Sorry for the late update!! It's been a hell of a busy time the last few months for me. With the World Cup happening it just meant lotsa meet up with friends over dinner to watch the game. Or late nights on the wkend to catch the games. Then heading to work with lack of sleep is never fun!!... So am actually glad the World Cup is over!!!
I was really happy Holland made it to the final. My mom and family called from Holland to tell me that the whole country was Orange and ppl were all singing and just ecstatic that they made it to the finals! They said the atmosphere was amazing! Sadly, Holland didn't do enough to win the cup! =( Spain however are impressive winning the Euro 2008 and then now the World Cup 2010. Can only imagine the parties going on in Spain now!! Wish I was there!
Speaking of partying I've now started doing a monthly residency at Azzura. Once a month I feature some of the top or upcoming DJs from and around Singapore. The party is called "3D"...No no you won't have to put stupid glasses on to appreciate the music.....the "D's" stand for Different,Diverse and Dynamic!!! =) I hold it every last Sunday of the month. So far I've done two parties (May & June) and its been going well. =) Hopefully I'll be able to take "3D" to other clubs soon. Send me an email to contact@zigzach.com or an inbox to my facebook with the title "3D" to get free entry or updates to my parties.
Posters for my "3D" Party. The one on the right is designed by ME!!
Well July's 3D party will be on hold as I've just been asked to fight in Hong Kong on Libogen's Event. Which will be shown live on Hong Kong TV! My opponent is Mohammed Rahhoui. I dont know much about it but I'm gonna do my best and try to get a win!! Last time I lost in HKG and Im not happy about it. Cutting weight is going well so I should be feeling ready and strong for the fight!! (I HOPE!!!) Also on the card will be Bruce from Contender Asia. Sunny who runs the amazing Ultim8 apparel will be having a rematch with the Japanese girl. The Jap girl cut Sunny with an elbow in their last fight....so Sunny is out for REVENGE! =)
To make myself even more busy... on top of my own personal trainng business and my own fight training. I am now also working 3 Nights a week at Vanda Boxing. Im there every Tues, Thurs & Fridays. Tues & Thurs are the normal fitness/training classes, where as Friday's are sparring sessions. Very soon I'll be inviting other gyms down just to come and sparr and train together. It's a good way for everyone to improve and learn. Since fights happen once every fucking blue moon here.......??
Also recently been doing a few more interviews a.k.a media whoring!! =) Had an interview with FHM & 8days talking about my training....diet...workout....... It's weird, one of the reporters was asking me some really interesting and diff stuff but in the end......the article pretty much sounded like every other article I've ever done!.......pfffff
FHM & 8Days interview/photoshoot.
Next update will be soon!! PROMISE!! And it's regarding a new sponsor and I will be one of the main guys doing the distritbuting for them here =) Keep you guys posted soon!
Alright guys, once again my apologies for being so late on the blog recently. I've been seriously busy and I'm dying to go on a holiday and take a break again soon!! Sadly it'll only be after my fight on Aug 7th that I will be able to think of a holiday.
So Ive been back from Melbourne over a week now. Finally had some time for myself so I thought I'd sit down and edit the pics for the blog update. I had an awesome time while in Melbourne!! Good friends, good food & a few good seminars!!
So I arrived in Melbourne on the 12th May and My scottish mate Keith Grant was there at the airport with his gf who arrived the same morning from the Philippines to pick me up. I haven't seen Keith in about 4 years! So it was good to see him and to catch up again.
The walk from the airport to the car was blooody FREEEZING!!!!! It was 9 degrees!! Before you start poking fun at me. Please note I come from tropical Singapore,where the lowest it will get is as low as I push on my air conditioning which is......16!! So yes I was freeezing my nuts off!!
We got to their studio apartment in Chapel Street and then later had a walk around there to get some lunch. It's been about 4 years since I've been back to Melbourne and it really hadn't changed much. Unlike Singapore where you leave for a week and it's like new buildings go up....buildings and shops go down. Whereas here I was in Chapel St,4 years later and it's still pretty much the same as it is,some of the shops I went to eat and buy stuff are all still exactly where they were!!!
