Saturday Night. pt 3. James Fight

James had been teaching English and learnign Muay Thai in Chiang Mai for the past month and was having his first fight at Loi Khro Stadium tonight. Loi Khro stadium consists of a ring surrounded by bars, the occupants of which are all quite eager to shall we say “befriend foreigners” its not really much of a stadium more so a place for  falang to get pissed, and screwed out of their money for VIP tickets that mean absolutely nothing. I had been to the Loi Khro stadium twice since I arrived and really didn’t want to pay bt350 when all I wanted to see one fight, also the quality of the fights here is……….I’ll put it this way, at any one show you will see “cock fights” “blind boxer fights” (this consists of 3 men blindfolded who get in the ring and just swing hay makers at each other, which I actually find hilarious no matter how staged it is, I like dumb things), “show case fights” this is like a rehearsed fight, which includes some flashy moves and bad acting, if you dont realize this thing is staged you either have been hitting the Chang far too much or are just plain naieve and will be eaten up in Thailand. So anyway being the cheap skallywags that we are, we decided we would try to sneak through the back of one of the bars that surrounded the stadium, we walked down a soi-lane and there just calling to us was a shabby sheet nailed to a post seperating us from the street and the bar through which you could walk straight into the stadium “bingo” we thought, we thought wrong.

Now I’m going to interject here and descrbe a certain job not right now available but certainly in existance at the soi behind Loi Khro, duties are simple sit very still in the shadows, watch falang go for the “shabby sheet nailed to a post”  bait, scare the shit out of falang, and then with a big smile bring them to the main entrance to pay full price in like they should have done in the first place.

So yeah, from the shadows a Thai emerged who must have been wearing Loi Khro esq camouflage because he literally apparated Harry Potter style in front of us “yes Muay Thai this way” and led us around to the abundantly obvious  main entrance “oh how stupid of us not to have noticed, what silly falang we all are”. Anyhow somehow we managed get four of us in for the price of one ticket. This is Thailand. We headed to the bar where our gym usually sets up (set up I guess is a term I’m using quite loosely here, as all it involves is unrolling a bamboo mat on the floor), the Thai kids from our gym sat at the back of the bar paying little interest to what was going on around them, I guess when you have been going to the same stadium at least once a week since you were 8 it starts to loose its intrigue. Then there was James oiled up and ready to go!

After what was perhaps the longest cup fitting I think I will ever witness I talked to James “yeah I’m feeling good mate, I just want to get in there ya know” he explained in his English city accent. He appeared relaxed while he shadowboxed at the entrance to the bar. His fight was the last of the night, it seems that is often the way here, I guess it keeps the place filled with foreigners for as long as possible providing ample opportunities for the bar girls and children alike selling trinkets among the crowd. I wished him good luck and turned on my feet to watch the last round of the current fight, I stopped half way to the ring and returned back to the bar, blue corner had immediately been nailed with a cracking right elbow to the jaw he dropped limp to the canvas, “that was quick” I thought. At the bar I got talking to James boss Jin who runs the English school he teaches at. “English, I’ve been speaking that my whole life” with that and other ingenious lines I somehow managed to secure a job that would start the following week and I would also be able to get Thai lessons in exchange for some of my hours and so for the second time that night I thought “that was quick”. I’d known I would need to start working in Chiang Mai eventually but I didn’t think (A) It would be that easy (B) It would happen so quickly and (C) I would have my interview while dodging lady boys and sipping a Chang. This is Thailand.

The time came for James fight and as is tradition during fights all members of our gym made our way to James corner. The Thai James was to fight looked to be in good shape, he had a lean body and the trademark thick kegs of a nak muay (Thai Boxer) on either of which were a set of intimidating looking tattoos. The music from the traditional 5 piece band began and each fighter made their way around the ring performing the wai khru. This involves both fighters wai-ing (bowing) at each corner of the ring to pay respect to their khru’s (teachers). After this James’s opponent performed his ram muay (boxers dance) this is a graceful and smooth dance is designed to showcase each boxers balance, fluidity, and poise. Both boxers walked to the center of the ring to touch gloves, the bell rang, the fight began.

It was over quickly, James won, he left the ring with a distraught look on his face.

Watch it here Fight

The size difference only became readily apparent when they touched gloves, James was maybe half a ft higher and perhaps 5kg heavier (I later learned his opponent was told he would be fighting someone 10-15lb lighter). Once the bell rang there was maybe a 30second feel out followed by a barrage offence from James, he started with punches and as his opponent covered up to defend James pulled him into a clinch and fired in solid knees he followed these up by raining  elbows down on his opponents head. Blood ran down the Thais back, the referee stopped the fight, it lasted just over 2 minutes. I thought the elbows were certainly unnecessary (I think James realized this after the fight as well which is why he felt bad) and the fight was horribly mismatched (size wise) but James had taken the fight and that takes a set, out here you never know who your going to meet in the ring. I congratulated James on the fight and told him we had to head out though to a club called “Warm Up” on Nimmamhaemin road if he was interested, he said he would have to get showered and that but he would probably be out soon enough. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the guys from the club and made our way out of the fortress of bars. As I left I noticed James’s opponent lying reclined with a wet towel over his face in a chair at one of the bars receiving his stitches.

Born in Australia, training in martial arts since the age of 9. My first trip to Thailand was back in 2007. Since then i have made numerous visits back to the "land of smiles" to feed my addiction of Muay Thai. During the month of November in 2010 i had to decide between working a 9 to 5 job back home for the rest of my life, or sell all my worldly possessions and move to Thailand to live and train for the next few years. Thankfully i chose the latter. I now spend my time training Muay Thai, meeting new and interesting circles of people, sipping coconuts under palm trees on the beach and measuring the cost of everything on how much Pad Thai i could buy with that money.

Mike (Admin)

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