Muay Thai, or Thai Boxing has been described as the world's toughest ring sport and is one the most lethal forms of martial art. Also known as "The Science of Eight Limbs", it's a hard-style of martial art that also employs the use of the head, elbows, knees and shins as weapons. Although most of the world knows it to be exclusively from Thailand, it comes from the term Muay Boran and is also practiced in other countries in the region of South East Asia and has different names depending on the country. Malaysians call it Tomoi, Muay Lao in Laos, Lethwei to Burmese and Pradal Serey in Cambodia.
Muay Thai has its roots in the Siamese Army in ancient times and bouts during those times had no time limit and few rules. Only in the late part of the 20th century were gloves, ring times and a clear set of rules were adopted.
Target points for Muay Thai punches include the area above the ear, the jaw, the area covered by the upper lip (philtrum), the clavicle, floating ribs and the solar plexus. Punching techniques or Chok are similar to Western boxing: the straight punch (Mud Trong), Mud Wiang San or hook, the swing- Mud Wiang Yao, the uppercut Mud Seuy, Cobra Punch or Kra-dod Chok, and the undercut or Mud Hook. One Muay Thai punching technique absent in Western boxing is the spinning backfist or Mud Wiang Glub and can be a very effective surprise attack.
Teh, or kicking techniques are an essential part of Muay Thai combat. It consists of the straight kick Teh Trong, the roundhouse Teh Tud, diagonal kick Teh Chiang, the shin-knee kick Teh Krueng Kheng Krueng Kao, the down roundhouse kick Teh Kod, the axe heel kick Teh Kao, jump kick Gra-dodeh Teh, step-up kick Kha Yiep The, and the spectacular spinning heel kick Teh Glub Lang. The dangerous Neb or pecking kick is an often executed Muay Thai kick and is very similar to the straight kick. The tip of the foot or ball is used to dig into the target area which can include the outer part of the thigh, the shins and the knee. It's mostly used to stop and opponent's forward moves.
Clinching in Muay Thai involves putting one's hands behind the head of the opponent and pulling it downwards. It is during these clinches that Tee Kao or knee techniques are used to strike the torso or more devastatingly, the jaw. The different knee strikes are the Kao Trong or straight knee strike, the Kao Chiang or diagonal knee strike, Kao Kong curving knee strike, Kao Tud horizontal knee strike, Kao Tod knee slap, Kao Youwn knee bomb, Kao Yiep step-up knee strike and the Kao Loi or flying knee strike.
Traditional Muay Thai training methods were grueling and literally took bloodScience Articles,sweat and tears to endure. It involved extreme conditioning of the legs by with repeated kicks against a banana tree. This toughens the shin area making it invulnerable to abuse in the ring.
Allen Owen has been practicing martial arts of one form or another since he was in grammar school. Check out his eBay store at: http://stores.ebay.com/The-Sublime-Tao-Martial-Arts-Supply
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Royal Cremation For Muay Thai Warrior
Dozens of well-known Muay Thai and Queensbury rules exponents, past and present graced Sala Three of Wat Tritotsathep at Bang Lamphu yesterday, to take part in the blessing ceremony for Thai boxing hero Saensak Muangsurin who passed away last Thursday.
His remains will be accorded a Royal Cremation today at 7pm. and the chairman of the ceremony will be Privy Councillor Gen Pichitr Kullavanija, former West Point boxing champion, who has advised many Thai world champions and top trainers.
England's Charles Atkinson, who along with the late Sahasombhop Srisomvongse produced nine world champions has paid rich tributes to Gen Pichitr for his outstanding boxing knowledge.
Gen Pichitr had visited the Chitrlada Gymnasium and advised boxers and trainers, especially Sot Chitrlada, when the late Sahasombhop was alive.
Among those who attended yesterday's blessing ceremony were former world boxing champions Veeraphol Nakhonluang, Berkrerk Chatvanchai, Chana Por-pain, and Muay Thai greats Apidej Sitssiran and Putt Lawlek.
They paid glowing tributes to the magnificent contributions the late Saensak had made, both to boxing and Muay Thai in the Kingdom.
Many agreed that the former WBC light-welterweight's fantastic fistic performances were matched by his humility, that's why he will remain one of Thailand's greatest boxing heroes.
"Out of sight is out of mind but Pi Saensak will always be remembered because of his fistic feats and outstanding humility and we are very proud of him," said Veeraphol.
Kelantan Teams Not Allowed To Import Muay Thai Exponents
Kelantan,Malaysia - The Kelantan state government has barred state teams from engaging the services of foreign Muay Thai exponents for competitions.
Committee chairman for Human Development, Youth, Sports and NGO's, Abdul Fatah Mahmood said the decision was among terms and conditions set by the state government to allow Muay Thai competitions to be organised in the state.
"The condition however does not apply for international competitions," he told Bernama here today.
He added that the main objective of state to allow Muay Thai competitions was to develop the sport and produce more talented local exponents in the sport.
"If teams engage foreign exponents to compete in local tournaments, it will defeat the purpose of organising such competitions and also result in local aspirants staying away from such competitions," he said.
Abdul Fatah said a seminar would be organised next month for those who are interested in the sport and is expected to be opened by Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.
http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/index.php
Kick Boxing - The General Info
Kick boxing is a relatively modern martial arts system, who syllabus derived by combining several fighting techniques from a variety of the more traditional disciplines, including Kung fu, Kyokushinkai Karate, Muay Thai, Kyokky shinkai and Tae kwon do.
History:
Martial arts boomed during the early 1970s and interest was greatly increased by their emphasis on competition fighting. Chinese styles of fighting began to take a more westernised form in the UK, and even more so in the United States, where the first real freestyle systems were beginning to be created. Indeed, many people claim that Kick boxing originated in the US during the 1970s. This, they say, was due to various American Karate practitioners becoming frustrated with the limitations of tournament competitive scoring. While Karate and the other disciplines were viewed as being entrenched with theories and set kata, and were performed in a controlled environment, practitioners wanted to see how effective their moves would be in a more realistic environment. Great emphasis began to be placed on specialised techniques, such as kicks and punches, being delivered with full force. Although full contact Karate was already established, concerns were expressed for the safety of competitors.
Development:
There is a close affinity between Kick boxing and Muay Thai. While it is believed that the Americans had created this concept in their attempt to find a sport that could refine full contact competition, it is believed that the development of Kick boxing was borne out of the World Kick boxing Association finding common ground between Eastern and Western fighting cultures.
It is also believed that Joe Cawley, Don and Judy Quinn, along with Howard Hansen, a Shorin ryn Karate black belt, were the initial promoters of Kick boxing and worked together for improved recognition. Hansen took Kick boxing a stage further by introducing fights in a boxing ring rather than the usual Karate tournament bouts. He became known as a ring matchmaker, staging a variety of successful events with stars such as Bill “Superfoot” Wallis.
