|
Welcome again to our Camp News and our latest update. A lot has happened over the past month since the last update, not only at our Camp but in the world in general. We are very pleased to report that all our friends that we know in New York are okay, and remain fighting fit. Our sympathy goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in the horrible events that occured in New York, there are no words to express the feelings that we all felt while watching the events unfold before our eyes.
Here in Chiangmai life continues on with lots of fights to report on from the past month and a successful conclusion, we hope, to a very big fight against the big "C"! Also on the 30th September Solam will be fighting for the Northern Champions Lightweight Belt, the report on this fight will be in the next update.
But first we start with Sompong, he fought at Gawilla Stadium on the 24th August against a very tough boxer from Isan, losing the fight in five rounds, but doing very well to go the five rounds and learning some good lessons.
At the same time nine of our foreigners with our Trainer Taywin and Manager Pom, took off for Kazakhstan and the Open Kazakhstan Amateur Muay Thai Competition that was held in Amalty from the 25th to 31st August. Our fighters included Dan Fine from South Africa, Peter Aberdeen, from New Zealand, Joseph Grier, from Canada, Jamie Luengo, from Spain, Simon Corner and Joseph Hutton from the UK, and Jerry Anderson, Carla Fox, and Eric Storm from the USA. The competition hosted fighters from around the world with a very strong group of teams from the Central Asian region. All our fighters with the exception of Joseph Grier and Jamie Luengo were outclassed and lost their first round fights. Despite this, everybody gave their best and came home with some valuable lessons learned and a great experience. Joesph Grier fought a good fight against a Sudanese fighter who has been doing the rounds in Thailand against some of the better Thai fighters and Joey, though losing the fight, should have won and we are looking forward to getting a rematch for Joey here in Thailand. The surprise of the competition for us was Jamie, he won his first round fight against a fighter from Ukraine and then took on an Australian Champion and went the full distance only to lose on points.
Considering that Jaime had not fought in a Muay Thai fight prior to going to Kazakhstan he showed great presence of mind and good technique in his fights and will be continuing his training and fighting here in Thailand for several more months, look out for reports on his fights later this year.
After returning from Kazakhstan Joseph Grier stayed on in Bangkok and joined a team of eight Thai Fighters going to China to take on the best of Chinas' Kung Fu Fighters. Joey atoned for his loss in Kazakhstan by being one of only three winners in a very difficult competition where the rules were changed drastically from the usual Muay Thai rules.
Meanwhile our Thai Lads who are in Bangkok, have been fighting some tough battles. Seemok after losing twice at Rajadamnern Stadium won his most recent fight, which was televised on the 29th August, with a hard earned points decision. Boon has also had a couple of fights over the past month and has lost both, the fights being stopped due to cuts. Boon is continuing to stay on in Bangkok and will be fighting again in October. Kem after a long wait finally got his first fight in Bangkok, at the Mall, and won by fourth round KO. His next fight came on the 17th September, when he fought at Rajadamnern on a televised promotion. This fight had us all on the edges of our seats here in Chiangmai as Kem was up against a seasoned Bangkok fighter. Kem had won the fight by the fourth round having completely dominated with brillant combinations of low kicks and punching power that had his opponent on the run for most of the fight, then in the fifth round with nothing to lose his oppenent took the fight to a surprised Kem, delivering two devestating elbows to Kems right eyebrow opening a nasty cut. Kem had to fight with all his heart to hang on for the win. Kem will be fighting again next month and everyone is looking forward to the fight as he will be taking on one of the top fighters out of Rajadamnern Stadium.
Back here in Chiangmai, Nico, from Denmark took on his first fight since returning to Chiangmai in July, his fourth fight overall, on the 31st August and won by a KO knee in the second round.
On the 7th September, Jin, one of our younger fighters had his second fight, and as in his first fight, he had to dig deep in his heart to fight off a more experienced boxer to win in five rounds. On the same night JR, fought and won in five rounds, this was one of the elimination fights for JR in his bid to fight for a Belt. And the third fighter that night was Dan Fine, from South Africa, fresh from the fights in Kazakhstan, he took on a local Thai fighter who has beaten a few of our foreigners in the past to record a five round win, his powerful kicks making the difference in a close fought encounter.
Just last weekend (21st) Nico had his second fight this visit, fighting against a shorter, but very strong opponent. The fight was stopped in the third round after Nico received a knee to the groin and was unable to continue, the dangers of fighting someone shorter! Nico was otherwise unhurt and is back in training already in preparation for his next fight in October. Also on this same night, Jin had his third fight and though he was fighting against a bigger and more experienced opponent he once again showed that indomitable spirit and never say die attitude of the Thai fighter and despite losing due to a cut above the eye in the fifth round Jin is ready and waiting for his next fight!
Some news now from our fighters overseas. Shannon Forrester, an Australian fighter who stayed and trained with us in August returned to Australia take on two fights, one Muay Thai fight, which he won and then a twelve round kick boxing fight which he lost, through lack of fitness. Shannon has now returned to Thailand and after a few days with us he headed for the WMTC Camp on Koh Samui to meet up and train with some of his mates from Australia.
From New Zealand comes news of Rex Redden, he is continuing his winning ways with a tough five round win over Australian Soren King last month and then more recently he took on a full contact Kung Fu fighter that he found very awkward to fight against, but using the knees to slow him down Rex KOed him in the third with a left hook. Keep up the good work Rex and we look forward to seeing you next year.