After lunch they dropped me off at Dominance Gym. Here I met one of the owners of the gym who was very kindly housing me at his place, which was right across the road from the gym. Dominance Gym was a reaaaallly nice gym, big spacious , good facilities, clean and lovely people running it. =)
Off I was to settle in my room and a quick rest before I had to go catch up with another good friend and awesome trainer in Melbourne, Don Millar. Don is a really nice guy and has so much passion and love for Muaythai. He produces some of Melbourne's best fighters. I remember when I first trained with Don many years ago he was one of the few foreigner muaythai trainers that could do free style pad work with me. Meaning he doesn't have to give a comand and I just do as I please and he catches everything.
Don Millars Gym
Don's gym is in an old Chapel turned into a gym. Its somewhere on Chapel and close to St Kildas. Sorry but I was freezing my ass off too much to actually remember the exact address!! It took me forever just to warm up!!! I had a singlet,a tshirt and my hoody to keep me warm. The guys went for a run but I was soooo damn cold I just stayed in skipped and shadow boxed abit. I did abit of technique,clinching and corrected some of his fighters technique and movement. Showing them how to improve their kicks,punches and counter some stuff. Don has these 3 Afghanistan boys he is training up and they are tough as nails!! He also had this guy Tyson who I had the pleaseure of blooody grappling....he was 100 kgs maybe??? Yeah it wasn't very fun for me!! haha
Me and some of his fighters. Keith on the far right.
Next day, woke up and it was fairly cold and I was dreading the thought of getting in the shower.... that 3 secs of being naked before I get in the hot water is gonna be painful...and then the reverse process of being naked drying myself in the cold and stumbling back in my clothes...Ugghhhhhhhhhhh!!! Hate the cold!!
Met up with my two buddies, Don & Keith for lunch and we went to have a meal fit for champions!!! Lamb Souvlaki with fat chips!!! =) OHHH YEAH!! Keith lives right next to my favourite Souvlaki place, Lambs on Chapel St. If you don't know what a Souvlaki is, it's pretty much like a kebab. But yeah I love Souvlakis!!! Ive had kebabs in Singapore and its just not the same......they are so stingy with the meat here...and it's dry and...bleegghhh..... So after 4 years of not having a souvlaki I had a DOUBLE Meat Lamb Souvlaki! Man was I stuffed after that!!!!
Diet for Champions! Look at the size of my Souvlaki!!
Had the rest of the day off and took time to walk around Chapel St again do some window shopping. I really like walking around in Melb, it's just a cool city. Got the right amount of hustle....but it's laidback enough the way you want it to be. Along Chapel there are loads of discount stores, some nice shoes and clothes shop. My favourite however are these nice bakeries with cakes,pies,cookies and all sorts tempting you as you walk along!! And of course even after the double meat lamb souvlaki I could find space for some yummy apple crumble and a coffee =)
Friday came and we left Melbourne city at Noon on a 4 and a half hour drive up to Swan Hill. That is alot of driving...!! 4 and half hours means you could drive probably 4 or 5 times around Singapore!! Keith packed up loads of awesome dance music cds in his car and off we went. Listening to old school rave music from 1990s right up to the more recent Minimal Techno sounds. It was a good drive up catching up with Keith too, 4 years went by and we had alot of stories and experiences to share. Along the way I mean there were all these small towns and I mean small and in the middle of nowhere...!! Man I could not imagine living in somewhere like that!! Guess I'm just used to the big city and hustle and bustle.
Arrived up in Swan Hill and the gym that organized the seminar had us staying up in a motorinn. It was a really simple and nice place. Funny thing was when we got there, we had to go to a phonebooth at the motorinn, pick it up, speak to someone and mention a password, dialed a code and the key would appear?!!? So we did exactly that....went to a phone,mentioned a password to someone, got a number,dialed it....and VOILA!!! Key appears!! =) hahah it was all a little 007 for me!!
The magic wall!!
The first seminar at Swan Hill's Martial Arts Gym. Some people had driven 2 1/2 hours from another town to come up to attend this seminar. I was reallly flattered when I heard that. So I really wanted to make sure they enjoyed and benefited from this seminar. It was abit difficult for this seminar, as some trainees in the gym had some experience in striking and some had no experience at all in striking and some had mainly come from Jiu Jitsu background.