New rules evolved and were introduced into Kick boxing, most notably weight divisions – from fly weight to heavy weight – similar to those in traditional boxing. A down side to the discipline in those early days was criticism of a high risk injury. This led to improvement in the safety rulesBusiness Management Articles, such as contestants wearing protective clothing to cushion the impacts of the blows.
http://www.worthofwordplay.blogspot.com/
Muay Thai Competition Organisers Compulsiry Register With Association
Tanah Merah,Kelantan,Malaysia
April 4
Organisers of Muay Thai competitions in the state must register with the Kelantan Boxing Association said Committee chairman for Human Development, Youth, Sports and NGO's, Abdul Fatah Mahmood.
He said the state government would not approve permits for organising such competitions if the organisers failed to register with the association.
"It is compulsory for organisers in Kelantan to register so that the association can monitor the competition," he told Bernama here today.
He added that the sport was once banned in the state back in 1993 because it went out of control, but the ban was lifted three years later.
"Since it is a combat sport, there should be a monitoring system to ensure the safety of the participants," he said.
Meanwhile, two days ago, Kelantan Menteri Besar, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, had said that the government would study claims that the sport was a violent combat sport due to the nature of fights involved and if found to be unsuitable, it might be banned.
www.bernama.com
Thai New Year at Songkran
L.A.'s take on the traditional Thai new year, Songkran (also known as the "Water Festival"), will make Hollywood Boulevard feel more like an open-air Bangkok street market for an afternoon. Festivities include a parade, classical Thai dancing, demonstrations of Muay Thai boxing, a curry festival with public tasting and voting, the Miss Thai New Year USA contest and food from the award-winning Thai restaurant Jitlada. Hollywood Boulevard between Western and Normandie avenues. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sun. Free. (800) 921-2597,
www.thainewyear.com/2009/en/index.aspx.
Kickboxing 101 for Women
Savannah Martial Arts Academy is pleased to announce it's first women-only Thai Kickboxing 101 class.
Classes begin Saturday April 11 at 11 am. Get unparalleled cardio training while gaining the upper body strength you didn't know you had.
Instructor Camilla Meshiea comes with 6 years of Muay Thai experience and a passion to teach technique and fitness in a positive and encouraging environment.
Savannah Martial Art Academy is located at 904 East 70th Street in Midtown Savannah GA.
Contact Abe at (912-412-4653) or abe@savannahmartialarts.com for further information.
http://www.thecreativecoast.org/
http://www.savannahmartialarts.com
Singaporean women choose Muay Thai
SINGAPORE: Muay Thai or kick boxing, which was used to be known as a man's sport, is increasingly being taken up by women in Singapore.
According to a Muay Thai club in Singapore, the number of its female members has doubled in the past year.
Some Muay Thai enthusiasts gather at the Bukit Batok Nature Park every evening to practise the sport.
Many of them said they took up Muay Thai to build up their stamina and for self defence.
Muay Thai coaches said recent movies and TV programmes on Muay Thai have made the sport popular.
Terence Cheah, a coach at Hilltop Muay Thai, said: "A lot of people have the thought that Thai boxing is very rough. But because of the awareness nowadays, girls realise that it's a lot of physical activity. It gives your body a more challenging workout. Hence, a trimmer waist, better but stronger legs."
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/
Muay Thai website offers unrivalled range of clothing and equipment
The popularity of Muay Thaiboxing has grown over the last couple of years. With it, the demand for quality Muay Thai equipment and clothing. Whether its Muay Thai shorts, gloves or shin guards, the demand has grown considerably over the last few years. Within this market one innovative Muay Thai equipment website is proving to be particularly popular, that website is www.muaythaichampion.com
With a multitude of pages on Muay Thai equipment and training, this resource has gained rave reviews. Quality pervades this website and its products, which are manufactured by the big 4 Thaiboxing clothing and protective equipment suppliers, Twins Special, King Professional, Raja Boxing and Windy Sport.
Adding to its burgeoning reputation, is the fact that www.muaythaichampion.com now offers a custom design option which allows anyone to design their own shorts. All that's required is for them to provide their own design that they would like on their Muay Thai shorts and www.muaythaichampion.com will have them manufactured by one of the big four manufacturers, such as twins special or windy sport. This has proved to be a very popular option adding a touch of individuality.
This impressive website has become a top resource for anyone looking for Muay Thai equipment or related items and supplies, it's reputation is growing, as is it's readership, and with many new people looking to enjoy this sport, there really is only one place to go, and that place is
www.muaythaichampion.com
A bout of aggression
The action inside - and outside - a Bangkok boxing ring fascinates Steve McKenna
As the sparse crowd stands for the Thai national anthem, two fighters, seemingly no older than 14, climb into the ring. With their cropped dark hair and wiry frames shorn of any excess body fat, they look almost identical. In fact, the only way to distinguish them is by their trunks - one is wearing purple, the other red.
As they limber up, a band of four middle-aged men armed with drums, cymbals and a flute begin playing a tune that sounds as if it had been lifted from a snake charmer's handbook.
As the referee stands impassively, the fighters work their way around the ring, caressing the ropes, kneeling, stretching and jigging.
For a sport famed for its fast and furious action, where finely chiselled competitors hammer each other with hands, shins, elbows, knees and feet, this calmness is surprising.
Superstitious Muay Thai operators believe, however, that these pre-bout rituals ward off evil spirits and are as important as the physical encounter itself.
Their ancestors would have followed similar routines and applied similar fighting techniques, only with swords as well when defending the kingdom against Burmese and Khmer armies in the 14th and 15th centuries.
These days Muay Thai is mostly about leisure, entertainment and, of course, money and honour. The action, minus the swords, takes place nightly throughout the country, including events staged almost exclusively for tourists at beach resorts such as Ko Samui and Phuket.
Bangkok, however, is the epicentre of the sport and on Thursday nights, Rajadamnern Stadium is the place to be. With my 1500 baht ($66) second-class ticket, I have an elevated standing position above the ringside seats and below the third-class tier, which is encircled by view-obscuring metal-cage fencing.
After the five-minute pre-fight rituals, the band stops playing, the fighters' garlands, pra jiad (armbands) and mong kon (headgear) come off and the bell sounds for the first round. Then, to my surprise, the band recommence their repetitive, trance-inducing performance.
In the ring, concentration levels are initially as high as the fighters' guards. Children begin their Muay Thai training as young as seven and these boys circle each other with the caginess of wily pros.
There are a few punches, looping kicks and clinches, where they grapple each other and manoeuvre their knees in round-house, potentially rib-crunching motions, but even though sweat soon begins to glisten on their taut, flexed muscles, first-round action is sporadic.
After a two-minute rest (Thai boxers get twice as long as regular boxers), they loosen up and the crowd, which has swelled noticeably since the first bell, gets louder.
Soon enough the action outside the ring is as intriguing as inside.
Tourists calmly fill the ringside seats, while the second and third tiers are choked with talkative Thai men, who seem to have one eye on the boxers and the other on catching each other's attention. They keep making a series of twitching gestures with their hands.
