Hong Kong Contender Event

Late update again....I know sorry!! So I've just edited some of the pics taken from my Nikon S700 and so here is the latest blog update!!!

On Nov 4th I left with Contender trainer Petch from BNM to Hong Kong. This was my 2nd visit to Hong Kong. I was there maybe....some 10 years ago??? I barely remembered anything about Hong Kong except for the street food and the crazy shopping!!

We arrived at 8.pm at night and the promoter,Jeremy Chan,the Thai fighter, trainer and owner of "King Professional" were already there. We sat down chatted....and while the owner and promoter had a bite to eat and drink....I just stared and drooled coz we needed to make weight the next day!! About 30mins later Jabba, Soren and Zidov arrived,was good to see the boys again!! Jabba and Zidov are like an OLD Couple after being married for 40years or something!!? They have this "Love-Hate relationship". Always cracks me and Soren up to see them take the piss out of each other it's just hours of entertainment!!!!

So as always it's straight to work....We got to the Wunique Gym. Home of Hong Kong Muay Thai Superstar,Heung Pak Wing!!! We had to do a video sorta thing and do some quick photo stuff for the event. We were all hungry and tired....not a good combo!! We finished up quick and we were taken to our hotels where I shared a room with my buddy Soren, and the old couple Zidov and Jabba were put togeher.

Apartments near the hotel we stayed at.

Arriving at night is always weird...you dont know where you are...you dont know what to expect. So me and Soren got up the next morning around 9am,we opened the curtains and it was just....grey grey grey..!! I mean HongKong is just a Concrete Jungle!! Buildings all packed in soo close to one another and reaaallly small!!! I can only imagine what the apartments would be like to live in there. So we did a run around the area as we needed to make weight and also just wanted to see what the place was like,and to see what we could get up to later when we've finished with our weigh in. After sweating off the last few kilos,we all met up at the lobby at around lunch and were taken back to Wunique Gym where we all made weight.....and were finally allowed to EAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Streets of North Point,the area we lived in.

The rest of the day we were left on our own to do whatever we wanted. We went back to the hotel and wandered around the area we stayed at called "North Point" for abit before we went to get some rest. Evening came and Soren and me went down to Causeway Bay,Times Square and Sogo!! We walked around and it was SERIOUSLY just BUSY!!!! People EVERYWHERE!! In Soren's own words....."there's so many people its like ANTS!! But even Ants are more organized coz they only move in a straight line!!! Here,they are EVERYWHERE!?!?" haha Me and Soren met my sisters friend,Phoebe for some japanese food and then it was off to beddddddddddddd to rest for the fight tmrw night!!

Sogo at Causeway Bay,Sooo busy!! Me getting hungry!!

After a whole day of just bumming around in the hotel. We were off to the stadium at about 4pm. We were given instructions on the event when we got to the venue and then we were all off to our dressing rooms. The 4 of us and the Thai fighter from King Professional were in the same room. It was very very professional how the Hong Kong Muay Thai ran the show. I mean I've been to some events and....it's just a mess....no water...no ice...no food....nothing!! We got taped up,oiled and just kept warm by shadow boxing and stretching in the dressing room and watched the fights from our room on the tv screens.

Before I knew it...I was up next!! Got abit more oiled rubbed on me....got my armbands on,put my new shorts that was designed by my buddy Oak at Kombat Gear I love them and they are just awesome!! Had my Arab headdress placed over my head as Jabba and I said our prayers. After that I was ready waiting for them to announce me and was just shadow boxing and trying to keep myself warm!!...It was blooooody cold in the stadium....!!!!

We were told before in the dressing room by the promoter,Jeremy that we can only do Wai Kru for not longer than 3 mins!!! and I roughly knew that mine takes about 5mins!!! And I was considering to cut out Shooting the arrow...but I remembered last time I didn't do that bit I got KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT in a fight so...NOPE!! Gonna stick to it!! Got in said my prayers hurried through the Wai Kru and Jabba was in my corner to help me remove my Arab Headress. Always nice to have my bro in my corner for this part!!

