White Lotus and His Future
July 24, 2009 by nopstar
There’s an interesting piece on Buakaw in MuayMag earlier this week. It’s translated from a Thai paper, Khao Sod.
The ever-confident Buakaw predicts he’ll be meeting Petrosyan in the finals. I hope he’s right.
The interesting tidbit is that Buakaw goes on to say that if he wins this next Max, he want to call it quits. I think that would be a wise move on his part. I’d really like to see him go out while he’s still relatively on form.
There has been a lot of talk on the Thai forums that K-1 management wants him out anyway. Either way it doesn’t matter, I think Buakaw has already done so much to raise the profile of MuayThai, that I would be fine with him rolling out now.
Buakaw talks about wanting to travel the world, picking up fights wherever they wanted him/could afford him. I hope he get his wish soon…
He needs to quit before the Yod dodging becomes to blatant.
wise decision by him, but i doubt that he will win(i think his form isn’t good enough to win against petro) and if he doesn’t win i don’t think that he will win the next one.
so in his position i would quit anyway and start picking fights around the globe
judging from his past couple fights he needs to quit. it seems to me like if he fights thais in their prime[which i dont he has plans for] he will get his ass handed to him. does he avoid fighting thais cus hes scared? it seems like a few thai fighters that fight in japan and europe avoid fighing other thais.
I think BPP’s is a more complete fighter than Yod in being able to utilize all the MT weapons. I think the prob now is that he doesn’t have the heart to stand up to Yod’s inevitable western style flurry of attacks from the 1st min of the 1st round. I think every fighter just hits a mental wall at some point (De La Hoya last couple fights) that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with fitness, etc., and i think BPP hit that wall when he got KO’d for the first time. But i’m sure gonna miss seeing his classic MT style in K-1 as i dont think Yod can completely fill that void.
Interesting article.. Maybe if he leaves they finally sign Yod.. That would be awesome, how much I liked Masato and Buakaw, Imo it’s long overdue to have a breath of fresh air in Max, If now they can get rid of that classless pussy boy Kraus I’ll be delighted..
That being said, I think the odds are stacked against him against Souwer, but If he manages to beat both Souwer and Petrosyan in the final he’ll be the Greatest Max champion ever until this point imo
I dont understand why people are STILL on going on about BPP and Yod, and for example the first post, “yod dodging”.I thought this was established at least 12 months ago?There is such a massive weight difference as to make that fight pointless and its been that way for a good long time now.
Yod in K1 would be ace he’s not really got anywhere else to go has he?Id like to see BPP go balls out in the final and end it in blaze of glory, If he really is going to retire I bet he’l go hell for leather in thie last tournamnent.
I have always thought that Buakaw was better than K1 (K1 is a joke), I think he’s just hit a mental rough spot in his career (possibly life too) and now he just wants to relax and still fight on his own accord. I don’t know if Buakaw has what it takes to beat either Souwer or Petrosyan right now, he’s not doing very well against boxers but if he can use his teep and legs like he did against Nieky, he might do fairly well. All the best of luck to BPP.
That’ll be sad watching K1-Max without Bukaw in the future. All the best to Bukaw.
IMO, Buakaw can win the whole thing, I thought that he won all his k1 fights against Souwer especially when Souwer won the championship; therefore I think that he can beat him again and again. No one in K1 has technique like the white lotus. However, he does seem burned out, hopefully he can bounce back.
Hey Nop, can you elaborate on why does K1 would want to get rid of the best fighter they ever had?
Kraus definitely has to go.
I’m sure buakaw is in it for the money. K1 pays more than most Thai fight purses.
If Buakaw won it this year, beating Sauwer and Petro in the same night, that would pretty much be the most awsome thing that ever happened in the world ever?…
BPP is a great Thai Boxer, but he needs to fight YOD! Fuck it, promote the shit out of it and cash out! Let another Thai get a chance to make sum $$$
sudan. its the japanese. they have are stupid.
What Buakaw did for MuayThai no other Thai fighter did. He’s the shit, he’s a legend.
I hope he quits in K-1 soon, because he looks unmotivated, burned out(?). For me he didn’t progress as a fighter in K-1, quite on contrary. For the last 5 years, he’s fighting the same faces over and over again in K-1. Watching him fight in Champions of Champions against JWP was great, his wai khru was awesome… hope to see him fighting under FTR, when he’s prepared and motivated.
Maybe he should simply quit and test himself as an actor… btw, what’s up with that film his participating in?
SE, what makes the japanese stupid? Is it that they don’t want a Thai to win? Money? He put MT and K1 on the map.
Loco..”BPP is a great Thai Boxer, but he needs to fight YOD!”…..Buakaw doesn’t need to do anything at this point of his career…..Now had u said “YOD needs to fight Buakaw” then I would have understood. At the end of the day…..Buakaw makes the most money of the two, is the most recognized of the two and stands to lose more outta the two.
