CategoryPattaya

2 years ago

One Hundred and Forty-Third Fight – Faa Chiangrai Sor. Sakunthong

March 1, 2016 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pattaya – full fight video above, video commentary below I’m in the restroom at Thepprasit Stadium, beginning the one million times I will pee before having my gloves taped on halts that, and as I step out of the stall I see two girls braiding their hair in the mirror and a third is standing in the doorway. That third one is my opponent, Faa Chiangrai. We look at each other and smile. I feel a bit awkward seeing her, even though I saw her about a month ago in Chiang Mai when we 

2 years ago

One Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Fight – Mintza Por. Somingdam

January 5, 2016 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pattaya I’d expected to be rematching Rungnapa Por. Muangpet again, but two days before this fight Pi Nu said (with some disappointment in his voice) that she hadn’t been training and that I’d be fighting someone else instead. I call bullshit on that story. You must know prior to two days before a fight whether or not your fighter has been training. But it didn’t matter to me. They had this other opponent in mind but she was 55 kg, Pi Nu said. This was kind of amazing though, because for a very long 

2 years ago

One Hundred and Thirtieth Fight – Gaewdaa Por. Muangpet

November 17, 2015 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pi Nu’s Birthday and my brother John’s Birthday – full fight video above The Day of the Fight – Pi Nu’s Birthday The gym had been transformed from a haven for sweating, shouting teenagers slamming their limbs into bags and pads, into a series of rooms filled with elders and the kids dressed in their best shirts and long pants, tending to the tables after tables of food. Bank was tasked with waving an electric mosquito racket over the fruit trays. I looked at all the men wearing pink polo shirts, the kids in 

2 years ago

One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Fight – Rungnapa Por Muangpet

October 20, 2015 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pattaya – full fight video above This was more or less a face-saving fight opportunity. I’d looked poorly against Gaewdaa the month before and, while I fought hard and pretty well, I lost a fight where there were barely any actual points scored. I lost because I looked bad. So Pi Nu got me on another card at the same stadium in a quick way, which was really good. Rungnapa is from the same gym as Gaewdaa but they’re very different fighters. So, yeah, I felt a little pressure to make sure I did much 

2 years ago

One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Fight – Gaewdaa Por. Muangphet

September 29, 2015 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pattaya – full fight video above This was the first time I fought for the Petchrungruang gym in a long-ass time. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for me to fight in Pattaya, so I got Pi Nu’s blessing to be booked through other means and he happily lets me go do what I want/need to do to fight more often. But fighting on the “home turf” is definitely a pressure situation, since I’m representing the gym in what is essentially our backyard. Added to this, Petchrungruang associates were co-promoters of this event, so 

3 years ago

One Hundred and Thirteenth Fight – Loma Lookboonmee

April 19, 2015 – Bang Saray Beach, near Pattaya – full video above Sangkran Festival fight! I’d been told by both Pi Nu at Petchrungruang and Sangwean at O. Meekhun that there were matchups all week at Bang Saray Beach during Sangkran. Basically, you show up in the morning and stand on a scale, then see if there’s anyone there your same size to fight. Sangkran is the Thai New Year (the actual date changes on Jan 1st with the rest of the world, but Songkran is a much bigger celebration; it’s on the lunar calendar) and the celebration lasts 

3 years ago

One Hundred and Second Fight – Muangsingjiew O. Wanchert

January 4, 2015 – Max Muay Thai Stadium, Pattaya – full fight video above I kind of don’t know how to write about this fight.  I’m having a hard time every time I start to write, getting stuck just listing events and not really attaching my actual experience to them.  Maybe it’s because this was a really big fight for me and was a rematch against an opponent who quite frankly kicked my ass about 1.5 years ago.  So that fight and this fight are two ends of a wormhole that kind of collapse together the entire universe of experiences 

3 years ago

One Hundreth Fight – Yodcherry Sityodtong

December 15, 2014 – Thepprasit Stadium, Pattaya (ching champ 47 kg) – full fight video above This fight is dedicated to Dana Hoey, who is an awesome woman and supporter of my GoFundMe campaign to get me to fights.  My 100th fight was to be in Buriram, but for various reasons that fight fell through – it’s part of it all to have this happen – so I got to rededicate to Dana this fight.  Thanks very much! Phetjee Jaa is wearing the red and white striped shirt that Kevin and I got it for her on our last trip 

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