New Gym

Wow.. so many things have happened since I last posted and I haven't had a lot of time to get to an internet cafe to write about them.

I've taken a break from Sasiprapa for a while. It's been 3 weeks since my last fight and my chest still isn't right. I think maybe something broken so I'm not training hard, mostly jogging.

I did run into an old friend at the local mall from a gym called Sor Ploenchit. The gym takes in mostly kids who have no parents or come from poor families. He's had 260-270 odd fights and won a few belts in Thailand. He's just holidaying here, sorting out some visa stuff before he goes back to Australia to help out with teaching muay thai over there and luckily for me he's the head trainer at this gym so I get to train there for free.

The gym is really impressive. I already knew a few of the kids from last time I visited him there and they're always happy to see us white folk. It's a large gym and really well built. It's obvious the owner has put a lot of thought into its design. It has a hard wooden floor, the ring is softer then I'm used to though, you can work 360 degrees around the bags and the equipment and gloves etc are in good condition. There are a lot of mirrors and floor space in the middle. They even have showers, no hot water, but working showers, not just a bucket of water and a cup.

So I'm planning on staying there for a week or so, just some light training to stay in shape and spend some time with my friend. We play games with the kids, take them to the pool, buy them lunch (they're too poor to eat 3 meals a day) and just muck around with them a lot.

While the gym is good, it's not a tourist gym and doesn't usually take in or train new students so I'll try and make the most of the opportunity and get some photos to post up.

I'll update more as soon as I can, and try and get some photos.

Back into it

This mornings training -
6km jog
2 rounds shadow boxing
1 round fast punching
2 rounds heavy bag
3 rounds thai pads
2 rounds heavy bag
3 rounds technique work
50 knees heavy bag

Not bad for a start up session after over 1 week off. I haven't lost much conditioning or fitness. Looking forward to fighting again in 3/4 weeks time. I ran into the owner of the gym yesterday as I was buying breakfast and he told me to get my ass back to training, train for 3 weeks and fight again. Fun times.

This aftenroons training -
2km jog
1 round shadow boxing
3 rounds thai pads
2 rounds heavy bag
2 rounds tyre/footwork with weights
A lot of rounds grappling
50 knees heavy bag

Thats it, end of the day thank christ. After tomorrow I have no excuses, time to knuckle down.

Fight Round Up

Ok so it's been one week since my fight and I've stopped hurting enough to sit down at a computer and write about it.

So on the night of the fight we all got loaded into the minibus to Pattaya. There was about 14 of us and only 13 seats so I got to share mine and after a 2 hour journey, arrived with a sore back. No problem really but it was a sign of things to come.

We got to the Sityotong 'International Stadium' which in reality is a ring surrounded by go go bars. People can sit at the bar and drink and watch two fools smash on. Great stuff.

We all split up and got food then met back at the 'International Stadium' to 'check weight'. Checking weight involved my trainer and another trainer sitting around a pool table surrounded by gogo dancers, matching everyone up based on rough height and experience. I was up against a Thai who had 10 fights experience, and I found out afterwards, had just gotten out of prison. I also drew the last fight (they probably knew it was going to be a short one) which meant I wasn't fighting until around 12:30am.

So I hung around and watched some fights, met an old ex fighter named Chang who gave me some great advice (keep your hands up) in between sipping his beer. He also let me feel his calf muscle (I didn't ask for this).

Eventually 12:30 came and I was started to get tired, but excited to get into the ring. I was still surprisingly calm by this stage.

Got into the ring, managed to not fuck up the wai kru and before I knew it the fight was on. First he kicked me square in the arm and I was surprised how hard it was. Followed by a hook and a flurry of punches, none of which got through (thank god for Changs advice). Once that was over I thought 'fuck this' and wanted to knock this guy out. Up until then I thought it was going to be an easier fight than this.

So I managed to hit him with a few shots straight through his guard, and just worked on simple combinations, 1-2-kick, 1-2-hook-kick. I moved him back into the corner and his leg was starting to give out every time I kicked him. I remember having a brief moment thinking I was going to knock him out very shortly when all of a sudden he stepped up and hit me with a knee (left) to my chest. It winded me but before I got a chance to get my breath back or move he pushed my hands down and hit me with the same shot again, just to the right of my sternum. That was enough to drop me and the fight was over.

It wasn't a straight knee, I actually felt like I'd been stabbed and couldn't breathe properly for a couple of days afterwards. I couldn't lay down from sitting or move around without a really intense pain in my chest. It's been getting better slowly, day by day, but one week on it still hurts and I haven't been training. I'm going to try going for a run this afternoon, just 2kms and see how it holds up.

Surprisingly I met the owner of the gym and he wants me to go back to training tomorrow, train for 3 weeks then fight again, which I will do if I can run today no problem.

Although the fight was over quicker then I wanted, I was really enjoying it and pleased with how I fought (apart from the knockout, obviously). I just wish it had gone on longer but it's all a learning experience isn't it.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with some more training news. Thanks to everyone who emailed me, sent messages of support etc. It really does enter my mind a lot when I'm training and fighting and it helps a lot.