Thongchai Tor. Silachai
July 11, 2008 by nopstar
Trying to make the ends.
This is a little over a week old now… but Thongchai Tor. Silachai was recently arrested for selling methamphetamine (Yaa Bah) to an under cover cop. The report from the Bangkok Post said he had possession of 85 Pills, but Rob Cox from Muay Thai Focus said the number was more like 5 and it was the supplier who had the 85 Pills. Either way he’s going away for a while… The police had been building their case for nearly a year, before his arrest. Silachai said he wasn’t afraid of hurting is name as he takes full responsibility for his actions. He was however worried about hurting the reputation of his camp.
Thongchai with Hellfighter from K-1 Fans
For those of you who don’t know Thongchai 36 is a Muay Thai legend. The bantamweight fighter was the recipient of the 2001 sports writer of Thailand fighter of the year award. Throughout his fight career he amassed 5 Lumpini, Rajadomnern and WMTC titles. Thongchai was known for his explosive power, an example of this is during his fight with Teelek Por. Samranchai where he broke Teelek’s thigh bone with a monstrous leg kick.
Thongchai’s career was winding down… Thongchai admits that the decline in prize money played into his motives.
I know a lot of Nak Muay’s in their “later years”… for the most part many struggle to make ends meet. It’s a sad, but it’s the way it is. The Nak Muay’s who’ve I’ve met who are doing well can attribute their well being to strong partners. People are always saying, where did their money go? How did they blow all of their money? It’s easy for us to be perplexed but remember we’ve had years of practice. Your parent’s generally tried to impart some sort of fiscal responsibility on to you. Our outlook to money management would be entirely different if you didn’t have that guidance. Imagine from the age of 10 -20 you’re essentially told what to do every day by your camp.
I’m not trying to rationalize his behavior. I just think it’s sad. You make your decisions and you live with them right?
Trainers in Thailand make about 250-300 baht a day. More if they can get a foreigner to do privates. When you get up in years the wear and tear ads up… holding pads isn’t easy work.
Rob Cox of Muay Thai Focus posted that Thongchai is out on bail and has asked his management to arrange for one more fight. I hope they can make it happen; I would love to see him in his final fight.
Taken from the Bangkok Post.
“Down but not out
The end of Thongchai Tor Silachai’s professional boxing career may be good news for the Corrections Department.
The career of the famous muay Thai boxer, whose real name is Thongchai Pakthai, came to an end on Thursday when he was arrested by Nakhon Ratchasima police carrying 85 methamphetamine pills, only days before his next professional bout.
He admitted to police that the decline in prize money from boxing played a part in his decision to make some extra money by selling the drug to young people in the northeastern province.
But while his professional boxing career may be over, an opportunity lies ahead for him to redeem his reputation.
Corrections Department chief Wanchai Roujanawong wants Thongchai to become a trainer and work with other prisoners and former inmates who want to change their lives and become boxers.
”The department has a policy of utilising skilled prisoners for the benefit of their fellow inmates,” he said.
In Thongchai’s case, Mr Wanchai said he is confident his presence in the prison will lure other inmates to take up boxing and boost the popularity of the department’s boxing camp.
The department already turned female inmate Siriporn Thaveesuk into a star after she won the WBC light flyweight title, and now her story is set to become a Hollywood film.
The department may now produce more champions with the experienced Thongchai as a trainer. “
Sad news :(
I’m clueless about this, how do those 350 baht a day compare to other profesion salaries in Thailand?
i heard from my thai gf that the salary for a high position job in big foreign company is like between 1000 USD to 2000USD and her house maid in Bangkok costs around 150 USD – 200 USD.
Its too bad, but I guess he did what he could to make a little extra cash. And now is paying for it!
maybe its his destiny. i cant judge what he was doing…cus everyone did a little dirt when i was growing up but its too bad the penalties are much more harsh there.
Maybe he was great nak muay, but he’s a bad person by selling drugs to young people in the northeastern province to making some extra money.
It’s just me, of course I judge him, come on guys. I wonder how would you feel and think about a guy who’s tries to sell drugs to your son?
I understand he’s poor, but he’s not the only one who’s poor. Everyone can do this. It’s the easiest thing to do.
Fuckin great, This is the sort of shit that brings down the popularity of muay thai in thailand. He should not be worried about his camps reputation, he should be worried about the general sports reputation as it declines down the socialy acceptable ladder.
This sort of behaviour is why muay thai will always probably be seen as low class .
We shouldn’t be sorry for him, we should be sorry for our sport.
I second that. Muay Thai Against Drugs!
Nah man, you have to understand that yah bah use is not used by only thugs, gangsters and crackheads but is almost ingrained into the working class in order to be able to work longer and harder to make up for such low wages.
