Matt Lucas v John Kusaba

Mike, my trainer from Pacific Ring Sports, held down the ropes for me. His large frame brought down the tight cords yet I pushed down a little further with my gloved hands. For a moment I had an irritations fear of flopping over and falling on my ass as I swung my legs over the ropes. Having safely entered the ring I took a big breath and let it out slowly. I walked into the center of the ring and did a small bow in all directions. I took up the custom after seeing multiple Thai fighters do the same prior to their bouts. The announcer said my name, and then yelled out John Kusaba’s.

John walked in with his team from FSA in Daly City California. His trainer Mark Tabuso led him to the red corner. The crowd was packed with fans, for myself, for Kusuba, and for the other fighters of the smoothly run event. While one section of the crowd screamed my name, another section screamed John’s.

“Seal the ring, Matt,” Mike said to me. Sealing the ring is the first step in the Wai Khru Ram Muay. Sadly the War of the Heroes bouts didn’t include the traditional Muay Thai ritual. I walked along the ropes touching each turnbuckle and offering a fist to the heavens. Originally sealing the ring was a way of warding off demons from the fight, well at least demons that would be adverse to oneself. I came back to my corner and took a few more deep breaths and the referee brought us together.
“I want a good fight. I want you to be gentlemen in the fight. I want that at all times,” the Thai referee said. “Are you ready,” the third man in the ring asked. Both John and I nodded. The bell rang and the first round began.

Round 1

Fights are surreal spans of time similar to traumatic events like car accidents. Time slows, and gels yet still passes, a dream like rapid and protracted tempo. Yet this bout felt differently. Instead of feeling out of beat to the clash of weapons I felt present. Due to my training, and my confidence in my trainer’s ability to impart the tools that I needed, I felt at ease. The first thirty seconds of the four round modified muay thai bout I missed with my attacks. John moved about the ring elusively. Eventually I was able to catch up to him, cutting off the ring and the real fight began. Throughout the fight John used his hands, occasionally using spinning back kicks (twice) and a few teeps. I used a good deal more of my weapons moving forward with punches to clinch, and simple combinations that landed in kicks. I even happily used some K-1 style leg kicks when John threw fast hand combination . In between rounds my corner gave me simple advice and seemed rather upbeat about my performance. I stuck to the game plan that my trainers and I had devised moving forward and kicking and kneeing.

Round 2

round 3

round 4

Eventually the fight ended. I felt that I had won the bout, but was unsure due to the American judges. I knew that it had been close in terms of number of attacks. John had outboxed me for sure and had rallied at the ends of the rounds whereas I had been more consistent with my output. When the announcer said that the first judge gave it a draw I was pretty sure that I had lost.
Judging here in the states is a bit different than judging in Thailand. Here nothing is graded, nor are rounds given based on damage (especially in the amateur muay thai world), instead things are based on points. Throwing a jab will give you the same amount of points as a cross, or a knee, or a kick, whereas all forms of attacks will differ in terms of damage. Additionally moving forward in a fight doesn’t seem as important in a fight in the states. A large portion of judges for these events come from a boxing or kickboxing background, which are different sports than Muay Thai.

In Thailand the rounds are graded with the latter rounds being more important, thus fights are somewhat similar to marathons. The fighter who can increase the pace and still deliver strong attacks will be viewed favorably. The attacks themselves are graded based on damage (it should be noted that most if not all Muay Thai in Thailand is on the professional level). Elbows which deliver the most damage are viewed the most favorably, followed by knees, and finally punches. This judging system impacts how the fighters train and fight.

Winning fights is not my goal. I know that sounds bad, but it just isn’t anymore. My goal is focused on the one thing that I can control, my performance. I wanted my performance to be well rounded and to show good Thai style. Good Thai style means delivering attacks with finesse and damage, and to move forward in the fight. I felt that my performance was more than satisfactory. You can’t control what other people do (especially the judges). Most importantly I wanted to perform to the best of my abilities, I felt that I accomplished that. My trainers, friends, and a hoard of strangers were more than satisfied with how I did.

While I felt I performed well, the main event of the night did not go so well for my trainer Coke. Coke looked slow through out the fight. He had validly complained about being sick and never seemed to be able to pick up the pace on the taller Kevin Ross. Ross came out and stayed active throughout the fight using his hands to work into a clinch position that choked the smaller Thai man.
Other notable fights of the evening included the heavy weight fight between Brandon Banda and Francisco Fuenecello. Banda knocked out Funecello with a spectacular elbow right after an uppercut that shook Funecello.

Along with the heavy weight knock out was a great bout between Jason Andrada and local Ryan Ratcliff. The two had a bout in a previous War of the Heroes card which ended with a technical draw because Andrada was dropped on his head knocking him out by Ratcliff. This fight had Andrada enacting revenge on Ratcliff. Ratcliff received two standing eight counts before Andrada put him down on the mat in the fifth round.