After five largely uneventful rounds, the boxer in the purple shorts is awarded the judges' decision and begins bowing to the crowd. I duck out of the arena and find Boae, a ticket tout I'd spoken to earlier. I want to know what the spectators are doing.
"They're betting," he says. "They agree on the odds with finger signals. Then, if they're right, they have to remember who they bet with so they can collect the money afterwards."
When I return to the stadium, it suddenly makes more sense. Wads of baht are being exchanged either side of me, further bets are being made and, at last, the fighting becomes more exciting.
The next two boxers display admirable, though somewhat scary, levels of passion, not least when an eight-punch combination draws blood from a nose.
I recall Boae's response when I asked him if the fights are fixed.
"No!" he'd cried. "It's real. Very real. When the fighters are in the ring, they look like they want to kill each other. But after, they're cool. They'll eat together, laugh together and be friends again."
Despite appearing slightly deranged, the bloodied competitor is sticking by the rules, refusing to succumb to biting, gouging, head-butting and aiming shots at the groin area - all banned in Muay Thai, along with swearing.
When the final bell rings, and with the judges' decision imminent, both fighters throw themselves to the canvas and begin doing press-ups. The bleeder does it one-armed.
I don't know if this show of fitness tips things in his favour but the referee duly raises the bleeder's arms aloft.
Muay Thai action usually takes place at Bangkok's Rajadamnern Stadium (often called Ratchadamnoen stadium, as it's on Ratchadamnoen Avenue) on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Lumpini Stadium (on Rama IV Road) has bouts on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets cost 1000-2000 baht.
See muaythai.co.th.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
Exclusive; Q&A with Tim "The Machine" Cook, Who Makes Pro MMA Debut at ICF
Tomorrow night (March 14, 2009) at Turfway Park in Florence, KY, Tim “The Machine” Cook will make his pro MMA debut, competing at 160lbs for Intimidation Cage Fighting.
Tim has been featured in two other FightTicker.com articles (3/2/09; 6/24/08) and took a few minutes to do a phone interview with me yesterday evening, discussing his motivation for fighting, family life, and perspective on his pro debut. FightTicker.com’s Brian Furby will be in attendance covering tomorrow’s event. Go to http://www.icfmma.com for more information.
FightTicker.com: So what weight are you taking this fight at?
Tim Cook: I’m actually taking it at 160lbs, so it’s not as bad as what I’m used to. I usually fight at 155lbs but I took this fight on ten days notice. Just due to the (short) timeframe, they told me that I could make 160.
I just weighed myself a little while ago, and I’m at 164.4, so I’ve just got about four and a half pounds to go.
Right before I started making the cut I was walking around at about 172. I was on a pizza and beer diet after my last amateur fight and I got up to about 180 (laughs). That was right at about a month ago. I work at a gym, a fitness gym, and on my breaks I’ve always got 30 minutes or an hour and I’ll just get a body part and crank it out (lifting).
FightTicker.com: So is it hard being with your daughter (Lily) and family while trying to make weight?
Tim Cook: Yeah, I’ve got her tonight. Cutting weight is always hard when I’ve got her. My mom just got pizza from Papa Johns, so they’re all eating pizza right in front of me, and I can’t deal with it (laughs).
FightTicker.com: Can you talk about who you’re training with?
Tim Cook: I'm now training in Jeffersonville, Indiana with Team Full Force, coached by Brent Maddox. He comes from Team Quest with Dan Henderson out in Temecula, CA. He fought for them once and went 1-0. I wouldn’t say we’re a limited resource gym, but we’re definitely smaller than what I’m accustomed to. I try and cross train with a couple of other gyms around town, but this is my home team.
FightTicker.com: So this is going to be your first pro fight. What’s going through your mind now?
Tim Cook: It almost feels like my first MMA fight all over again. The other amateur fights, it just seemed like nothing, easy stuff, go in there, do my thing. But now I look at it knowing this guy is also good enough to be a professional. He’s actually 1-2 as a professional, and he’s 6-4 as an amateur (also Tim’s amateur record). So pretty close record. The thing that makes me nervous about this guy is he’s a state champion wrestler in Ohio.
I mean I never really get nervous about getting hurt, but I guess I’m just nervous about losing my first pro fight. That’s not what I want to do. I’m a little nervous about the fight, but I took it on short notice because I was pretty injury-free. I’ve fought pretty tough guys under pretty weird circumstances. This guy that I’m fighting, I’ve actually fought one of his trainers out in Louisville in an amateur fight.
FightTicker.com: So he knows something about you.
Tim Cook: Yeah, and I know nothing about him. I mean I’ve seen some of his fights on YouTube. He looks like a pretty tough guy. I mean I’ve gone through my game plan over and over and over. His wrestling is definitely something to watch for, so I’m gonna try and stand and strike with him as much as possible, but I’m sure his game is gonna try to get it to the ground, but I’m not stranger to the ground. I feel like my jiu-jitsu is pretty decent. I really don’t have anybody to give me a belt ranking, but I would say I’m well above a blue belt status, but I just don’t train under anybody that has a black belt.
FightTicker.com: What’s your favorite discipline to train?
Tim Cook: Muay Thai. I started karate, and then boxing with my uncles and cousins, but muay Thai, you know, the most vicious type of striking you can think of.
FightTicker.com: Do you prefer the ring or cage?
Tim Cook: I’ve fought three times in a ring. I actually do prefer a cage to the ring for the fact that different organizations have different rope rules. If I get pinned up against the cage fighting a wrestler, I’ve got cage walks and a little bit of offense I can throw from there versus if you’re underneath those ropes, you’re pretty much stuck, you can’t kick off with your feet or anything like that. Definitely fighting his style, I feel better that it’s going to be in a cage.
FightTicker.com: That’s interesting because a lot of wrestlers like being in a cage too.
Tim Cook: Yeah, getting takedowns and cramming your opponent’s head into the fence, but I train that constantly mainly against walls. I try to label myself a striker, but of course it usually goes to the ground in MMA. It usually ends on the ground. But I feel more at home in the cage.
FightTicker.com: How do you feel about the judging in MMA?
Tim Cook: As far as the Kentucky Athletic Commission, who is going to be in charge of this fight, especially stepping from amateur to pro, I feel better as a pro because sometimes they stop fights prematurely at the amateur level. People get maybe a scrape or small, small cut and the official will stop the fight. As far as the judging, it feels like we’ve got a lot of boxing judges because the boxing commission has taken over in Kentucky. So as far as the ground game, jiu-jitsu styles, it’s kind of still an iffy thing in this area.
FightTicker.com: You’re with your family now. Can you talk about them, in particular your daughter (3 years old)? Does she know what you do?
Tim Cook: I’ve got her three nights a week, and she knows daddy goes to train, but she also knows daddy fights. If somebody asks her, “What does your mommy do?” her mommy works with an optometrist, so she’ll say “Mommy talks to people.” And we’re not together. If somebody asks her, “Well, what does your step daddy do?” She’ll say, “Andrew makes food for people.” “What does your daddy do?” She’ll say, “Daddy fights” (laughs).