Beside when it comes to drug use, it is running rampid in schools in Thailand, the young generation is becoming more deeply involved to real drugs(weed being natural and does not count).
There is a difference between young people and children. I am willing to bet that if he hadn’t have sold it to them they would have had no problem finding it elsewhere. So don’t judge, he did what he thought he had to do, after all even your favorite Nak Muay is only human(which makes them inclined to make mistakes).
If you want someone to be disgusted with find out about Ruam Thai slaughtering civilians and the Bloody drug war the Thai government is thinking about reinstating!
well well well, lorkotekote, first of all, the “reason” he uses as explain why he needs to sell drug is unacceptable. he said he didn’t get pay well nowadays, then what about those lower class thai people??? they get even much less pay. he has house and car, if he really cant pay his bills, sell his car first. and please don’t forget he is a champion, he can still try to make money by teaching foreign students to make good money, or go fight oversea.
second of all, selling drug is a big problem, especially he’s considerable as one of the muay thai living legend. this ruins the popularity of muay thai in thailand as fighter x mentioned. think about if Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant taking drug (since they are well paid so no way they sells drug), do you think NBA will be happy about that?? Like those baseball players in MLB too. a lot of drug dealers all around the world as we all know, but this is not the job for peoples’ role model. some of these dealers may be forced to do so because of financial difficulty or lack of opportunity, but is this Thongchai’s case???
finally, if this case really ruins the reputation of muay thai in thailand, people in thai are less likely to feel proud of this beautiful art as we do. parents in thailand no longer look at the gym as a place for their kids to stay out of street crime and gangs. by then, this art may start losing as fewer thai are getting involved and we cant watch all the high quality fights from thailand anymore in the future. a lot of muay thai fans are complaining about how bad the fights are nowadays compare to the old days. i know all of us here are true muay thai fans and none of us want to see this happening.
Well well well Mr.Pac(Why are we starting our paragraphs like this?), first of all, like I said, you and I can not judge. Afterall we only know what the newspapers tell us which can contain little or no truth at all. He did what he did, and you nor myself know why what where when. That information is gonna be 2nd 3rd and 4th hand at most.
Second, this is not out of the ordinary at all. This is a singular grain of rice in a 100 acre field. Thai people will see this and say “Ok…So what else happened today?” Beside that young Thais are becoming less and less likely to take up muay Thai(or be caught dead in a gym) because their parents would prefer them to go to school where yah bah and other drugs are more than abundant.
This is like and raindrop in the sea, You really think Thais are that sensitive and weak to let something like this shake our beliefs in or Country and fellow country men? I think not. Muay Thai is not only the national sport but it is heritage! We seem to forget these kinds of amphetamines are readily available throughout the world in stores none the less.
If you ask me nong’ Dtoom makes the sport look bad(No matter how good a movie beautiful boxer was), but thats just me. One more point, Mlb Nfl and Nba players in America are some of the highest paid people on the planet, Nak muays’ wages do not even come close to matching that barley even a fraction and that includes Buakaw, it would be a miracle if he could break 500,000 dollars(us) after he pays his trainers+gym+promotions and countless other taxes.
Muay Thai is what it is, this is not the reason muay Thai fans are not getting the fights they wnat that is for sure. Find out about Samson sor Siripon, if it wasn;t for yah bah she would not have a WBC title.
anyhow I respect your opinion as a human beings, fellow muayThai fans/practicioners and people in this online community and finish this post with AsSalaamMulalakim!!
Lorkotekote, you say to Pac and the rest of us that we cannott judge Thongchai, because yabah is so prevalent, its in all the schools, the working class take it with breakfast etc etc, with a….. this is thailand sort of attitude. (with your raindrop in the sea comment are you seriously saying his fellow thai countrymen will not see him in a different light??)
Well i reserve the right to judge thank you very much, a dealer is a dealer….and if i had a child at school who was sold drugs by thongchai tor silachai i dont care how many titles hes won i would see to it he didnt do it again. Ive met thongchai and sat down with him and chatted, (via interpreter for about half an hour, he was just as courteous and humble as every other nakmuay, and i am as flabergasted by this news as the rest of the muaythai world, but i dont have a shred of sympathy for him for being a dealer, unlike you, who seems to think thats its ok, just because he may have been short of money. (he is a previous isuzu tournament winner hes had at least one official 1 000 000 Baht prize day in his career)
Ive just read everyone elses comments now and this one is pretty similar to gusnarks i suppose.
Ok, I never said it was ok mr.commando, I simply said you don’t know the circumstances. You should know that muay Thai goes hand and hand with gambling which could have played a hand, gambling goes hand and hand with crime which goes along
with criminals, obviously, just brainstorming.
