White Collar Boxing Singapore

Hey everyone,

This is actually a very late write up about the White Collar Boxing. My apologies Ian!!

So what is the White Collar Boxing you might wonder? "White collar jobs" was a way of describing workers of relatively high status that always needed to dress up in suits and ties when turning up for work. White Collar Boxing started awhile ago in the 1990s over in America. It allowed people of White collar background to be able to train and compete on a more level playing field. Meaning they would be competing against guys who were working long hours in the office rather than competeing against a guy who would be working part time as a waiter at a restaurant that had a whole load of time to train and get fit and have a huge advantage over the White collar guy. So White Collar Boxing kinda leveled it out a fair bit.

White Collar Boxing arrived in Singapore in 2007,promoted by Ian Mullane who is the founder and owner of Vanda Boxing Club & Vanda Promotions. The first event done was held in a small function room in one of the hotels here and had a crowd of 300 - 400 people attending the fights to support their friends. Fast forward to just two years down the road to April 2009 and the last event was held in Suntec City Convention where they had pyrotechnics for the fighters as they walked out,lights,lasers and 1000 people attending the event!! A huge change in numbers attending,and a huge change in the production of the event and a huge sucess if you ask me?!! However,not only have they managed to turn their local events into a huge sucess....they've also now started to do events in HongKong,Bangkok,Australia and Japan!!!!

An awesome setup for the event.

I've been to 2 White Collar Boxing events so far and it is by far one of the BEST events I have attended in Singapore. Everything was well organized and very professional! I was sitting there thinking to myself,"Damn these guys fighting are SOOOO lucky!!" I started out fighting in some dingy function room with no airconditioning or proper lighting?! The microphone BARELY worked!! And the organizers forgot ice and water for inbetween the rounds!!! So yeah you would kinda be jealous when you saw all this =)

Yup she got that right!!! It was my 2nd time round at the event!!

White Collar Boxing events go that extra mile...wait...let me correct that...Extra 100MILES!! to make the event special. The event isn't in a stadium or in an arena where people just walk up and buy tickets,sit around eating hot dogs and munching on popcorn!?!...No No....There's Glitz and Glamour at these White Collar Boxing events. In other words its a "White Collar Boxing - Black Tie event!". Confused yet!!? =) Anyways,the women are all beautifully dressed in nice dresses with their hair and make up all done with lotsa bling bling jewellery. The men come in their expensive suits and dress shoes looking sharp! It's almost feels like you're at a red-carpet event that you watch on TV!! On top of that everyone is seated at a table where a very yummy 5 course meal is served as the fights go on. Good food,beautiful people and fights.....Have I died and gone to heaven?!?!?

The venue before people arrived & after everyone's had a couple of drinks!


P.J,Jaime Yeo,Me & Jaymee Ong!

Vanda Promotions selects the applicants. All these guys have a kind of a story or reason to fight or just even the fact that they are unlikely people to ever get in the ring to fight. The selected candidates are put thru 12 weeks of intensive training. The group of selected fighters train 3 times a week,building great friendship and teamwork to push each other past their own limits. It gives Ian and his team of trainers and event organizers a great sense of satisfaction to see these guys start from ZERO or not much experience in Boxing to then finally take center stage of a huge fight night!!

The action at White Collar Boxing events and fighters got better each time too!!

However the event isn't just about getting a bunch of over worked,over stressed middle aged guys into a ring to vent their frustrations!! Vanda Promotions also ties the event in with different charity groups to help raise money. The previous event they managed to raise $114,000 for Children's Surgical Centre in Cambodia . To raise money there is an auction midway thru the event. With items like Muhammad Ali signed gloves,Lewis Hamilton signed helmet,Nadal's signed tennis racket,Pele & Maradonna's signed football jersey all items framed nicely!!

The amount that was raised and handed over to Dr Jim Gollogy

At the end of the evening,White Collar Boxing isn't just another fight night that just happened. It's an AMAZING fight night and all for a good cause. The fighters get to have fun and feel like real professional boxers with all the lights,pyrotechnics,crowd cheering for them. The crowd get to dress up have a nice meal and cheer on for their friends who are there to fight or to catch up with other friends in the community! The people who buy these signed and framed sports memorabilia get to spend money on an amazing item and not feel so bad about it,knowing that the money goes to charity!!!!! =)

Days like this,I wish there were proper promoters to do a good Muaythai event here in Singapore. Who knows maybe at some point maybe do even a White Collar Muaythai event??

Ian if you ask me,Hell Yeah I'd be up for Round 3 at another White Collar Boxing event!!

Thanks for everything,buddy!

LaterZ

New Part-Time Job!