With her being so young, I think she thinks it’s kind of like pro wrestling. She thinks it’s fake. We were watching UFC Unleashed last night, and they showed the Octagon from an outward view, and she asked, “Daddy, is that your work?” And now it kind of is, so that’s pretty cool. She’s very smart and understands it pretty well for a three year old. She’s seen me fight on YouTube, but she has yet to see me fight in person.
FightTicker.com: And what about your mom, what does she think about you fighting?
Tim Cook: My mom, she kind of has her moments with it. She’ll say, “I hope you go in there and really kick this guy’s ass. Win, make me proud,” all that stuff, but I can tell deep down inside she hates it (laughs). Yeah, she says no matter how much she supports me, she could never come watch it. I don’t blame her.
FightTicker.com: When they announce your name on Saturday, what will be going through your head?
Tim Cook: When they announce my name, I know I’m gonna go through that same thing – butterflies, that sensation of it being like my first fight. I’ll go through that, then I’ll see my opponent and understand this is what I’ve worked my whole life for. Just growing up as a kid, this is a family thing. I’ve always watched the UFC since I’ve been 10 years old in 1993. I remember watching the very first UFC with my uncles. They were huge UFC nuts. So it’s always been a thing in my bloodline. I never imagined that I could take it to this level.
Around here anybody can say they’re pro, you know take one fight and get knocked out. I’ve fought ten amateur fights and I feel pretty validated (as a fighter). There’s a sense of pride going into this fight, but more than anything I don’t want to let my friends and family down. I want to prove to everybody, that I deserve to be a professional MMA fighter.
FightTicker.com: And will your uncles be there?
Tim Cook: Well, that’s just it. One of my uncles had a stroke earlier this year and the other one passed away a while ago. In a way this fight is for them too.
FightTicker.com: Well, best of luck Saturday. Is there anything else you’d like to say or people you’d like to thank?
Tim Cook: I would like to say thanks to a ton of people, but mainly to my friends and family for believing in me, and thanks to my daughter, Lily. Maybe one day when she’s old enough to read, she can look back at it, but she’s the biggest reason I do anything, especially this.
By David Mayeda, PhD, FightTicker.com Social Issues Contributor
David Mayeda, PhD, is lead author of Fighting for Acceptance: Mixed Martial Artists and Violence in American Society, the first political book on mixed martial arts that attempts to reform the sport by increasing violence prevention measures through interviews with forty mixed martial artists, including Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Guy Mezger, Antonio McKee, Chris Leben, "Rampage" Jackson, "Mayhem" Miller, Travis Lutter, Frank Trigg, and Cleburn Walker.
Knocking on the door of success
Peter McCarthy threw himself into Thai boxing to heal the mental scars of an assault and ended up selling the resulting film door-to-door, writes ARMINTA WALLACE .
IF YOU BOUGHT a DVD on the doorstep recently from a guy with a sad story and a sunny smile, and you haven’t watched it yet, for goodness’ sake dust it off and put it into the machine. Made by Good Dog Films, the documentary feature Fight or Flight is well worth a chunk of your time – which is perhaps why it’s beginning to attract attention on the international circuit.
The film, which took six years to make, has already picked up awards at festivals in Hamburg, Toronto and California, and is in the running for another couple of prizes in Wisconsin and New York’s Long Island over the next couple of weeks. Last weekend it was pipped at the post for an Irish Film and Theatre award, in the editing category, by Lance Daly’s Kisses.
Curling his lanky frame around a table in a tiny coffee shop in a south Dublin suburb, the film’s producer and chief protagonist Peter McCarthy explains how Fight or Flight came to be made. “About seven years ago I was walking out of a fast food shop with my brother,” he says. “We’d been for a beer, then something to eat.” As they walked past a group of about six people on the footpath, he heard remarks passing between the group and his brother, turned around to see what had happened – and got a bottle smashed in his face.
“It got a bit chaotic for a while after that,” he says with a grim smile. “I can’t exactly remember what happened, but I think my brother dragged me into a hackney office. When a taxi driver pulled up he didn’t want me in his taxi because there was blood everywhere.
“They got me all the way down there,” he says. He sweeps his hand downwards from his eyebrow to his mouth, all along the side of his nose. “If you look in the white of my eye you can still see a black mark. I was very lucky not to lose my eye.” So far it’s a story which is, sadly, all too common in contemporary Ireland. McCarthy’s physical scars healed up pretty quickly; the psychological scars were a different matter. “From a mental point of view,” he says, “it took about . . . well. Years. And a film. Figure that one out.”
The attack left him totally paranoid, and obscurely angry. There seemed to be conflict everywhere in his life, even – perhaps especially – with his brother. But mainly, as he admits at the beginning of the film, he wanted “to be able to walk down the street and not get the s**t kicked out of me”. So when a friend showed him a newspaper article about the extreme sport of Muay Thai boxing, he decided to go to Thailand and sign up.
Talk about facing up to your worst nightmare. An opponent in Muay Thai doesn’t just wear boxing gloves and a murderous expression: he can also, suddenly and without warning, lash out with his feet.
McCARTHY THREW himself into this extraordinarily macho world with a will. He trained, sparred and, eventually, got into the ring for a full-on fight. It’s all documented in Fight or Flight in vivid and, at times, unsparing detail. What gives the film its strange fascination, though, is that despite his obvious dedication, determination and courage, McCarthy just doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who gets into fights. When he’s not jumping up and down on rubber tyres or taking tactical advice from his Thai trainer and a translator – both of whom speak an amusingly impenetrable language which is definitely not English – he’s travelling around Thailand on a motorbike, developing a healthy respect for the local people and weaving a compelling documentary out of an unlikely cocktail of Muay Thai, the monsoon, cockfighting and Buddhist principles of non-violence.
At one point McCarthy even spent a number of weeks in a Buddhist monastery. “It drove me mad,” he says, “so I had to get out. You’d get up at four in the morning and sweep your room. The first day they give you an hour of meditation and then they gradually increase the time from one hour to two, to three, to five, to seven. Eventually you’re doing 14 hours of meditation a day.” Too much, he says, for the western brain to handle without serious psychological support. “But I think if you stay there for a couple of months, it probably works itself out.”
If you’re looking for a happy ending at this point – McCarthy becomes a monk and lives happily ever after – forget it . Fight or Flight is a non-judgmental exploration of themes of machismo and cultural rites of passage; and much of its appeal lies in its eschewal of simplistic solutions.
In any case, McCarthy’s story still contains a twist or two. He had brought a camera to Thailand with a view to making a television documentary about his odyssey, but couldn’t get a backer for the project. “I pitched the idea around to try and get it made, and just didn’t get anywhere,” he says. “I spoke to TV3, TG4, RTÉ, Channel 4. Nobody was interested. So I made it myself.”
There followed a lengthy and difficult period during which he re-mortgaged his home, borrowed from family and friends and “burned out credit cards pretty badly”.
Good Dog Films got some completion funding from the Irish Film Board – but it was a drop in a large and increasingly murky ocean.