I tried to keep it simple but as informative and interesting as I could for everyone. Showing the class and explaining to them why or how a kick should look and how it works. Those that had already some background in striking and just worked on abit more to fine tune their technique. People dont realize but there is so much science and how changing a little bit of your stance or positioning of your legs could change the power of a kick/punch/elbow/knee. Im really glad I had a really good trainer like Bangman to correct me and help make me such a technical fighter/trainer. There is so much to show and to do in Muaythai I honestly could have talked and gone on for HOURS! but I dont think the students would have been able to! =) hahah
After seminar Keith had taken the initiative to get some certificates printed out for all the trainees attending the seminar. They were very cool certs I must say. The funny thing was the image was just randomly grabbed off the internet and it was actually an image from one of the Tuffboxing Tshirt I was going to give to Keith!! haha Great minds think alike! =) Ohhh speaking of Tuffboxing. Just to show you how impressive my sponsors Tuffboxing are.....They sent the brand new Tuffboxing shorts and tshirts I asked to be customized for me to wear during my seminar sent right to the gyms doorstep by DHL!! So I arrived that day on the 12th, and there it was waiting for me already!! Check the new shorts that they sent me on their site muaythaistuff.com! Thanks Oak. You guys ROCK!! =)
Very cool certificates that the trainees got !
The AWESOME shorts I got from my sponsors! =) I love them they are the best!!!
Swan Hill was a quiet town, so we just had an early night as we had to be up bright and early in the morning on another 2 and a half hour drive down to Shepparton! So we were up and on our way at 9am to Shepparton and made it there at in time for a drink and to catch up with G.V Martial Arts owner and a good friend of mine Matt Reid. Matt has been in the muaythai scene for a fair bit and has fought at prestigious events in Thailand like the Ifma championships and the Kings Birthday. Matt used to get on his bike twice a week and drive 2 hours down to Melb city to train there as Muaythai wasn't as big and popular in Shepparton. Now that's dedication. Here in Singapore if it takes 45 mins in a bus it's too fucking far.....pfffffffff... we are so spoilt here in Singapore sometimes.
Correcting their knee strikes and giving em more push and power behind it!
The seminar at G.V Martial Arts was abit easier to teach as most of them there and from another gym were already fighters or have been training for awhile now. Basically I just had to do abit of a touch up on some of their techniques and later got to show them one or two cool techniques. =)
Same thing again, I could have showed sooo many cool techniques and some muay boran moves but I really thing emphasis on the basics and practical stuff. Also I like making sure ppl know how things should be done properly! Which is so much more important!! Like Bangman always says,"even if I show the class all the beautiful muaythai techniques and tricks but they dont have the basic stance,punch,kick,elbow and knee moves right....it's no use!"
The G.V Martial Arts guys and some other trainees from a neighbouring town =)
After handing out the certs and taking a few pictures here and there with the guys, we headed to a nice thai restaurant for some yummy food and a drink before Keith was given the task of doing the last trip back into Melb City!! Another 2 hours of driving to go!! haha
The last seminar was held on a Sunday down at Dominance Gym. After the other 2 seminars this one felt alot easier to do and I was getting used to explaining and remembering alot of important stuff I needed to say or show to demonstrate the moves. I think the guys in Melb city have more variety of trainers to train with, where as in the country there isn't as many gyms or trainers to work with.
Also the class was a wee bit smaller than up in Swan Hill and Shepparton so it was much more easier for me to do stuff with em one on one and to walk around and hold pads for a few of em.
Correcting them, Showing them how a kick should be done and then letting them do it =)
Showing them a proper knee and then practicing it with them =)
That was the last seminar for my trip and overall it was a really really enjoyable experience. The 3 Seminars were alot of fun, I got to catch up with some good friends and I got to meet a whole lot of people. What I was really so impressed by was the level of Muaythai and the enthusiasm of the trainees. I sometimes wonder if me not moving to train and fight in Oz a couple of years ago was the right thing?.... Well, no regrets and time to look frwd. I really hope to be back there soon. (Maybe when it's a little warmer!!!!) Also I might even consider doing a month or two stint while Im in Melbourne next time? Who knows? Fingers crossed guys!!
After the seminars I got a lot of good feedback from the trainees who attended my seminar. Some even went through the trouble of writing me an inbox msg on my facebook to tell me how much they really enjoyed my seminar and how much more knowledge and understanding they got from it. =) That was exactly what I set out to do when I was contacted to do the seminars...and I'm very very glad to have heard all that!!