As far the main topic of this thread…..I just don’t think Buakaw is as hungry as he was when he first started on the road to being a K-1 champ…he’s accomplished that since and after witnessing the tribulations K-1 has put him through ( and God only knows what happened behind closed doors) it’s not uncommon to see someone lose his fire!….but if you have watched his last couple fights, he is now fighting much better than he was last year….I think he now has something to prove.
As far as “Burnt out” the only real way for us to kno whether he’s burnt out or just tired of K-1 is watch him fight outside of K-1.
I agree with BPP not looking as motivated anymore. In fact, I think he looks most motivated when he first came into K-1 Max in 2004.
I also agree that we should cut all the “BPP should fight Yod” crap. Although its pretty understandable why Nathan (the first poster) thinks BPP is dodging Yod. After all his username is linked to the Fairtex website. That pretty much explains it all. I’m sure everyone training out of Fairtex thinks the way Nathan does. Yod is after all the biggest Fairtex icon right now.
of course they dont want a thai to dominate. they always favor japanese to win. the judges as well if it wasnt painfully obvious. this is not even mentioning what really goes on behind the scenes.
Horc00……lmao…..pretty good detective work, buddy!…..lol. I hadn’t even realized that.
Buaky does not HAVE to do anything..he has earned his retirement. I would be after starting fighting at such a young age. Training and being consumed by the next fight. No few fighters could hope to reach his level of recognition. He has to be tired of it..there is more to life. I would love to see a Sombat MT gym open up..maybe he can run a good camp..have some fighters who he can help send out internationally…Hey wont it be sweet to have BPP training you..
either way..in 8 hours I will check into 13 coins…once jet lag cools off I will start my 1st training here..maybe I will see the Dr…maybe one day I can say I am checking into BPP gym=)
what ever he does, i am going to support him. i know its coming to the end of hia carer, but he has done so much with it. and pedkeemaw, enjoy bud ^__^
Lol thanks spydaman!
Oh… padkeemaw, I think White Lotus Gym has a much nicer ring to it… That’s the kind of name I would like to have printed on my T-shirt while walking with my head held high!
Buakaw quitting K-1 wouldn’t be that bad of a thing. They’ve deliberately tried their best to hamper his chances of success and he won 2X despite that. He’s proven everything there really is to prove in K-1. I’d love to see him back in action internationally and be done with K-1 rules altogether and come back to Muay Thai. With the advent of K-1 MAX as freakshow every day too maybe the timing is good.
I also am probably alone in this but I don’t see Buakaw as all that shot. He ran through Nieky Holzken and barely exerted himself to do it.
The Yod versus Buakaw fight would be super event I suppose but where are they going to do it at? If Yod pissed hot for HGH that pretty much kills any chance of it being in Europe. From a business perspective too, Buakaw has made the lion’s share of the money and unless a payday with Yod warrants it I cannot see that happening either. So with no one that can pay that purse and a possible ban where they might pay who’s going to make it happen? I cannot see Thailand throwing out the paper necessary to make it happen, I don’t see any other org outside of K-1 willing to pony up the cash.
The Fairtex challenge had validity for a time but now its pretty pointless given the reality of the situation. The time to do it was when Buakaw was absolutely mirking everyone in a very impressive way. But then again Fairtex hadn’t bought Yodsaenklai’s contract yet.
OK 1st day of training at Saenchais done..unfortunately my traiing at SInbi starts tomorrow so I have to fly down to phuket in a few hours…
I met the Dr..in fact he was just sitting next to me checkin email and asked me to translate something for him..from what petty Thai I know…he let me take pic and all..
traiing was a wash since I ran before….gassed easy but then I was nervous…LOL trainer asked for hi kick and I kicked high..missed pad and caugh him in face…he said somehting in thai…everyone laughed..then he gave me kick after kick till I gassed,,,whew..quads and lats are sore..
White Lotus MT..yesss…I can see it now
i hate when people doubt Buakaw. I absolutely LOVE this kid. (i know i’ve said that 10 trillion times on this…) But he truly is amazing. Buakaw is an all around athlete. Not only does he fight like a warrior but he’s amazing at everything else he does. He runs faster then freakin lightning, He’s a phenom @ that little kick-ball hacky sack game they play in thailand… i saw him do AMAZING stuff. THe only thing i saw him NOT do well is ride a motorcycle LMAO (you had to be there)
I think if he wants to push himself to the end he will. I mean you have to understand he’s been doing this for SO long…. he’s probably had atleast 100 more fights in his career then anyone else in K-1! It’s amazing he’s done so well for so long! Again, a PHENOM. Give him some credit. He’s a legend.
“of course they dont want a thai to dominate. they always favor japanese to win. the judges as well if it wasnt painfully obvious. this is not even mentioning what really goes on behind the scenes.”
It pretty much happen everywhere, not just the japanese, but in their hometown of thailand as well.
not as bad as the japanese. and the thais have REALLY good fighters so i dont care. biased? no. the thais created the art. the japanese took it and renamed it like it was their own shit. typical jap behavior…