“Before Christmas, I hit the wall financially,” he says. “After going bust and not being able to afford the mortgage or credit card payments, let alone basic living, I decided to take to the streets to sell my film door to door. I mapped out my routes, made a grid of the city and then hit the streets of Clontarf, Fairview, Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Blackrock, Monkstown, Killiney, Dún Laoghaire, Sallynoggin and Ballybrack, among others. I also took to the streets of Cork.”
It was, by his own admission, an extraordinary experience. “It’s one of the toughest things I’ve done,” he says. “I’d say I’ve rung two-and-a-half to 3,000 doorbells in the last couple of months.”
Like all fledgling sales people, he swiftly found himself on a steep learning curve.
“Saturday’s good because everybody’s in – but if there’s a match on, it’s not good because they don’t answer the door. Dinner time can be a pain in the neck, because when people come to the door they’re eating something and you’ve just interrupted their evening meal.”
Among his customers were Pat Kenny and Neil Jordan, both of whom happily stumped up for a copy of Fight or Flight. “Some people will go ‘cool, yeah, okay’,” he says. “Other people get grumpy.”
One man slammed the door so hard that McCarthy feared for structural damage to the house. Another woman shooed him from the doorstep as if he were a stray cat. “That was just funny,” he says. “Although it generally took me a couple of minutes to recover from rejections like that.”
THERE WERE OTHER, more subtle, ethical dilemmas.
“I rang one doorbell and I could see an elderly woman making her way along the hall, very slowly. Now, I prefer not to talk to somebody who I think really isn’t gonna be into the film – but I didn’t want to just ring the bell and run away. When she answered the door I said, ‘Ah, I’m just selling a DVD’. And she said, ‘I’ve just got my pension – what’s it about?’ So I said, ‘Ah, it’s just a story, you know? You probably wouldn’t like it. It’s about fighting and stuff like that’. But she said, ‘I’ll have one.’ Then I tried to reduce the price, but she was having none of it.”
McCarthy made enough cash to keep the credit wolves from his own door – and is currently discussing a fiction version of Fight or Flight with various interested parties in the US. He’s also exploring the possibility of a new project based on the story of the donations made by the Native American Choctaw tribe to Famine relief in Ireland in 1846. “I’m looking for a serious co-producer for that one,” he says.
If it doesn’t work out in the short term, he won’t exactly be idle. His stint as a door-to-door salesman for Fight or Flight has opened a number of, ahem, unexpected doors.
After he sold a DVD to a doctor in Clontarf, the man’s psychiatrist wife expressed an interest in having McCarthy speak to groups of young people who had suffered unprovoked assaults and were finding it difficult to recover. After our interview he’s off to Ballymun to meet a class of 15-year-olds whose contract teacher showed them the movie and impressed them no end.
“I’m not sure how that’ll go,” he says, as he gathers his stuff to leave. But who’s going to argue with a Muay Thai expert? Not me, that’s for sure.
Fight or Flight can be purchased online at www.fightorflight.tv, €19.99
http://www.irishtimes.com/
Exclusive: DellaGrotte tips Egan for big future
Hugely-respected MMA trainer Mark DellaGrotte has exclusively told setanta.com he expects Tom Egan to become a "top-level 155-pounder".
Muay Thai man DellaGrotte, who coaches Kenny Florian among a number of top fighters, has taken Egan under his wing after the Dublin fighter fled to the US in search of the world's best coaches.
Having lost his UFC debut to John Hathaway without throwing a punch in anger, inevitable question marks have surfaced regarding whether Egan has what it takes to compete at the top level.
DellaGrotte is in no doubt though, although he admits the 20-year-old may need to drop to 155 before he makes his most telling impact.
“Between the first fight he had in my gym and the last fight just recently, I have seen a huge difference in the space of two weeks in Tom Egan," DellaGrotte told setanta.com.
“Nobody wants to go to a new gym and try to be the hero and try to be the tough guy. Tom was humble, very willing to learn, it took a couple of weeks to fully open up but he is showing his true self now - that's for sure.
“Between the first time he was here and the last time, it’s like night and day.
“The biggest thing Tom lacks is experience. It’s not like you look at him and say he needs to work one thing – he just needs experience. He needs to be around good training partners, good coaches, and he just needs time.
"But I don’t see any significant holes in his game. He’s very well-rounded and he is only going to get better.
“He has an absolutely chance of making it. I’ll be honest, like I am with Tom, the US has most of the top fighters and top coaches. We’ve taken the sport by storm. But the longer Tom works with top level guys he will develop further and faster and in my opinion he is right up there with all the top-level guys at 155."
Elaborating on his 155 theory, DellaGrotte believes Egan can compete at either weight category...but he hints the lightweight division is best-suited to the Irishman's title dreams
“Tom is fighting at 170 now, but Tom could potentially make 155. He’d be a very strong 155. I’ve got him sparring with 170s and 155s and he does great in both weight classes.
“But he may have to adjust to 155. A lot of fighters do that. They make their breakthrough in the weight class where there is a space, but then they migrate and adapt.
“Both divisions are difficult, but in my opinion he could fight in either one of them. It’s just a question of which one he is gonna make the greater impact in."
http://www.setanta.com/uk/
Fighting fit for Arafura
TERRITORY Muay Thai fighter Andrew "Cold Steel" Castle is already glowing with Arafura Games anticipation.
Castle will lead Darwin's charge on to the international stage when the famed martial art is debuted at the 10th instalment of biennial Games.
And already he knows that none of his fight experience - spanning an impressive eight wins from 11 outing - will compare to the four-day showcase of action which will see more than 160 fighters from 15 countries go toe-to-toe.
"Wherever we fight there is interest and excitement in the Games," Castle said. "The energy is going to be amazing, it's going to be nothing but Muay Thai wherever you look. That sort of energy can bring something extra special out of you in the ring."
Castle was there in 2007 when the Muay Thai's addition as the Games' 27th sport was made.
His attitude then is the same as now - it's good for the local, national and international profile of the sport.
"The Arafura Games is a huge thing to be a part of and an important step for Muay Thai one day getting into the Olympics."
NT representative for the World Muay Thai Council and tournament organiser Corey Impelmans is keen to put Darwin on the world Muay Thai map.
"I've coached hundreds of fighters, successfully run this club (Man Ho Academy of Martial Arts) for 25 years, hosted local, national and now an international event.
"It's a proud achievement to know we are playing a part in putting Muay Thai on the Olympic agenda."
Traditional Muay Thai powers Thailand, Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore and China have committed teams to the tournament with Australia also fielding an elite-amateur and development squad.
Andrew Aloia
http://www.ntnews.com.au/
Suspect in killing of Muay Thai association head falls in Rizal
MANILA, Philippines - The suspected killer of the head of the Muay Thai Association of the Philippines was arrested in Tanay town in Rizal province, a radio report said Wednesday.
Radio dzBB's Benjie Liwanag Jr. reported that Sonny Sumales was arrested in an operation conducted by police and military operatives in Barangay Daraitan in Tanay.
