Last week Devid Lookmahanak faced off against WBC lightweight boxing champ Jorge Arce in Mexico.
Arce (49-4-1, 37 KO) was the heavily favored fighter coming into the bout. No one thought Devid, (18-1) would make it past the first round of the bout. In the middle of a bull-fighting arena in front of a 18,000 hostile fans Lookhamanak went the distance.
The reviews I read said it was a close battle, Arce scored a flash knockdown in the 7th round which was the deciding factor. Arce to the fight (115-113, 115-114, & 114-114)
Most of the media I saw covering the fight were all down on Arce, afterall this was supposed to be a walk in the park. Lookmahanak is a bit of an unknown in the boxing scene, he’s got an 18-1 and non-existent amateur record?
That’s because Lookmahanak comes from another sport called Muay Thai, where he won stadium belts at Lumpini and Rajadomnern.
I’m always amazed by the skills of the top fighters in our sports. For those of you who’ve done any boxing, you can appreciate how difficult boxing is. I know it isn’t a huge leap for a Nak Muay to transition into Muay Sakol (boxing) it isn’t like a table tennis player transitioning into tennis. That being said it’s a big enough to make things really hairy.
It really says speaks volumes about the level of talent at the top of our sport. I’ve often wondered how difficult it is for Nak Muay’s to hold back elbows or knees, it has to take serious training to unlearn or to suppress your natural reactions.
What do you think?
BTW: Here is a link to the fight, thanks to Matt for tracking it down and special thanks to Free boxing videos for posting.
12 responses so far ↓
1 colargol // May 27, 2008 at 1:41 am
I’d love to see that fight. Always nice to see nakmuays, whose hands are often underestimated, do well in ‘western boxing’.
ending the fight in a NC. Jemel, who appears to be a very nice guy, understood that it was just an instinctive reaction and did not make a fuss about it.
Speaking of stray elbows, I just recently saw Attachai’s second fight with Kamel Jemel on Dailymotion. This one ends with a beautiful elbow ..which unfortunately was illegal
2 fight geek // May 27, 2008 at 3:02 am
It’s hard enough going from muay thai to kickboxing rules!
Great to hear Lookhamanak is doing well in boxing.
3 tong po // May 27, 2008 at 8:47 am
Actually, not to take anything away from Lookhamanak, but Arce has not been looking like the bulldog he used to be. After his loss to Cristian Mijares, he has not looked too dominating…
Lookhamanak is a very tough customer for sure. Actually, there was another Thai who fought a few months back against a very good up and coming young Mexican boxer. The Thai was Terdsak Jandeang and the Mexican was unbeaten Steven Levuano. Does anyone know if Jandeang was a Nak Muay - I say most likely.
4 Frank // May 27, 2008 at 10:15 am
Whenever I think of Nak Muays and boxing, Samart automatically comes to mind. Followed by the words God-like.
5 ShadyEskimo // May 27, 2008 at 10:53 am
Damn I would be crying like a little bitch if I wasnt allowed to Kick, Knee, and throw my opponent. Must be pretty hard to unlearn, or maybe it isnt. Guess its individual, but I would be Lost in space.
6 tong po // May 27, 2008 at 11:31 am
I see that the Thais seem to be better at transitioning to boxing from Muay Thai fighters than others forms of kickboxing- ie K-1 style.
7 mattlucas // May 27, 2008 at 9:59 pm
The fight can be found here
8 nopstar // May 27, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Mattlucas-
Nice find! “That Thai looks tough as nails… look at the size of his legs!”
9 mattlucas // May 27, 2008 at 11:03 pm
I would actually agree with the announcers, who were seemed pretty decent, Lookmahanak won that fight on my score card. Although I know little about boxing judgind.
-He threw more accurate punches (although not as many punches as Arce)
-He threw stronger punches -Remember the early wobble that Lookmahanak gave to Arce
-His defense was better (his knockdown I would say was a slip)
-He was sharper and better conditioned through out the fight.
-He decided the pace of the fight for 2/3 of the rounds thus better ringmanship
With that it seems that Lookmahanak shouldn’t have counterpunched so much. In the later rounds he was really taking it to an albeit tired Arce. If Lookmahanak had let his hands go a little more might have won more favor with the judges.
Being in mexico probably didn’t help it much. He probably should have tried to land more body shots too.
It was an interesting bout for sure. I tried to see the cross over in technique. Lookmahanak had better conditioning, and had an economy of motion that is certainly attributed to high level muay thai fighters.
10 JoeFromSoCal // May 28, 2008 at 10:41 pm
of course they give it to arce its in mexico. look did a good job. maybe arce thought look would be a walk in the park and didnt train hard. think again!
11 pac // May 29, 2008 at 8:43 am
feel bad to lookmahanak, he did a very good job in this fight. i just cant understand the judge scoring. you can tell Arce is pretty tired for the last 2 rounds and completely gave up at the end (just being cocky but no action). anyway, if Lookmahanak fights next time, i will definitely watch it.
12 SE // Jun 3, 2008 at 11:28 am
lol mexico…..i remember that show fight quest or whatever. they had one where they learned boxing in mex. mexicos audience had the worst fucking attitude ever.
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