Halfway Point- Highs and Lows

I did it. I won my fight. The main reason for me coming to Thailand was to train and fight, to become a better, stronger fighter. After losing my first three fights (one in Phuket, the others back in England), I had finally got that first win. To top it off, it was a great fight against a skilled and experienced Thai, which ended via TKO in the 4th round due to leg kicks. 

In the corner at my fight at Haad Rin Arena

But what now?

I was eager to get back into training to work on the many things that still need improvement. I’ve been criticised before, by people who are not involved in the sport, for mentally 'beating myself up' after previous fights. That's how it must have looked from the outside, and would probably look the same when I watched the video of this fight over and over again, pointing out flaws and mistakes, things that can be improved. But I'm not beating myself up. I'm very happy with my performance in this fight, and proud of what I have achieved and how far I have come.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and think the hard work is done. I won one fight. I've plenty more to go before I reach where I want to be. If I am going to be the best muay thai fighter I can be, it is essential that I look at every performance, in the ring or in the gym, with a critical eye. It is the only way to get better, and I've a long way to go yet to be where I want to be.

Naturally, after a fight it's good to take a bit of time off and enjoy yourself before you get back into the grind. But after a couple of days, I was chomping at the bit to go in again. It was suggested by one of the trainers that I may be able to fight in Phuket on the 14th, which gave me added incentive. However, I was not fully healed from the fight, my right shin still quite sore as well as my right elbow, which had taken the brunt of a number of strong head kicks. Better that than my face, though I wish I'd use more lean-backs earlier on rather than just taking the kick on my guard. Work in progress, as always.

One hell of a feeling after winning a fight!

However, things soon took a turn for the worse. A relatively innocuous red lump appeared on my left shin, possibly a bite but I couldn’t be sure. It was quite tender so, knowing I still couldn't kick with my right, I just wrapped it in tape and carried on training. When I finally removed the tape, though, I could instantly feel something wrong as my whole shin seemed to swell up. Before long, you could clearly see the inflammation all the way up the shin, the skin feeling like it was stretched too tight, the pressure on it becoming painful.

Whatever it was that had affected my shin, it became infected and my foot swelled up too. Being in a tropical country, I had visions of some poisonous spider bite or some flesh-eating parasite burrowing into my shin. Fortunately, it was nothing like this, just an infection. However, in order for it to heal I had to step back from training in order to keep it dry, as well as taking strong antibiotics. Any thought of fighting in Phuket, only a week away, quickly went down the drain. As disappointed as I was at this, especially as it would have been at Bangla stadium where I had my first ever fight, I told myself that I had plenty of time still left in Thailand and would have another chance to fight.

After exactly a week off training, the infection was gone and I was able to get in a last few sessions at Diamond. Unfortunately though, on my first session back, I took a kick on my sore elbow sparring with Nop, which then swelled up to about three times the normal size with fluid! Injury after injury!

My experience at Diamond, and on Koh Phangan in general, has been excellent. It is a great little gym with a fantastic bunch of characters who give it a real family feel, not like many of the huge mega-gyms in Phuket where the trainers just see another white face among hundreds that come and go. I got to know some of the trainers and became friends with them. The training itself was very good, I worked with most of the trainers at least once and they all gave me excellent pad work. They clearly care about teaching true Thai style and technique, not just blasting to you death with endless “jab, kick, knee" just to tire you out. As mentioned in previous posts, working with Mon is another level entirely. He's an absolute perfectionist and doesn't think twice about breaking down experienced fighters back to the basics. He's also a very nice, funny guy and all around cool dude.

Koh Phangan turned out to be exactly what I was looking for- the island lifestyle I enjoyed so much in Phuket, but smaller and less developed, not yet overcrowded with rude tourists. Whilst it has a reputation as a party island- not surprising with the Full Moon party and other moon parties- outside of this once a month gathering, it is pretty quiet most of the time. Perfect for me.

After 6 weeks on Koh Phangan, though, the time has come to move on to the next stage of my journey. Following a four hour ferry ride from Phangan to Chumpon, as I write I'm now sat on a (thankfully air conditioned) bus to Hua Hin. I will be spending the next 6 weeks or so at Sitjaopho muay thai, run by the brothers and well renowned former champions, Petch-Eak and Petch-Tho. They are both highly regarded in Thailand for their beautiful, technical style of muay thai, and after seeing some videos of them training on YouTube, I am eager to learn from them. My natural style of fighting is, like theirs, the femur or 'classic' style of muay thai, emphasizing technique, intelligence and ring craft. It is this style of fighting that I love most about muay thai, as beautiful as it is effective. I know I've already improved a lot in the past 6 weeks, and I'm excited to see how I will grow and develop further in the coming weeks, hopefully culminating in another fight before I return home.

Team Diamond Muay Thai!