I’ve just put up a pair of Thaismai, 6 oz, lace-up gloves for auction on Ebay. We’re heading up to Chiang Mai for two fights against two very good, top-level and world class 50-51 kg opponents, Cherry and Thanonchanok.
above is a video explaining the auction
I booked these fights in a “rogue” style. Usually you have a gym backing you and my fights in the past year have entered into a different level of fighting in Thailand, which is to fight with side-bets, where each gym puts up an “ante” in a double-or-nothing gamble. For example, each gym puts up 10,000 Baht and the winner walks with the 20,000. In order to get the fighters that I wanted in this case, their gyms wanted 10,000 Baht from each side, each fight. My gyms in Pattaya put up the side bets when I fight through them and I don’t have to think about it much, but because I’m booking these fights for myself, I have to bet on myself. It’s kind of awesome, actually, but 10,000 Baht is about $305 and that’s a lot of money to me, over $600 total. Which of course means it’s a lot if I win, too.
Putting money on a fight in the side bet is a way is like a “buy-in” for a poker game, to use Vegas terms. I want to fight these world champion opponents, and many of the top fighters only fight when there’s money, but it’s also a way to be certain that you’re fighting a top-level opponent at their top level. I wrote about how many fights in Thailand are not what they seem, and how money bet is one of the few signatures of a full fight: The 80 Percent Fight – A Hidden Story Behind Western and Thai Match Ups. So I’m actually really excited about these fights and the side bets are a big part of being able to get these opponents. It’s also very “Thai” for the side bet to be a group effort, or a pool from a community. When you have a 10,000 or 100,000 Baht side bet, it’s usually a group of people going into it together – so this auction is a way to do that as well.
You May Win These Gloves for Free*
Whatever the final ebay bid ends up being, that will be going toward the side bets of these two fights. As an added bonus and appreciation, if I end up winning both fights the winning bidder will get a refund of the winning bid price and I’ll send the gloves (almost) for free* (free being minus shipping and ebay costs). So in a way you’re betting on the fights with me!
The auction is for a pair of new, blue, lace-up, 6 oz Thaismai brand gloves. I love Thaismai. It’s a very old, somewhat now low-profile Thai equipment company (so old that a few years back when I came to the gym with my new gloves my trainer, Den, was astonished and a little nostalgic that this company still existed) and I have a particular inclination toward them because Master K always had a small, cloth sign hanging in his basement of Thaismai. It was, at the time, un-pronouncible to me. (It’s thai suh-my.) So that’s why I first bought them, but they’re a really great quality glove and I have kept with them throughout my years here in Thailand. I always wear lace-up because Velcro a) doesn’t close around my tiny wrists and gets all scratchy, and 2) is for the weak! Lace-ups are where it’s at. Just the other day I was having a talk with Pi Nu about the superiority of lace-up gloves.
(You don’t have to tie them on when you train. Either roll the strings around your fingers a few times and then shove your hands in so that you’re kind of holding the laces inside the gloves, or tie them like a shoelace at the base of the glove and shove the whole knot and ends inside before putting your hands in.)
I use these same 6 oz lace-ups in training every day – not this pair, obviously, but the exact same style, weight, etc. I have one red pair and one blue, which I alternate so they can dry out. They are part of my daily grind, for sure. I’ve signed the right glove on the padding from the thumb to the knuckles. You can punch people in the face with my signature, I guess!
Happy bidding! Ebay: Thaismai Lace Up Gloves, 6 oz, signed
