Day 19: Stadium days.

Knowing today would only be a half day puy my nagging knuckles a little at ease. I snuck in my own workout as Kru Daam, Kru Mee, and Pii A were already in Bangkok with P'neh for his early morning weigh in. Everyone is fighting or has just fought leaving the numbers really low in the gym which is A-OK with me. More time for padwork and technique but less people to clinch with and tech spar, takin' the good with the bad.

We ate a quick breakfast and split up into groups to head in for the fights around 3pm. Jen and I went with Mama on the public minivans, Brendo and the Englishmen went with Papa in the car and poor Doug kinda got screwed with miscalculations and had to head in by his lonesome via bus.

After milling around the gear shops, eating some zany soup with all sorts of unfamiliar fungus and meats in it, we headed to our ringside seats (which are 2000bt but we paid 1500bt. every little bit counts.) for the night's battles. Pornsaneh would be the 4th fight of the main card, one before the main event. He would be squaring off with Palangtip, who according to Rob Cox is fast and technical but doesn't deal well with getting hit hard...that's not verbatim.

The first fight of the night featured a Kiatphontip (Rob's gym) 100lber fighting for a massive side bet. He would come out on top convincingly demonstrating proficiency in just about all 8 of his limbs.

The next few fights were great, back and forth battles that sent the bettors into a frenzy for the last 2 rounds of every single time. The fight before Pornsaneh's...good lord. Talk about "weathering the initial storm." I'll be checking Rob's site (http://www.muaythai2000.com/ - you're a fool if you're not already wise to it!) to catch these guys' names because the fight was just phenomenal. A true battle between two types of nak muays found on opposite ends of the spectrum. Blue corner (again...names unknown) came out heaving each shot in with 100% power looking to close the fight early with either his right cross, left hook or right leg kick or any combination of those. Each shot was felt in the first few rows ringside, inciting some serious cringing from the unprepared foreigners just looking to catch some "authentic mai tai." Red corner soaked up some savage punishment for 2 solid rounds, 6 straight minutes of the unrelenting assault. His lead leg looking worse for wear but managed to teep his opponent to keep him out and tie him up in the clinch before the elbows starting following the hooks and crosses.

The 3rd round, when the real fight begins, usually determines which fighter is awake and ready for the long haul. The judges are now making pencil marks on their score cards and aware of which way the crowd is swaying with the deafening roars of "OOOOAHWHEEEY." Red corner begins to come alive now sensing his opponents frustration and semi-depleted gas tank. To completely empty that gas tank, red corner begins heaving in those body kicks knowing just how much they really matter to the judges, the bettors and his opponent. His clinch became active, never letting his opponent catch a moment's rest, continually burying knees that only get harder and heavier as the rounds progressed. By the 5th round, Blue corner's corner had enough and began to wave him off as to avoid further damage and take the defeat gracefully. Red corner seemed to sense this and wasn't ready to let him off that easy - the toe shaped bruises on his lead leg may have reminded him not to let his visibly winded opponent off just yet. Red corner pushed forward with teeps to the chest now, jarring his opponent into the ropes where he would fall prey to the clinch again. The knees were now more exaggerated, red corner leaping into the air using his opponents neck as leverage to swing in punishing tip knees knowing his opponent would not have the energy to muster a sweep or a turn. Soon red corner honored the last 60 seconds of his opponent, backing away and began celebrating his hard earned win.



Pornsaneh hit the ring next, all eyes on the the wrecking ball attempting to make his return to the ring after a string of rough defeats in 2010. One thing about P'neh is that he is unforgettable - his fighting style (Sitmonchai's fighting style I should say) is very much different from the average nak muays. I'm assuming at a young age, he and his camp realized he had dynamite in his hands paired with a penchant for burying his shinbone in all parts of both his opponents legs. While he most certainly can clinch, elbow, body kick with the rest of 'em, his explosivity and his overall savagery in the ring - ripping through obvious blocks, smashing forearms, heavy punches to the body...making the first 3 rounds for his opponent a living hell are what make him a standout. P'neh has some serious credentials to back this, earning belts, titles, fight of the year as well as massive heart in the ring keep him a favorite in the eyes of fight fans around the country.

Tonight would prove to be another tough night in Pornsaneh's fight career as he would be stopped in the 3rd round with a well timed elbow. His opponent was indeed fast, he was technical and he knew what he would be getting into stepping in the ring with Pornsaneh. I'd like to think that when you have been fighting as long as P'neh and you consistenly keep the same style...people tend to have battleplans. Such was the case tonight as the first two rounds Palangtip kept his distance landing left kicks across Pornsaneh's arms at will. P'neh did make his way in a few times and let his hands and legs go, each time with good results. Palangtip was somewhat unsure of how to handle the heavy hands bearing down on him. While Palangtip probably had a good 2 - 3 inches on P'neh, he brought things in close sometime in the first round with a straight elbow, cutting Pornsaneh right on the outside crease of his right eye. This cut would prove to be more of a nuisance as blood would pour after Pornsaneh would so much as squint with that eye. 3rd round, Pornsaneh began to do with his does and kick at will with reckless abandon, crashing into Palangtip's block and following up with hands. He was now moving Palangtip around, terrorizing him to all 4 corners of the ring, shrugging off Palangtip's attempts at clinching. At one point, Palangtip threw a lead knee to keep P'neh from coming in, which P'neh caught with both hands, dropped and attempted to hammer a kick into that lead leg as it got to the ground. My guess is that Palangtip saw the two handed grab and used his noggin. He would throw another knee baiting P'neh to grab low and throw a left horizontal elbow while coming forward. The elbow landed heavy, right between Pornsaneh's nose and lip (you know...that little spot with the nerve center in it..the foldy duck looking part) and down P'neh went with a thud. The ref declared it a knockout and rightfully so.

Tough break for P'neh, but sure enough he was back to goofing around by the time we returned to the camp. His apologies killed me as just seeing him get in the ring was awesome and an honor in itself. Regardless of the outcome, we all got a first hand showing of the warrior spirit that he is known for and he even showed us how to lose like a champ, haha. Coupla' stitches, some "quack quack" fat lip jokes and he's still the same guy he was before he got in the ring. Also, his wai kru was beautiful, he looked super relaxed and moved gracefully right through it...I might throw that video online. Not too sure how cool he'd be with putting the actual fight up. Not yet at least!

PS: Apisak won his fight at Raja with a monsterous right elbow in the 3rd! We watched it on TV this morning, apparently there was 100-1 odds against him? Some pretty cool pictures of him in the Muay Thai newspaper that circulates here. I wish I was in the newspaper for something other than my community college's deans list...womp wommmmp.

Up next: Brendan is gonna do two entries, one detailing our trip to Wat Bang Phra today to get our sak yants.