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OC Kickboxing & Mixed Martial Arts fighter Joel Phelan of Huntington Beach, CA
knocked out his opponent from the Academy of Striking and Grappling on Friday night in Moreno Valley in the First Round.
Joel displayed his well-rounded skills in a convincing fashion and scored a sweet knockout with punches, knees and low kicks.
OC Kickboxing & Mixed Martial Arts fighter Yoko Hamamura of Newport Beach, CA scored a first round knockout in his Muay Thai bout against his opponent out of the Academy of Striking and Grappling Friday night. Yoko delivered devastating low kicks and punches buckling his opponent to the canvas. By the end of the First Round, the ASG fighter could no longer stand up which prevented him from coming out for Round 2.
On Saturday August 15th 2009, Darren “Hollywood” Smith and Taryn “The Terror” Roberts fought locally in Costa Mesa, CA. First up was Darren fighting an opponent from Sityodtong, in the first round Darren came out swinging with hard blows. He knocked his opponent down 5 times in the first round alone, but was unable to finish. After three hard fought rounds Darren came up the winner by decision.
Next up was Taryn. She had an amazing fight against Kristin Shepard the current TBA Amateur World Champion. Taryn did a great job landing some hard blows, it was a back and forth battle but Kristin’s constant attacks and ring experience caused Taryn to lose to a 30-29 decision.
For Muay Thai enthusiasts, training in a Kai Muay (boxing camp) in Thailand is the ultimate training experience. Having heard the stories about the intensity of the training, and the great trainers and fighters, this is something I’ve wanted to do ever since my introduction to Muay Thai in 1985. I finally got the opportunity to do so during our recent trip to Thailand. It was one of the best experiences of my martial arts career.
I wanted to make sure that I went to a good camp so I talked to Ajarn Chai Srirsute (my Muay Thai instructor) about the best places to go. Ajarn Chai suggested that while in Thailand that I visit his Mother at her home and bring her flowers. He also introduced me to his sister Toy and her husband Khun Pone and said they would direct me to the best places to train. Upon arrival in Bangkok I was eager to train so I called Toy right away. She invited us to her mother’s home so I bought a nice bouquet of flowers and took a taxi there.
Toy, Khun Pone and Ajarn Chai’s mother greeted us with the warmest welcome, invited us in and made us feel just like part of the family. They took us out to lunch at a local Thai restaurant and insisted on paying. Then Khun Pone drove us all the way to the SaSiPraPa boxing camp (about an hour and a half drive) and introduced me to Ajarn Thakoon Pongsupha the manager at SaSiPraPa Gym who welcomed us in.
We arrived at approximately 3:00 but afternoon training doesn’t normally begin until 4:00. Even so, Ajarn Thakoon had me get dressed and start training right away. It was like a private lesson as Ajarn Thakoon worked with me on the finer points of shadow boxing for two or three rounds while all the other trainers watched. Then one of the trainers put some boxing gloves on me and had me get into the ring with another trainer who was ready to go with Thai pads, shin guards and a belly pad on. The trainer held Thai pads for me for three grueling rounds and focus mitts for two rounds.
Then Ajarn Thakoon directed me to a heavy bag. By this time all of the fighters and students had begun to show up for the 4:00 training session. Ajarn Thakoon gave me some tips and combinations to work on the heavy bag. I did a lot of rounds on the heavy bag as I watched the fighters work with different trainers. I picked up a couple of new techniques by watching the trainers. Some of the fighters had fights coming up at Lumpini Stadium. Finally, Ajarn Thakoon came over and held the mitts for me as he had me work on my western boxing skills for a couple of rounds. By that time, I was drenched with sweat and the training session was complete. Afterward, Ajarn Thakoon gave me a lot of compliments on my technique, my conditioning and my power and collected his 400 Thai Baht (about $12 US) for the days training.
The next night was Saturday night and we went to Lumpini Stadium (the most famous Muay Thai stadium in Thailand) to see one of Ajarn Thakoon’s student’s (a twelve year old boy) fight. The only problem was that there were two shows going on that night, an early show and a late show. We didn’t know whether Ajarn Thakoon’s student would be fighting in the early or late show so we went to the early show and ended up getting front row ringside seats. There were some great fights but the show ended and the fight we wanted to see didn’t happen. Then we ran into Ajarn Thakoon and the whole crew and found out the boy’s fight would be the first one during the late show. We didn’t want to have to pay again, so we missed the fight unfortunately. It would have been great to see that fight but even though we missed it, the whole Muay Thai experience in Thailand was amazing! My only regret is that I didn’t have more days to train. I’m planning to go back soon and will make sure I have more time to train the next time.
For more information visit: SaSiPraPa Muay Thai Gym
Jitti Gym in Bangkok is one of the first Muay Thai Gym’s in Thailand to begin to cater to international Muay Thai enthusiasts. Jitti Damriram (the Founder and Head Coach) opened the original Jitti Gym near Khao San Road in 1991. With over 80 fights, Jitti was was a top 5 Rajadamnern fighter from 1978-1981. The new Jitti Gym opened in 2003 and features Jitti as well as many other trainers who are esteemed former stadium and champion fighters.
I trained at Jitti Gym in August of 2009. Although the facility is very modest (a house converted to a gym) with one boxing ring, two open training areas some weights and a few bags, the training was second to none in my opinion. I was greeted by Kru Jitti at the front door. He seemed like a really nice person. I told him I was interested in private lessons. He asked me if I could come back later so I could train with him personally. Because I was under kind of a tight schedule, he said his brother would train me. I trained privately with Serm (Jitti’s brother) and two other trainers.
I enjoyed the training as much or more than any other Muay Thai gym I have ever trained at. The personal attention they gave me was incredible. Even though all I did was walk in off the street, they treated me like I was one of their prize fighters. The warm up and stretching routine was great. In fact, I wish I could remember the entire routine because I’d like to incorporate it into some of my classes.
The pad training was intense and they didn’t hold back at all even though I was new there. He already had me doing flying elbows in the second or third round. In between rounds, they would pour cold water on me, give me drinking water and massage my arms and legs as if I were fighting at Lumpinee! All in all, the training at Jitti Gym was awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Bangkok who wants to train in Muay Thai.
Address:
Jitti Gym | The International Muay Thai Training Gym
12 Soi Chokchairuammit yak 29
Viphavadee Rangsit, Ratchadapisek Rd. Dindang
Bangkok 10320, Thailand
Tel: (66) 2691-4238
Mobile: (66) 9069-5026
