Sawatdee Pi Mai / Happy New Years.

Got back from Bangkok last night… it’s always great to get back. Had an uneventful New Years, good considering the bombings. Fucking Pricks, bums me out to think about it. Everyone is fairly sure that the culprits are those still loyal to the former Prime Minister. Enough about Thai politics…

The other day I was fortunate enough to train with Samkor Keatmonthep. For those of you who don’t know who Samkor is, he holds 5 Lumpini belts, and several other titles… enough said. He used to be at Ingram Gym in Bangkok, he currently calls Muay Thai Plaza 2004 home.

I hadn’t met him beforeso I didn’t really know what to expect. He rolled up to me with a serious gangster strut, gave me a head nod and told me to grab a jump rope. We started off with him watching me shadow box for a couple of minutes. He grabbed the Thai pads and away we went. After the first round he stops me, holds up both his elbows to my face and says “I don’t care what anyone says… the elbows are the most important weapon in Muay Thai… and your right elbow is shit”

who’s the chubby kid?

Dang… I woke up the next day sore as fuck. We went out for some grub the following day, and I asked him “my shoulder is stiff as shit… how many elbows do you think I threw yesterday?” ” I would say at least 400″. He ended up working me for about 2 hours throwing right kicks, right elbows, and some punches. I also think he really enjoyed punching my soft gut as well, damn I need to lose some weight.

One of 5

Afterwards we went back to his place and chilled. He lives in a modest studio near the gym. We talked about his upcoming appearance in the contender. (I’ll write more on that later) I also found out that he’s never been to the US. He’s actually actively looking to get a gig as a trainer/fighter for a Muay Thai camp in the States. If anyone is looking for a trainer/fighter you should get in touch with me. He doesn’t speak a lick of English, so it would be helpful if you already have a Thai Trainer, or someone who speaks Thai. I asked him why America? Why no Europe? Japan? ” I want to meet 50 Cent” What? That’s why you want to come to the US? mmmm…. ok. It turns out Samkor has a huge hip hop collection. He’s a huge 50 cent fan, I tried explaining to him that 50 cent wasn’t that popular anymore but he wasn’t having any of it. So if anyone out there knows how to get in touch with 50 Cent… he has an open invitation to be trained by Samkor.

Straight Gangsta

We talked at length about Muay Thai fighters fighting MMA. He felt it was a shame that Ramon Dekkers was fighting MMA. “Ramon is a great Muay Thai fighter… he shouldn’t be doing this…” He also talked about the frustrations of being a Thai fighter in the European tournaments. “If we fight in a tournament they only want one Thai on the Ticket… usually it’s going to be Buakaw. If I don’t knock out my opponent I’m always in danger of losing…Everyone wants to build up their fighters reputation buy saying they beat me” Apparently he recently lost a decision in Italy.

Here is a decent highlight clip I found. Enjoy.

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If any of you have a chance to make it to Thailand to train I recommend looking him up. You can get in reach his manager Mr. Pong on the Muay Thai Plaza website.