A joint team of the Philippine National Police's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines arrested Sumales.
Sumales faces criminal charges for the killing of Muay Thai Association of the Philippines president Robert Valdez last Saturday.
The report, however, did not say if investigators had determined the motive for the killing. - GMANews.TV
Don’t mess with me—I know karate
Only once has sixth-degree black belt Matt Randall been forced to use his martial arts training outside the ring or classroom. He was at a bar in Durham while in college when he accidentally bumped into another patron, spilling some of his beer. The man became “quite irate” and grabbed Randall’s shoulder. In a flash, Randall swept the assailant’s arm and locked up his wrist. He then calmly advised the man that accosting him was a “bad idea.”
During a recent lesson at Matt Randall’s Black Belt Academy in Dover, Master Randall showed his students how to use similar techniques. During a demonstration for the class, Randall fended off a young student’s downward hammer fist with a high X block. “Now I can sweep his arm and trap it very easily,” he explained.
But Randall’s classes teach students to avoid confrontation whenever possible, dissolving potentially hairy situations before fists start flying.
Growing up in the area, Randall was a short, skinny bookworm with glasses—attributes that made him a common target for school bullies. The harassment got so bad that Randall started attending martial arts classes around the region. He eventually fixed on a tae kwon do school, he says, “because everybody was sweating more.”
Almost instantly after he began training, the bullying ceased. And Randall didn’t even have to raise a finger against his aggressors. It was the way he carried himself, the way he looked people in the eye.
“All of a sudden, I felt better about me. I felt confident,” Randall said after a recent class. “I don’t get bullied anymore.”
During his 27 years of practicing tae kwon do and mixed martial arts, Randall has competed in three world championship events. He earned bronze in the Soviet World Championships in Uzbekistan and won gold in North Korea in 1992. Even with that caliber of skill, he said, competing against 75 other countries can be a bit unnerving. “I don’t think anybody competes well without being nervous,” he said.
Randall started the Black Belt Academy in 1987 and now offers classes in Dover, Barrington and, most recently, Stratham. His wife Caz, also a black belt, is another instructor. Their 13-year-old is already a black belt and their two other children, ages 8 and 10, are well on their way. The family lives in Rollinsford.
Randall’s school welcomes students ages 4 and up, offering a “family schedule” with people of varying ages and skill levels participating in classes together. The academy has trained thousands of students and graduated more than 200 black belts from its 12-belt program. A recent class included everyone from 7-year-old Aydan Liberman, of South Berwick, Maine, to 61-year-old Gene Paltrineri, of Dover. A father and son were also taking lessons together.
The Black Belt Academy on Central Avenue played host to the Dover Chamber of Commerce’s business open house on Jan. 22. But Randall’s business is just one of dozens of martial arts schools in New Hampshire. Various schools in the area offer classes in karate, judo, jujitsu, kung fu, tae kwon do, tai chi, kickboxing and mixed martial arts for students of all ages.
The wealth of martial arts talent on the Seacoast is impressive. Guru Guy Chase, who runs the Guy Chase Academy of Martial Arts in Greenland, has traveled the world sharpening his skills in a number of disciplines.
Hailing from Seabrook, Chase studied Muay Thai kickboxing in Thailand and Boxe Savate in France. He spent close to a decade learning Bruce Lee’s teachings under one of Lee’s top students, Dan Inosanto, and trained under the late “God of Grappling” Karl Gotch.
“Guy has spent most of his life traveling the world,” said Brian Bradbury, an instructor at the Guy Chase Academy. “While other people were working in jobs and going to school, all he did was travel and train.”
“Guru Guy really is an unsung hero to a lot of people,” added Stephen Kennedy, one of Chase’s students and owner of Gilley’s PM Lunch in Portsmouth.
Kennedy takes most of his lessons from senior instructor Ken Long, who has been working with Chase since the early 1990s. He teaches Filipino Kali, Indonesian Silat and Muay Thai kickboxing. He is also a former amateur boxer and has competed in stick fighting and grappling tournaments.
Although there are a countless array of martial arts styles in the world, Long said most of them have more similarities than they have differences. “There’s only so many ways you can kick. There’s only so many ways you can punch. The differences come from the culture,” Long said.
For example, karate is practiced barefoot because students were traditionally trained in people’s houses, where they were required to take off their shoes. According to Bradbury, kung fu is based on the movements of animals and how they defend themselves in the wild. Some martial arts forms focus on footwork, while others revolve mainly around wrist locks and grappling.
The Guy Chase Academy is located in what looks like an old public works garage off Route 33 in Greenland. Inside, there is a large elevated ring and a matted floor with heavy punching bags suspended from the ceiling. An office upstairs is decorated with dozens of Chase’s certificates and awards.
Chase was ill during a recent lesson and couldn’t attend, but Long led a half-dozen students through an evening kickboxing class. Partners sparred barefoot with boxing gloves, punching and kicking each other at half-strength, while Long intervened to offer tips.
As students advance in martial arts training, what begins as a simple desire to defend oneself or get in shape often evolves into a way of life.
“You start wanting to just be a better person as a whole,” said Bradbury. “You get your body in better shape, you get your mind in better shape and then you just live better through the teachings.”
At the age of 7, Aydan Liberman has been studying martial arts under Matt Randall for about a year. His mother, Kristen, said the training has already helped her son “with respect, confidence—discipline in general.” She said he enjoys the class and expects him to continue taking lessons for at least three years.
Gene Paltrineri, a 61-year-old student who has been training under Randall for about two years, said skills learned in martial arts classes translate to almost all of life’s endeavors.
“The whole concept of martial arts, of always being in control, is very helpful in everything you do,” he said, noting that the same principles apply to the business world.
Fortunately, Paltrineri has not been forced to use his training to defend himself outside the classroom. Part of the reason might be that martial arts have given him an air of confidence that makes potential assailants think twice. “A person’s going to attack someone if they appear weak. They’re not going to attack someone who appears strong,” he said.
During Randall’s recent class, students practiced high and low X blocks before moving on to a variety of kicks. Volunteers from the audience held pads a few feet off the ground while students practiced front kicks, crescent kicks, hurricane kicks, turning kicks and side kicks. Later they worked on shoulder throws and shadowboxed with wooden knives, all while wearing helmets, mouth guards and gloves.
But Randall also instructed the students with exercises that had as much to do with the mind as they did the body. They recited mantras like, “Know what you want; have a plan (and a success coach); take consistent action; review your progress; renew your goals.” They also recited key points for building confidence and focus, yelling words like, “patience, body position, posture, facial expression, eye contact, attention, attitude,” each of which was accompanied by various hand and body signals.
Randall said his training technique starts by improving public speaking and classroom leadership skills. “Our goal is to make people confident first,” then teach them to fight, he said.
At least one of Randall’s students has become adept at both. William Jones, who has been studying under Randall for a mere 18 months, has already fought professionally in several competitions. A roofer by trade and a father of three, the 30-year-old Berwick, Maine, resident became interested in martial arts after watching a couple of professional fights in the area with friends.