Just wanna say a HUGE, THANK YOU to Keith Grant for making the seminar and the trip possible. Thank you to all the gyms who wanted me to come up and do the seminar. And also Thank You to all the trainees who drove a long way to attend the seminar. I really really appreciate it alot. Thank You!
Two Thumbs up for Zig Zach's seminar!! =)
So hopefully this is the start of something new for me?? Doing more seminars around the region or the world. So if you know any gyms that would love for me to come up and do a seminar drop me an email at contact@zigzach.com I think it would be heaps of fun and I would love to share my 2 cents worth on the sport I am so passionate and love so much. =)
April was a crazy busy month of training myself, personal training clients, photoshoots and good old DJing! =) Whatever else left time I have to myself I either sleep and rest up, Or I try and be ALONE to clear my thoughts and head out.
So Aussie Aussie Aussie.....!! I'm finally head back to Melbourne after probably 4 years or more! I'll be in Melbourne May 12th til May 17th. A pretty short trip. Well I'll be there mainly to teach a Muaythai seminar/workshop at 3 gyms. I know that 1 of the gyms has sold out on slots and has 35 - 40 ppl. =) Am pretty glad to hear that. Im really excited to do the seminar. I really enjoy teaching and making sure people learn the right technique and to hopefully make them better at the sport. Just like at Vanda me and Bangman focus alot on the basics. We focus alot on correcting the simple things like footwork,balance and even posture or stance! Only from there can you start to kick, punch and do the moves better.
This is the poster for my seminar up in Shepparton! It's about 3 hours away from the main city!
Melbourne is gonna be great fun!! Look forward to catching up with some good friends when I'm there, having some good souvlakis (kebabs!), going to the Victoria Market. Melbourne is a cool city. Speaking of cool...it's gonna be winter when Im there...!!! Ugghhhh hate the cold...!!! 4 Seasos in 1 day thats what it's known for too!! Could be blistering hot then ice cold all of a sudden!
Right I'll try to do an update when I'm over in Australia or when I get back =) There's a couple of topics/reviews I've yet to do a write up for! So I best get my lazy/busy ass on it soon!! =)
So it's already a month since I did my last blog. I really can't believe how fast time flies. My day starts of at 730am or 530am when I have early morning clients. I finish the sessions off, head to the gym train...next thing I know its 1pm and I'm headed home for my afternoon granny nap =) I head back out about 4 or 5 to the gym or to clients elsewhere....and I end my day at 9 or 10pm....It's crazy. Sometimes I really feel that there really isn't enough hours in a day!!
In that time frame of a month. A LOT has happened. Prolly the biggest change for me is actually havin Bangman being here in Singapore. Having him help me out at Vanda is turning out to be a real TREAT!!! He has settled in very well with the trainers and staff at the gym. A lot of students have complimented on him being a really good trainer and that he actually HELPS them and TEACHES them!! =) I remember when he came in and some of the students or the expat trainees saw him and thought..."oh who's this fat guy.....".....but shortly they find out Bangman is not someone you wanna mess around with!! =)
The trainees for both Muaythai & Boxing are benefiting from Bangman's experience at the gym. He used to box as a kid too, so he can train boxers in western style boxing too. I mean even after 2 weeks of Bangman being here I could see sooo much change in some of the students techniques. He's just amazing at being a coach and can really change a person's punch and kick. Even I'm learning alot about being a trainer, just watching him teach and also getting back into REAL muaythai again. I mean after awhile we forget stuff and our technique gets watered down to a MUAYFARANG (Foreigner Muaythai!) as Bangman calls it. haha
Bangman on pads =)
So since Bangman was here I took the oppurtunity to train hard and managed to get myself a fight up in Phuket. Sadly the fight only lasted 1 round.....It was really dissapointing and pretty lame if you ask me. The guy I fought has beaten some good thai's and has even beat the south thai champ 3 times. But I dont know why but he went down in the first round with me???? I dont ask for and I don't LIKE taking shit fights at all.............I would rather lose a hard fight than win an easy one. Anyways I have some more stuff lined up in Thailand and then after that I'll see. Things are obviously not getting any better or easier for me on this.
