Training Report

This past Saturday I took the day off. However, I regrettably made a late decision to attend church. Last year I attended two services at the Mission Hospital Seventh Day Adventist church here in Bangkok. Right when I got into a taxi to head over to the church I realized that I did not take into consideration the Saturday morning Bangkok traffic. Getting to the church was a pain in the ass and it took the taxi driver 45 minutes just to get there. But you know what? I was able to go back to the gym with the peace of mind that I did try to go out there.

Sunday there was officially no training. However, there were Muay Thai fights that were planned for the afternoon at Rajadamnern Stadium here in Bangkok. Four of Kaewsamrit's fighters were scheduled to fight, however it was the last fight that happened to be the most compelling.

Right when I got up this morning to take a shower I ran into my housemate Sam who is from Australia. Sam informed me that he got word that he was going to fight at Rajadamnern against an opponent from Italy. Apparently the original contestant had backed out and they really needed a replacement

When we got to the stadium the gym mates and I were taking in the scenery of the stadium. I had been to Rajadamnern before and it was nice to come back. For the first 6 fights, they were all entertaining and evenly matched. There was not a knockout but the fights were full of action. The first three Kaewsamrit fighters had won their fights on points.

Next up was Sam's fight. Myself and my other training partners who were not from Thailand were all anxious. We were anxious because we viewed Sam as one of us. However, Sam really was not one of us. Sam had fought 2 weeks prior and knocked out his Thai opponent recently. He also sported a record of 9 wins, 3 losses, and one draw. His opponent however was from Italy and right when he walked into the stadium it was not hard to see that he commanded attention. I do not think he was famous but he did bring in a professional camera crew that was apparently filming a documentary about his fight in Thailand. To make matters worse,
according to Sam the crew were very arrogant towards him.

When the fight started I saw that Sam was composed and focused. Then at the one minute mark it happened; Sam through a left jab right straight combo that knocked the Italian fighter down. The referee gave the Italian an 8 count and myself and my training partners went nuts I kept shouting at the top of my lungs, "he has no hands Sam." I was making a reference to the Italian fighters inability to box. By the second round it happened again but the referee ended up counting the fighter out. The arena went crazy because apparently Sam was a huge underdog.

After the fights we were invited to attend a birthday party that was held in the honor for the president of the Muay Thai Association of Thailand. A lot of the who's who in Muay Thai were there and it was an awesome experience.