned fights on my record so there’s a lot more experience there than you would think,” he explains.
“I’ve fought all around the world in amateur tournaments, places like Thailand, Iran, Bermuda plus all around the USA. I’ve fought with and without protective gear - out west in Canada there’s no gear for amateur and it’s the same in most of the US.”
One of the world’s largest amateur tournaments is conducted by the IFMA (International Federation of MuayThai Amateur). Lots of top names have come through IFMA competitions. Levin is one, and he has been on Thomas’ radar for some time.
“I knew that one day I would be fighting him. I have seen him around at the same IFMA tournaments I was fighting on, so I knew sooner or later I would run into him. I’ve watched him fight and I’ve watched him on Youtube, studied him a little. I’ve always had my eye on the top guys,” he says.
Levin has an infamously unorthodox style; his defensive twitchiness and tendency to showboat have had him compared to a large Russian version of Floyd Mayweather Jr. He likes to confuse opponents and do the unexpected.
Thomas shrugs. “We’ve trained for his style, I’ve had some great sparring partners for this fight. He has got a really different unorthodox style which can be hard to mimic but they have done really well and I am ready for this fight,” he says.
“I’ve had a lot of fights in different countries so everyone has different styles, every country has its own style. I’ve been sparring with a professional boxer recently who has a kind of Levin style, awkward and lanky, throws lead body shots, that kind of thing.
“My coaches watch all the videos and break it down, tell me what I need to do. And I watch things myself so I can know what to expect, what my cues are.”
No doubt about it, this weekend’s fight is an enormous challenge. But Thomas is clearly feeling ready for it and, when you look at how he got into the sport, you can see why. Thomas has been facing huge challenges since literally the first time he stepped into the ring.
“I started training at 14, me and a friend just went into this gym one day on a whim. Not long afterwards I did this demo fight, like an exhibition, where I did well and looked good. So they put me on this team which was traveling to Mexico,” he says.
Thomas laughs. “This was after like a month of training. I went to Mexico - and I got my ass kicked. I was 14 and I was matched with a guy who was like 25 years. He beat me up pretty bad. But [my coaches] saw potential and I saw potential, I stuck it out in there and I fell in love with the sport.”
Now Thomas - who describes himself as “a kid from a nice middle-class suburb of Cambridge, Ontario” and who used to play hockey, lacrosse and football before settling on kickboxing - is fighting at the top level of the sport.
Levin was recently announced as being one of the eight fighters taking part in the LAST MAN STANDING eight-man middleweight tournament taking place June 21 in Los Angeles. Thomas says that, if he wins on Saturday, he wants Levin’s tournament spot.
“Most definitely I would take that opportunity. If I beat Artem Levin then I hope I can have his spot,” he says.
“I am in this sport to be number one and being in that tournament would be the way to get there.”