Not the proud of this...... pfffff =(
Well I'll see in the next few months, hopefully things will start getting better. Otherwise time to move on to other things. In the mean time I'm really enjoying working and running classes down at Vanda.
So been busy the last few weeks trying to organize my life with Muaythai. Again I've been trying hard to get fights and it's just been a real pain in the ass more than anything else. I'm getting more DJ gig offers than I am getting fights. Strange.........??
In the mean time I've decided to take on a new job/role to help a good friend, Ian Mullane. Ian has appointed me as Head Trainer of Vanda Boxing's Muaythai Club. We have been talking about me coming to work for him and helping him do Muaythai classes for a long time, and now that Vanda has taken over BNM and since they still have decided to continue running Muaythai at VBC the time was right =)
Ian has taken Boxing to a whole different level with his White Collar Boxing events. The White Collar Boxing events help raise money for a hospital in Cambodia that offers free medical treatment. It's a very noble cause and I'm very proud to be part of Vanda Boxing Club and Vanda Promotions now.
As the saying goes,"it's official when it's in black and white!"
As Head Trainer of VBC Muaythai. Ian has given me the green light on running the muaythai classes the way I want and how I think would make VBC a better Muaythai Gym. This is a big job I've taken on, there are already so many good gyms in Singapore and to be able to stand out from all the other gyms is gonna require alot of work. The fact that Ian trusts me and gives me the freedom to do as I deem fit is really important and very flattering. I don't doubt my abilities in running classes and teaching, I know that with my experience with training in gyms all over the world and also training with world class fighters and trainers I will be able to make VBC Muaythai a better place. I currently run the VBC Muaythai classes on Tues and Thurs 6 - 9pm but am in on nights where I'm free to make sure things are running smoothly.
At the moment I've brought in my trainer Bangman to come in and help me get things organized for abit. He's here on holiday and is happy to be here helping his favourite student out with the classes. VBC students are sooo lucky to be able to train with Bangman while he's here. Read more about Bangman if you still dont' know who he is. http://www.zigzach.com/2008/03/little-training-clip-info-on-my.html
I've been watching Bangman and Charoon Fairtex hold the classes and I can see that it's already looking alot more structured and alot more different than before. The two thai's work really well together and have been listening to my advise and my instructions on doing things and I'm really glad things are slowly taking shape even after a week of taking on the job!
In time to come, hopefully VBC Muaythai will start having fighters too. Under my guidance and the thai's, hopefully VBC Muaythai can start building a reputation for itself in the fight scene. Be it local or international.
Gong Xi Fa Cai. Happy Lunar New Year. Hopefully the year of the tiger will be better than the year of the Ox!! Now that Chinese New Year is out of the way, my work and my training will hopefully start to settle in!
As I was saying I been trying to make an effort to keep up to date more with Muaythai this year. Loads of good fights happening in 2010, starting off with the Muaythai Challenger happening last month at Siam Paragon. Now come Feb 26th a very similar event will take place, but this time held in the Mecca for Muaythai.....The legendary Lumpini stadium. This event will see one of the power houses of European Muaythai, France vs Thailand!!
One of the guys who is helping to arrange this event is Mr Thakoon. Mr Thakoon runs the very famous Sasiprapa Gym in Bangkok. A gym that has had alot of sucess with training Thai and Foreign fighters. Mr Thakoon speaks really good english and is a very friendly man who has been in the Thaiboxing industry for many many years. I have had a lot of friends who have been to Sasiprapa to stay and train long term and they only have good things to say and share about the gym and Mr Thakoon. I have yet to go to Sasiprapa but I'll definetly make the effort next time I'm in Bkk.
With Mr Thakoon's experience in the sport, Im sure his matchmaking skills for the Thai vs France fight will be amazing!! This is the line up for the France vs Thai event.
1. Petchbangprang Kaewsamrit Thai 132 Albert Chey France
2. Wahaj Topking Boxing Thai 182 Coulibaly Palmares France
10. Damien Alamos France 140 Pongsaklek Sitmorlumbud Thai
11. Sohanne Bengana France 132 Chao Sasiprapa gym Thai
The two fights that I would love to watch would be, Kongfah Auddonmuang vs Kamel Jemel and Farid Villeaume vs Saiyoke Pumphanmuang. Both will be an amazing fight!!!