Sean Seagrave from New York travelled to Kanas city to take part in an IKF Amatuer National Tournament. Sean fought well through to the finals where he won and became the "2001 IFK Amatuer National Muay Thai Middleweight Champion". Sean has now arrived in Chiangmai for a few weeks training in preparation to defend his belt.
Rochelle Turner, from England, on her way to train with us for her third visit in three years, stop off in Bangkok for a week, training at Jittys' Gym, off Kosan Road, and she took on her second Muay Thai fight against a Thai girl who had had fifteen fights. She had a tough fight, getting a fat lip and bruised shins on her way to well earned draw! Rochelle is also now with us here in Chiangmai training hard and may be taking on her third fight soon.
Our last news from overseas comes from England where Den and Doi are currently staying with Mike Duffy, Knuckles Muay Thai, in Oldham Manchester. They are both working hard conducting Training Seminars with Mike and seeing some of the country at the same time, travelling to London, Birmingham, and Glasgow to teach. Den also fought this past weekend against a British Champion, Maurice Riley, and although giving away three kilos, Den fought a tough fight against a fighter who relied on his better boxing skills to win by desicion after five rounds. Den has done us proud despite losing and will be staying on in England to continue teaching for a couple more months.
This trip to England has been the culmination of a dream of mine from many years ago, that I would be able, one day, to give my fighters and trainers a chance to travel and see the world, at the same time as giving a chance to those who will not have the opportunity to travel to Thailand to train with a Thai Trainer. A lot of work on both Mikes' and my part went into this trip and as we had tried to arrange this trip two years earlier but then had to cancel at the last moment due to a loss of venue for the fights, we were both anxious that this time things would go without a problem. And so everything was until the small matter of some people in the UK who are letting Muay Thai down very badly. Barely veiled threats were posted on the Internet that our Fighter and Trainer would not be allowed to go to the UK unless we went through their organisation, which happens to be an organisation which we work with regularly here in Thailand and with whom we had no problem concerning the trip to the UK, but the people in the UK, even after we had been given the clearance by the authorities here, continued in their threatening ways and seemed to be doing everything they could to make life as difficult as possible for Mike to stage his promotion and conduct the Training Seminars.
I will say this, without mentioning names, as those of you out there know who you are and not one of you has had the balls to talk with me here in Thailand. Yes, we do need to have a world governing body to ensure that the rules of the fight are the same regardless of where the fight takes place and that the safety and well being of all the fighters involved is being taken care of. But do you really think that for one moment I would allow any of my Fighters or Trainers to go to a foreign country to teach and fight for someone who was not already known and trusted. Sadly, it seems what we have is a group of power hungry, greedy people, who charge over the top fees for fighters , trainers, referees and even for sanctioning fights. If you think for a moment that either Mike and I are making much money out of this venture think again. This is not about making money (And yes of course I hope to make something, at least to cover the costs! If you want to ask me I will gladly tell you exactly how much once they have returned and I work out all the finances.) but rather about promoting Muay Thai and Thailand, showing the world one of the best fighting arts there is, and about showing the world the heart and the respect that is Muay Thai. In the meantime consider who it is who ultimately will lose because of all the difficulties you place in the way of Mike or any others who wish to promote the same as Mike, it is the ordinary people who want to see a Thai fight, it is those in the many gyms around the UK who wish to train with a Thai trainer but cannot because of the prohibitive costs, it is those same trainers and fighters who have a chance to earn a decent wage, by Thai standards, for once in their Muay Thai careers. These are the people who lose. If you have a Champion from Lumpinee or Rajadamnern Stadium then by all means charge the earth, you will no doubt have big sponsors etc. so go for it, but in the meantime let the rest of us get on with what we truly love and what is our lives, the sharing and teaching of Muay Thai to all those who wish to learn, without charging a fortune to do so.
One last thing to consider in all this, leave the politics to the politicians, do not let Muay Thai degenerate into the fiasco that is now TaeKwonDo, Karate, or KungFu with all the different groups claimimng to be the best, the only one etc. Your attitude in England will, and is, driving people away from you rather than bringing people together. Muay Thai is Muay Thai regardless of whether it is in England, US, Australia, wherever, the rules may vary but the true essence and heart of the sport should remain above the bickering of the politicians.
I will now apologies to all of you who do not know what I am going on about, but I felt that I had to say this and hope that maybe we will improve the lot of all people who wish to experience the "Art of Muay Thai".
Now on to something that is even closer to my heart at the moment, my fight against Cancer. The reason this update has been delayed is that I had a bad time for a few weeks with the side effects of the Radiation Treatment. Ironically it became particularly bad as the treatment ended leaving me with a serious blood infection and unable to do much for the past couple of weeks. But I am now very happy to say that all the problems have passed and I am now on the road to recovery and full fitness once again. I have to return for a full check up, in about a month, once my mouth has completely healed from the effects of the radiation, but everything is looking good to the point that I may have my life back again with no sign of the cancer. I have been extremely lucky in my fight against Cancer, with having caught the disease in time and successfully having it treated and ultimately the price for having my life back has been small and compared to what others must endure, I am continuing to count my blessings.
So this update now ends on both a positive note from a personal point of view and an anxious note, in the hope that we are not seeing the start of a war which is going to turn our world upside down. May all the people who are in the position of power make the right desicions regarding all of our lives and bring peace to this world of ours. I have lived in many different places in the world, with many different religions, and there is one simple truth in this life of ours, people are the same the world over, no matter colour, race or religion.
Overwhelmingly what people want is to live their lives in Peace.
Take Care All..........Andy
|
