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A great start to the month of June. On the 1st, we had Masa, from Japan, and Joey, from Canada, both going for their second fights at a small country fair in a village 30 km south of Chiangmai.
The ring was set up in a small orchard and the crowd, loud and enthusiastic, were packed around the ring. Masa was first up and facing a tough, young and relatively new fighter. Unfortunately Masa had no answer to the hand speed of the younger fighter and went down in the 3rd round from a hard right hook, took a standing eight count and then was finished off by a knee to the stomach. The fight was loudly cheered as Masa showed good fighting spirit and the crowd applauded in appreciation when he gave a traditional Japanese bow before leaving the ring.
The following evening we were at Mae Jo University on the outskirts of Chiangmai with JR, one of our young Thai lads, Sam, from New Zealand, and Jono, from England, all taking part. The ring, this time, was set up inside a huge auditorium and although there was a large crowd for the evenings fights it seemed dwarfed inside the large hall.
There were several preliminary fights with some of the local youngsters showing their skills before JR took to the ring. He was facing a shorter but very strong opponent and neither boxer wasted any time in turning up the power, with the opening round a flurry of hard kicks punches and knees. At the start of the second round JR delivered a perfect low kick to the thigh which staggered his opponent, and capitalising on this, JR started an unrelenting attack of low kicks which brought down his opponent within the first 30 seconds of the second round.
Immediately after JR Sam was up, in her fourth fight, a rematch against her first opponent whom she beat four months ago. In the first round Sam stood back and controlled the fight, trying out different technique, listening to her corner, working her opponent. In the second Sam started to move in and took the fight to her opponent forcing the pace and tying her up on the ropes with strong clinch work. By the third round Sam had complete control and quickly finished the fight off with a series of knees to the stomach and head. Sams' record is now 3-1-0.
The main fight of the evening saw Jono, from England, take on a Thai boxer from Chiangmai. Jono entered this, his seventh fight, with the unenvious record of 1-5-0, having won his first fight and then lost the next five to much better opposition he was bound and determined to break his losing streak. With the collective will of all those at the camp urging him on to win, Jono fought hard for the first two rounds giving as good as he got before stepping up the pace in the third to win with knees to the stomach. The smile on his face at the end spoke volumes for how happy and relieved Jono was with the win.
On the following Wednesday Den and Gareth fought at a Temple fair where the ring was part of a small gym situated behind the Temple. It was a long night of fights with, once again, a lot of younger fighters taking part early on in the evening. Den, one of our Trainers who still fights on a part time basis, was a last minute addition to the fight card and then again, once we had arrived, the opponent was changed. When Den did finally enter the ring at fight #15 of the 17 fights on that evening he was facing an opponent who though competent, was lacking fitness and after Den turned on the style, using much of the arsenal of technique he has built up over the years, the Ref stopped the fight in the third, declaring Den the winner by TKO.
Next up in the second last fight of the evening was Gareth, from England, who was entering the ring for his first time. He was facing a Thai boxer who had had 11 fights but was giving away 6-8 kg in weight to Gareth. Although Gareth was given instruction to go in and try to make a fight of it, and being the first fight, as soon as both fighters had caught each other with a couple of punches to the face both of them were turning out windmill punches and wild swings. In the melee Gareth prevailed and brought a crashing knee into the side of his opponent which sent him down for the count. For a first fight Gareth did very well, remembering much of what had happened and learning from it and very keen to have another go.
Our next set of fights are coming up on the 16th in Pattaya. This is going to be a big night for us with Eddie, from Canada, going for a WMTC JR Middleweight World Champions Belt. Also on the card will be Sam going for her fifth fight and as yet an unnamed one or two other fighters.
Until next week, keep up the training...... remember consistency and hard work will help you improve.
Good luck to all in Muay Thai.
Andy Thomson - Lanna Muay Thai
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