Farid is one hell of a fighter and has been around for many years. Fighting some of the biggest Thai fighters in Muaythai. Nuangtrakan,Orono,Lamsongkram and even Yodsaenklai. Farid's fight against Yod was one of the most exciting fights in 2008. He did an amazing job in his first fight against Yodsaenklai knocked him down and managed a draw. His rematch however wasn't as much as what all the fight fans were hoping for...but you can't blame him especially after Yod had won Contender and was at the top of his game!!
Farid's opponent, Saiyoke is not a guy to mess around with. Many people don't know Saiyoke as he took a long break from Muaythai and fought out of Thailand alot. I dont really have alot of info on him but he used to train out of Muaythai Plaza and also trained down at my old gym in Krabi, Emerald Gym. He's a hard hitting dude and you'll see what I mean when you watch this training video of him!! OUCH!!!
Another fight I'm sure will be pretty amazing will be Kongfa vs Kamel Jemel. Kamel is another French fighter that has been fighting awhile now and has fought equally just as tough or even tougher opponents as Farid. Kamel has fought, Somluck Kamsing, Attachai Fairtex and even the scariest or scary, Bovy Sor Udomsorn. Check out the Bovy vs Kamel fight. Bovy is an ANIMAL!!
Im not familiar with the other fighters. There are alot of new upcoming Thai's and also French fighers. Im pretty sure that Mr Thakoon's experience in Muaythai will make the matchups an amazing night of war! It's gonna be an awesome night come 26th of Feb 2010 in Lumpini. So if you are in Bangkok or heading up to Bangkok this is one night of fights you really don't wanna miss. I might actually fly up for the event. Im not sure yet!! =)
Once again another late update, my apologies everyone.
I've been actually trying to get myself back into the muaythai scene. As mentioned last year was a terribly disappointing year for me. So I've been calling around and asking promoters for dates. I've already gotten hold of some dates so far, so Im just trying to organize my life around it all now. Will try update as much as I can on Muaythai as possible.
One paticular event I'm very very keen to get on is Muaythai Challenger: Thailand vs The World. They just did their first offical event on Jan 16th 2009. With an amazing line up of fighters. Kaoklai Kaenorsing, Dzhabar Askerov, Antoine Pinto, Ramazan Ramazanov, Nonsai
As we all know Muaythai is no longer a sport dominated by just Thai people anymore. In recent years there have been some huge upsets with Thai's being beaten at their own game by fighters from Holland, France, Japan and even China (This one was mostly due to dodgy judging!!!! haha!!)
With the HUGE increase in popularity in the sport. At the IFMA World Championships last year countries like Mongolia,Iraq and a few others you've never heard of or even imagine would know of Muaythai sent teams to the tournament. Not to mention with more TV coverage from events worldwide and with the TV shows like my favourite international hit TV series =) The Contender Asia....It has taken Muaythai mainstream.
Nonsai (Previously known as Sritanongchai) AWSOME FIGHTER!!
It's all about PRIDE!! =) The idea now is for the Thai's to prove that they are still the toughest in the sport and that they can take on any challenger from all over the world. I honestly think that this is a GREAT way for the sport to be promoted. They do it at low levels in touristy areas in Phuket,Samui and other smaller islands already. I mean unless you are a serious Muaythai fan you'd be interested in watching two superstar Thai fighters slug it out at Lumpini or Rajadamnern. But if you're just an average joe out for a good night out and something touristy even. You'd definetly wanna be rooting for the Thai guy to bash the white guy!! OR you'd root for the white guy who could be a fellow countrymen to bash the thai guy!! Racial or Patriotism call it what ya want....it's action we wanna see at the end of the day!!!
Muaythai Challenger however is done in a much classier,cooler and edgier style at one of the high end shopping malls in Bkk, Siam Paragon. It's all about the atmosphere and not just FIGHTS.....The night is packed with DJs spinning good music, hip hop performance from the famous band "Thaitanium", sexy girls in skimpy outfits dancing. It's ALOT better than the usual dingy sweaty stadiums with gamblers shouting and all that. For a fighter you actually for once would feel like a PRO Fighter at an awesome event! Rather than a human version of dog fighting in some caged stadium with sweaty gamblers shouting like they've put every last penny they have on you!! On top of that prefight interviews with fighters, vids of them training, info's on their background. It's all designed to make the viewers and fans know more about the fighters and not just watch them bash it out in the ring. It builds a relation and a hype. It's all very well done....very Contender Asia / ESPN style if you see what I mean.