Jones soon discovered Randall and began his mixed martial arts training, and he was in the ring within three months. His first fight, hosted by Reality Fighting, took place at Everett Arena in Concord in September 2007.
“My heart was beating real hard. I was sweating. I was nervous. I didn’t know what was gonna happen,” he said. “I had no idea. I didn’t know whether I was supposed to hurt the guy or what.”
But Jones quickly found himself dominating the match. He won with a technical knockout after three rounds. “I didn’t even get hit in that fight. It was really good,” he said.
Since then, it’s been much easier for Jones to step in the ring, even if he doesn’t wind up winning. “It’s just such a rush to get in there,” he said.
Jones broke his foot during a fight on Nov. 1, but he still won the match and got in the ring again two weeks later, on Nov. 14. During that fight, he got kicked in the leg and broke his tibia. Still, he continued fighting, ultimately losing when his opponent got him in a rear naked choke hold and forced a submission. His record in the Reality Fighting league is three wins and two losses.
Despite all the kicking, punching and choking, Jones has made lasting friendships with some of his opponents. Only a handful of the fighters are jerks who just want to hurt people, he said. “Everybody that I’ve fought I’ve become great friends with. I’m surprised with how good some of the people are,” Jones said.
His next fight will take place on May 2, although the location has not been determined.
Mixed martial arts competitions have gained in popularity in recent years, driven largely by the well-known Ultimate Fighting Championship based in Las Vegas. But with the added attention comes more controversy and adversity. Mixed martial arts competitions are banned in New York and several other states.
Mixed martial arts fights are permitted in New Hampshire, but there are several rules applying to any match in the state. Fighters are not allowed to elbow, hit below the belt, jab the eyes, grab the neck or hit in the back of the head, for example.
But Jones said organized martial arts competitions are hard to come by in New Hampshire. A new organization called the Global Fight League held its debut event at the now closed Ioka Theatre in Exeter late last year, and another competition has been scheduled for Feb. 21 at The Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. Reality Fighting no longer holds competitions in New Hampshire, Jones said, keeping most of its events in Plymouth, Mass.
Randall has not fought competitively for many years, as his family and school have demanded all his attention. “The training schedule for world class competition is just horrendous,” he said.
But Randall’s martial arts training continues. He is working toward advancing to a seventh-degree black belt, learning a new body of technique. The leap from sixth- to seventh-degree black belt takes seven years, he said.
Although it remains largely inside local academies, Randall said there is a strong martial arts community on the greater Seacoast. And the various schools in the area tend to see eye to eye.
“We get along very well with all the schools in the area,” Randall said. “It’s not like the good ol’ days, where calling another school was an invitation for a fight,” he added with a chuckle.
Written by Matt Kanner
http://www.wirenh.com/
You don't want to mess with Miah if you can help it
TEENAGE BOXER Khaliq Miah is just two wins away from being crowned the best in Britain after making it through to the last four in the English Schoolboys ABA Championships.
Miah, of Northolt Boxing Club, defeated Essex and Eastern Counties Schools Champion Dean Porter in the quarter-finals of the competition last Sunday.
He earned a majority points decision over three, twominute rounds, taking him into the semi-finals which are due to take place in Surrey in two weeks.
Whatever happens there, the 14-year-old is guaranteed to be ranked in the top four in the country for his age and weight class.
Khaliq's dad, Shakeet, said: "It was quite a tough fight for him. He got a little bit marked up but apart from that I thought he won quite comfortably.
"The other boy was really strong and came at him.
"He actually fought his [Porter's] fight rather than doing his own boxing so that will be a lesson for the next round."
Miah began his run of success in the U57kg competition by winning the Middlesex title and then defeating an opponent from Southgate to become the London Champion.
He saw off the Home Counties Champion on January 31 and a week later got the better of Porter, from Colchester ABC, to ensure he at least equalled the top four ranking he achieved in his first season of boxing, two years ago. And Miah now has his sights set on number one after claiming a couple of other notable scalps in recent months.
Eight weeks ago he beat Repton's John Lee King, the 2008 British Champion and European silver medallist, and a month later got the better of another British Champion, Jackson Collins from the Priory Park club in Birmingham.
Miah, a member of the Northolt club that produced Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison, has only been boxing for three years since his father asked if he and his 11-year-old brother, Shahad, wanted to try boxing or Muay Thai kickboxing, which is Shakeet's speciality.
"My dad started encouraging me," said Miah, whose idols include American Floyd Mayweather and Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto. "I was just sitting at home doing nothing so I thought I might as well do something with my life.
"It's going well at the moment. "I like the running, I enjoy everything about it.
"Boxing is a very enjoyable, disciplined sport, it keeps you fit, keeps you off the streets and keeps you healthy."
Even the idea of getting hit does not put him off.
"You don't really feel anything because all the adrenaline is going through you," he went on. "But it feels better when you hit them!
"If you move your head you shouldn't really get hit and I don't stand in the same spot."
Shahad is beginning to follow in Khaliq's footsteps and is set for his second fight at Brunel University this week.
By Scott Newman
http://beta.ealinggazette.co.uk/
Disclaimer
Forrest takes fight to Thailand
MUAY THAI: Gladstone ’s Eileen Forrest was impressive when she fought at "Rocky II" in October but now she is seeking to gain more experience by fighting and training in Thailand, the home of Muay Thai.
Forrest ’s display in Rockhampton was not only memorable for her all-action contest with calm before the storm as once the bell sounded the start of the contest she was a blur of action as the two fighters traded blows.
Forrest won that fight on a points decision.
In her first fight in Thailand, held appropriately enough on Boxing Day, Forrest did not take the chance of Kiwi Bronwyn Wylie in the 59kg division but also for her distinctive entrance to the ring.
As the crowd at the Stadium Nighclub waited for the bout to start Forrest performed a gentle dance routine known as a Ram Muay ritual dance.
This interlude lasted a little over five minutes but it was the leaving the result to a judge ’s decision.
The Gladstone fightei after a slow start, began hurting her Thai opponent with a series of attacks with her knee.
In the second round, with her opponent backing away from the onslaught, Forrest ’s right fist came into play, smashing into the Thai ’s face and causing her nose to bleed.
That was enough for the Thai fighter and Forrest took the contest on a technical knock out.
The Gladstone girl has her next match-up tomorrow night.
http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/
Illness fails to stop Bennett victory knockout
Doing what he loves best, Bennett agrees that there ’s one part he is not too comfortable about.
"For the weigh-in we have to do it naked. I weighed in in front of 30,000 people.
"It ’s embarrassing so I get people to stand either side of me and hold towels up so no one can see me. Titles don ’t mean anything any more when 20 others in the world have the same title as you. I just want to fight the big names." TEAGAN MCMANUS Two days before flying out of the country, Phillip Bennett was in hospital for a white blood cell count problem.
He discharged himself from hospital and made his way to Thailand to fight Holland ’s Ali Ashoud.
The muay thai boxer defeated Ashoud by knocking him out in the second round.