1,000,000 baht huh? Seems like a big number. In actuality it comes to be a little less than 30,000 dollars US. How much of that do you think goes to him after his camp/promotion/manager/trainer get’s there cut??? could get maybe 1/5 if he is smart.
As I said in the first place, they did not report him selling to CHILDREN!! as I recall he sold to “YOUNG PEOPLE” young depends on perspective. Young can mean younger than the person reporting which in this case can be under 30-40 years old. I also think it;s great you got a chance to meet him and converse with him(through translation)
I think if anything they sympathize for him, after all his is only human. Like I said nong dtoom is not my favortie boxer but I respect “it” not to judge “it” and say it does or doesn’t have the right to do this or that and that what she is doing is right or wrong and/or has a bad influence.
Thailand is alot different from the rich and plentiful countries of Europe or America, take that into consideration. Remember “Young People” does not necessarily mean children. Somebody could have told him if you don;t sell this we will kill you, your family and friends and if you snitch we will set you up. You never know.
I have lots of friends in prison(not jail,prison) that I have sympathy for but think that their actions brought consequences. But none the less can understand that they are flawed and are not perfect, many of us(if not all) have done things that can be considered wrong by others.
The important thing is not to talk about how terrible the person, but realize that these shython(or evil things/influences) can infiltrate even the strongest or most talented people that we look up to or think very highly of(Including ourselves).
Anyway this is my last post on this topic, thank you for debating this with me, I definitely take your opinions and responses into mind, AsSalaamMualakim!!(Peace and Love)
Oh yeah COmmando, I see your from Muay Thai Uncovered? WHat’s the hold up man! I can’t wait to get me a copy of the book, please let us know when it’s ready!! Seems like a good read.
that’s why i wrote “since they are well paid so no way they sells drug” as an example of no sport organization will be happy about its players have anything to do with drug. Maybe i was just over-react to this matter and should stop here too. We come here to know more about Muay Thai, not drug.
all you guys judging him have fucking no idea what goes on in the mind of someone livingin his shoes in his environment. since you never will know what it is like to survive in his environment you all judging him need to shut the fuck up.
the whole point of this website is that he puts articles up for us to comment on, so if we all shut the fuck up as you put it there wouldnt be much going on would there,just so you dont get so upset in the future though can everybody on this website refrain from any judgemental or opinionated sentences which in any way may be construed as a viewpoint or a sentiment, please can everyone sit on the fence and say practically nothing about anything, that way SE wont tell me or anyone else to shut the fuck up
I don’t know much about drug dealing in Thailand but I know that in the states many drug dealers are a product of poverty. Unable to get into college, maintain full time jobs (that pay more than minimum wage-which you can’t live off of), or live off of government welfare, many poor people in the states resort to drug dealing. Who do they sell to? Primarily the people around them, poor people. This social trap is pretty common amongst young black men.
I can see how this would damage the reputation of muay thai as a sport, but personally I don’t care. Its a sad situation, but I think blaming Tongchai, and judging him instead of looking at the overall structure of society is even worse.
I imagine that Tongchai is an undereducated thai guy, who probably comes from a poor region of thailand (like Isaan). He probably has used the majority of his earnings on his family. The rest I assume he’s squandered away, not having the resources, or structures around him to save money to live off of later. I also assume that he’s used to living in a certain way and now that he’s not fighting constantly he’s having a hard time maintaining his lifestyle. To me all these things add up. I could see why he thought selling drugs was a decent idea giving the various pressures on him.
Matt Lucas
This reply is not to the topic but to what MAttLucas was saying about America’s dealers, actually you might be suprised to find out that most drug dealers are not poverty stricken. I know many that have part time and/or full time jobs in order to keep consistent money coming or to create a front for themselves.
I know many drug dealers in college with jobs and families and alot even have families that are well off(Rich Bitches). Alot have options but are just lazy and don’t want to work and/or see it as a glamorized lifestyle. I’d say it’s 70/30. There are a very small percentage these days that have 0 options.
In fact the problem is, is that they get caught and the marks on their records F*ck their potential up, causing them to give up more easily. Luckily I got out before I got any really serious charges. When you realize how substantially risk out weighs reward it’s mind boggling why it’s so difficult to see.
Selling Drugs to Schoolkids, and other. Dealbreaker, not Good for Muay Thai. SE Chill out, we all feel sad for Tongchai, but he messed up!!! A Bad Move Indeed!!!
I still love him. He has the nicest manner boxer that I have known. We owe to him so much. http://www.muaythai.co.th Siraphop OneSongchai
He’s back and has to be one of the fews Thais competitive at that level at the age of 37!