Dzhabar Askerov, my brother from another mother!
Abit more on the people who are doing Muaythai Challenger. The idea and event is put together by Elite Boxing, run by Toli Makris who has been staging worldwide events in Thailand,Switzerland,Macua and many other places. With his team and experience in staging events, they have now decided to team up with two of the biggest names in Muaythaim, The WMC and Onesongchai Promotions to now make them a real powerhouse in the name of promotions. WMC needs no introduction, run by Stephan Fox. WMC is the governing body of Muaythai....think FIFA but for Muaythai.
The 3 Powerhouse in Muaythai unite to promote the sport we love
Onesongchai deserves a brief intro about their legacy. They are the BIGGEST name in muaythai promotions in Thailand. Khun Songchai Ratanasuban is the man who started it all and has been running promotions for over 30years now. Back in the 80s and 90's he was the man known for matching up fighters that fans would love to see. Mr Songchai was known to be the best matchmaker in Thailand and the fights that he matched up were usually exciting or turn out to be epic battles that are talked about even til this day. People don't realize but matchmakers are VERY important. Knowing which fighter,what style, what technique and what people want to see MAKE A GOOD FIGHT!!! Mr Songchai did just that. Matching fighters and putting them to the test and limits.
30years down the road his two children, Khun Siraphop (Songchai Jr) and his sister Khun Pariyakorn are helping out with the business and keeping up with times and holding quality events and fights in Thailand and around the world. Doing the Kings and Queens birthday at Sa Nam Luang, Bangkok and also still running their Onesongchai nights out of Rajadamnern Stadium and at their own Bangkok Boxing Stadium on Saturdays. They are still keeping this family tradition and business very much alive.
A couple of years ago, it was really hard to find good fight videos of Muaythai. Back then no such thing as youtube!....The only way you could get to either go watch live...?? or to either ask people who used to live in Thailand to record it and send ya VHS and you'd have to convert it.......or you had to go to watch crappy recordings from your friends video camera whenever he went to watch fights in Thailand.
Onesongchai saw an opportunity and I think this was probably the best thing they ever did for the sport. They put out DVDs of fights from the golden era of muaythai that they promoted. All the epic battles from the fighters from the 80s and 90s were available in their OneSongchai Compilation. Someo f my favourite Thai fighters and foreign fighters were featured in the dvds, the likes of, Samart Payakaroon, Coban Lookchaomaesaitong , Samransak Meungsurin, Namkhabuan Nongeepayahut, Nokweed Davy, Sakmongkol Singmanasak, Jongsanan Fairtex, Ramon Dekker, Rob Kaman.
All those fights were just of a different calibur from today. I mean I still watch some of the old fights and just am amazed. You can even find some of the newer names in in Muaythai but at their peak of their careers. Buakaw, Sakadpetch, Anuwat, Bovy.....the list goes on. If you are a true muaythai fan and lover. Onesongchai compilation DVDs are the ones you wanna get hold of and watch.
I will try to get hold of Khun Siraphop soon and hopefully I can get a chance to interview him to tell us abit more about whats happening with Onesongchaiand their plans.
Well here are the results and some pictures from the event.
RESULTS ----------- Ali Yaakub (Malaysia) vs Sornthong Dennawee (Thailand) – TKO, 3rd round Zaza (Thailand) vs (Thailand) (Joey Lee of China was replaced last moment) – points Madsua (Thailand) vs Robbie Filiponi (Austrailia) – points Kaoklai (Thailand) vs Erik Kosztanko (Slovakia) – points Nonsai (Thailand) vs Dzhabar Askerov (Russia) – points Nopparat (Thailand) vs Antoine Pinto (France) – points Ramazan Ramazanov (Russia) vs Eduardo Maiorino (Brazil) – KO, first round
Look out for more on Muaythai Challenger. It's an AWESOME event!! Next time I'll definetly fly up to catch their events or even better, next time I wanna fight on their event!!