"I knew I could beat him, but he is a good fighter." The 33-year-old had a previous fight in Thailand earlier in December but it had to be cancelled as the airport had shut down.
"I was disappointed I missed out on the fight. I trained really hard for it." Bennett was unsure how his health would affect his strength and concentration.
"I was worried that I was too sick to go over to Thailand but as soon as I got there I felt better. I don ’t know whether it was the adrenalin rush or what. But as soon as I got back home I was sick again."
http://wellington.yourguide.com.au/
Adventure In Thailand
By Ellen Forrest
MY fight was quite appropriately scheduled for the 26th Boxing Day.
In the days leading up to it, I wasn ’t really feeling that calm before the storm ’ I ’ve come to associate with all my fights back home. I think it ’s because here they ’re much more casual about the whole affair. Here it ’s not unusual to fight every one or two weeks (compared to four to eight weeks back home), and they ’re even more blas when it comes to matching opponents. If you ’re roughly the same size and skill on pads, "same same", you ’re good to go.
The two days I had off from training I spent getting myself into peak condition for the fight, indulging myself in cheap massages, senseless eating and sleeping. I can ’t quite express how really, really fantastic this is, considering back home I have to cut weight to make the divisions for fights (usually dropping 5kg in a week, which does hurt).
Towards the afternoon of the fight night I was starting to feel the buzz and there was no point pretending to sleep, so I started getting my stuff ready. A young Thai boy called Steak (really it ’s Siteak, but in western terms it ’s actually Steak) and I were scheduled to fight that night. In an example of the attitude Thais have to Muay Thai through some discrepancy we ’d found out he hadn ’t actually been matched up.
And after some hassling with the promoter within the evening they ’d somehow tracked down a boy about his skill and size and they were matched to fight.
So we all packed into a couple of utes, about 10 of us in each, mostly in the tray, and headed off to Patong, the centre of nightlife in Phuket, and Bangla Stadium.
The Stadium sits in a dustbowl surrounded by construction works, and the Stadium itself is more of a giant open shed than a stadium. The walls are made of roughly standing corrugated iron that wild grass grows past.
There ’s a stand, seats (deck chairs) and painted wooden benches behind them for warming up. The ring still looks like a ring, though, and the simpleness and raweness of the "stadium" appeals to me being a lot less intimidating than a fancy sports complex.
I was fight #6, 50 I sat around a bit and watched the fights to help fire up. Steak was fight #2, and both kids would go back and forth in dominating the fight, while grown men waved their hands about placing bets as the fight went on. Steak ended up losing on points, but performed quite well.
Things got a bit rushed when in one of the fights a guy got knocked out in the first five seconds. So within the space of a fight I got my hands taped, got dressed, rubbed down and I probably did three kicks to warm up before getting shuffled into the ring. I still wasn ’t quite with it, but after the preliminaries (I found out I was fighting for some sort of Stadium belt), and my Wai Khru Ram Muay ritual dance, the fight started.
Usually the first round is something of a feeling out process to get a measure of the other fighter. I started by feeling out her right hand with my face. I usually start out fights a bit dumb as what to throw first, and in an unfortunate majority of them I eat a few right hands which come dangerously close to knocking me out. One day it ’s probably going to, but that wasn ’t the case that night. I got into the grapple in a bit of a daze and clicked on.
From there I worked plenty of knees, which score big points in Muay Thai. At distance I would land clean and have her moving back, up close I ’d have her in the grapple and have complete control from there, landing some knees to her body and face. I knew I must ’ve broken her spirit because in the 2nd she stopped fighting back and I moved in, landing a right hand which made her nose bleed. The referee stopped the fight because she was clearly hurt and wasn ’t fighting back, and declared me the winner. A little surprised, but hey, a win is a win, and I got a belt for some photos (only for about five minutes though because they use the same belt for all the title fights every night) before they put it up for the next fight. It was a great night to follow an amazing two weeks in the home of Muay Thai. Now I ’m back in training for my next fight on January 4 against a local Thai girl I can ’t wait.
Trip to the home of Muay Thai ends with a victory in the ring
Eileen Forrest Thai Journal
http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/
Prickly retort: take a number for rematch
Craig Ross rossc@tcp.newsltd.com.au
CAIRNS Muay Thai fighter Ayde "Prickles" Walker has a simple message for Julatten rival Harlee Avison: earn your rematch.
Walker and his trainer Dylan Bradley are furious that Avison has called for a rematch with the Cairns fighter in 2009.
Avison, 17, said last week he would not rest until he had avenged his defeat to 22-year-old Walker at Smithfield in September, but the Walker camp believes the teenager has no right to be calling the shots.
Walker said Avison had a shot at him and lost and he now had other opponents in his sights, unless Avison could make a return bout worth his while.
"Show me the money," Walker said.
"I work a job with less hours so that I can train and fight so, if I get injured, I need to be able to look after myself financially." A war of words broke out between Walker and Avison following their September battle with the Avison camp disputing Walker ’s post-fight claims that he had "wiped the floor" with his opponent and left him looking like the "Elephant Man".
Bradley said Avison would also have to prove he was worthy of a rematch before one was granted, saying the Thailand-based Julatten product needed victories over other highly rated opponents.
"Harlee will have to take a number if he wants a crack at it," Bradley said yesterday. "There ’s a long queue if he wants to get in line." Already in the queue is wellcredentialled Gold Coast fighter Clayton Collier, who ’ll clash with Walker in Brisbane on February 14. Akhough he boasts only a handful of professional bouts to his name, Walker is eagerly awaiting the chance to prove himself against a top-class opponent.
"He ’s an A-grade pro," he said of Collier.
Walker said he was ready to meet Collier ’s challenge, pointing to his effort to go the distance with Thai fighter Kasemachi in Manunda earlier this year.
http://www.cairns.com.au/
Nurse gets kick from title
THERESA Carter is one nurse you wouldn ’t want to mess with after she recently won the World Kickboxing Championship in Thailand.
While her bedside manner in Royal Perth Hospital ’s adult burns unit may be mild, it ’s a whole different story in the arena, where her flying knees and elbows may end up sending you to bed.
Carter started kickboxing eight years ago and began competing only four years ago.
"I originally started Muay Thai for fun and to increase my fitness, then I reached a level where I felt confident with my technique and took up the challenge to fight in the ring," she said.
Carter and her partner/coach Lee Blackman teach Muay Thai at the gym they started in Cannington.
Carter took two weeks off work for intensive training in Bangkok before the championships, which were held at the King ’s Garden on the Thai King ’s birthday, December 4, before thousands of spectators.
She won the world title for the World Professional Muay Thai Federation (WPMF) at 59kg, against a French competitor who had been living and training in Bangkok for three months. She said she was treated like a superstar.
"Everyone wanted to congratulate me on winning such a tough fight," she said.
"But even though I was in there fighting solo, an immense amount of work goes on behind the scenes to prepare for a fight like that, so I was very happy to have won the belt for my coach and everyone at the gym that supported me."
Weekly Suburbs