I didn't really know anything about my fighter...!!?!? So the fight started slow and we both started out just trying to get a feel of each others style. I remembered him coming at me with hard punches. And I thought to myself.."Right gotta keep my guard up!!" close to the end of the first round I caught a pretty good knee from him in the grapple...and as the ref said break I relaxed and he pushed my head down and I kinda got caught with his knee to the side of my face! Unintentinonal so not too bothered about it. And that was it.... End of Round 1!

Went back to my corner, and for the first time ever I had Petch in my corner. And I must say he is a reallly good corner man to have. Matsuer (who fought Yodsaenklai in Singapore) was also in my corner and the two of them were really good. I listened and I followed exactly what they told me to do and it was perfect!!

I found it hard in the first 2 rounds to get my judgement with Roel. He would hit and stay out of distance alot of the time. Made me miss my kicks a fair bit at the start.... but soon I got my rhythm and my distancing right.....and I managed to get a few left kicks to his body and right leg kicks...and in the grapple locked him out and managed to slip in an elbow on him.

Roel landed a couple of good bodyshots and knees again on me in the later rounds and also caught me with an elbow!! Thank god it didn't cut!!! I gotta say he had some pretty strong punches!! But I just stuck to the game plan that Petch and Matsuer had and it worked a treat!!! Experience in the corner make a difference!! Between them they would have had 800 fights maybe!?!?Nothing like having a great corner men on your side!!!

Soon it was end of Round 5!!! And I was declared the winner!! =) I got on the microphone and said a few words in Cantonese and then spoke in Mandarin..haha Being in HongKong the few days before I reaaaaaally had to use my mandarin alot..Ordering food for everyone and asking for directions. hahah The crowd loved the speech and I think alot of people prolly were wondering what the hell is this guy!?..Singapore,comes out in the Arab headress but speaks cantonese mandarin?? Just abit more info on me that many people dont know....I studied Mandarin in school and my mom's dialect is Cantonese! Just incase you're wondering!??!!!

All fight photos here on this site were taken by Thomson Wong,check them all out at his album
http://www.fotop.net/thomsonw/20081106HKContender

After the whole event I stayed on a few extra days to catch up with some good friends who were living in Hong Kong,Derrick and Sarah!!! They housed me for the weekend and they took me out partying and it was AWESOME!! Hong Kong has such a good nightlife!!! We met a brazillian friend of mine who is based in Hong Kong,his name is J.P and he who promotes DJs in the region and he hooked me up with the very talented resident DJ Fabio Moretts from Brazil (Who also happens to train Muay Thai!!) So we chatted and he later offered me to jam with him on Sat night at the famous club VOLAR in Lan Kwai Fong!!!

Fabio and Me played the 3am - 6am slot and we ROCKED the dance floor!!!!!!! We played back 2 back....playing 2 songs each on the decks! It's really hard to play back to back especially if it's the first time playing together!!! But me and Fabio got along well and kept the clubs vibe up all night!! It was so much fun to DJ again!!!! I realllly missed DJing!! So after another late night of partying in the city that never sleeps.....I got home from DJing at 8am packed my bags and was straight out the door to catch my flight back home to Singapore!!

I had an AMAZING time in Hong Kong this time round. I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Jeremy Chan for giving me the oppurtunity to fight in Hong Kong and for taking such good care of us during our stay. To my buddies Derrick and Sarah,thanks for having me over on the weekend,you guys know how to P A R T Y!!! Love you guys!! J.P and Fabio Thank You Sooooooo Much for letting me DJ at Volar on such short notice. It was a FUN night!! And now I can add VOLAR to the list of cool places I've DJed at!!!! Hope to be back there again soon!!!!

The last look at the magnificent view from Derrick & Sarah's apartment in HK before I headed to the airport!!

LaterZ everyone am off to O.P.R.C to see my miracle man Jose to get rid of some pain!!!!