Hey guys,

Sorry for the late update once again. The days seem to just vanish when you're busy!! Especially now that I've got a new part-time job!! No no..I haven't traded in my muaythai gloves and shorts for oven mits/rubber gloves at McDonalds!! haha

Im actually now working part-time at Baan Nak Muay (BNM). Baan Nak Muay means ("Home of Muaythai fighters"). BNM is a really nice gym,seriously check out the gallery! BNM currently has 1 permanent Thai trainer and another 2 that are always on rotation coming from the famous Fairtex gym.

How the job came about was because I've helped Francis,the owner of BNM to run some of the Company events that he has done at the gym and he really liked the way I held the classes,so he had asked me to help him organize and structure the classes on Tues and Thurs,6pm - 730pm & 730pm - 9pm as those were his busiest days at the gym.

I've been running the classes for about 3 weeks and so far it's been pretty good (I THINK!). I've had some of the students come up to me and Francis to say that they really liked the way I run the classes and how classes have suddenly gotten alot more tiring for everyone since I've started running the class!! I take that as a compliment =)

I do enjoy running the big classes actually. It's good practice for me as I've done seminars too and the first few times it was rather awkward trying to organize 30 - 40 people!! But now Im slowly getting the hang of things walking around during the class and trying to help and explain as much as I can but at the same time trying to make it a fun and great workout for everyone.

So if you're keen on joining lessons conducted by me,you know where to find me at,Tues & Thurs 6pm - 9pm at BNM Gym!!

Lastly check out the ZoCard,that was designed by one of BNM students Grace (She also designed the BNM Website!)!!! The photo was taken by Carolyn Strover,who took this without using a speed shutter meaning she caught the kick in mid air EVERY TIME..was pretty impressive!!! The ZoCard was designed to promote the gym and ME coming on board as one of the trainers now at BNM. Serioulsy,how AWESOME is the Zig Zach ZoCard!! So I've been on buses,magazines,posters,tv,radio and now Im a POSTCARD! =P Playgirl magazine here I come!

LaterZ

A New Super Cool Sponsor!!!

Hey Everyone,

Not sure if you've noticed but I've added to the list of "SPONSORS",a new logo. The one I've added on is 3rdborn. 3rdborn is an independent street & surf wear brand coming out of Bali,Indonesia. 3rdborn was started by Australian,David Eagles who has now been living in Bali for over 10years and has been selling his 3rdborn brand since 2001!! David is no stranger to street & surf wear and has over 20years of experience in design. At one point even working on graphics for the super famous Quiksilver brand for 9 years!! He has since sold 3rdborn to dozens of stores in Australia,USA and Japan!! (Hopefully Singapore soon!) He also has been painting and exhibiting since the 80's!!

David Eagles: Nature's Own

How David came up with the name 3rdborn is as random as how I found out about the brand!?! In 1997,his parents admitted to him that they had wanted two children....and OOPS! Out came David. hahaha The story behind me finding 3rdborn was just as random and just as much an accident! I was out at the Oasis concert in at the indoor stadium here in Singapore and I saw this guy wearing a really cool tshirt with a very stylish Lightning Bolt across the chest. Me being "Zig Zach" thought it would be appropriate to try and get hold of it to add to my collection of Lightning Bolts and Zig Zag tshirts!

The cool Tshirt that gave me so many sleepless nights!! haha

So instead of going up to the guy like a complete dork and a freak I actually loitered around and tried to find out the brand name. (Yeah...!! Like that was a much cooler way to do it!!!!) I managed to find out the brand and it was 3rdborn. That night after the concert I went on google and searched for it and managed to find a website and a contact. So I asked them if they knew which design I was talking about and said that I was more than happy to pay for shipping and whatever else as long as I could get my hands on it!!

Sadly David replied saying that this was an old design and they had sold out of it. I was gutted about it,but....."What's meant to be...will be." He signed off his email saying,"Next time you're in Bali drop by the gym and train kickboxing with us!" haha So we then chatted casually about Marital Arts and it turns out he has trained in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu with one of the early founders of BJJ in Australia...The legendary, John Will!!! When David moved to Bali,he started a Kickboxing class as there weren'tt any proper classes there and he couldn't find anyone to wrestle with in Bali. 8 years down the road his kickboxing classes are still running in Bali with a small group who attend religiously each week to train and keep fit.

After alot of emailing back and forth with David,he has agreed to be one of my sponsors. =) I guess both of us being martial artist and the fact that I really like alot of his 3rdborn designs was a very cool connection. The internet is AMAZING isn't it!? Never met David before and just by chatting and having a cool understanding between us he's agreed to sponsor me =) Thank you very much David,I really appreciate it.

David has sent me 4 Tshirts and I called up a good friend and a very talented photographer,Daniel Lois to help do a cool photoshoot and this is one of the designs that I've selected to use from now on. This will be my new DJ profile picture when I send it out to club promoters whenever they wanna do a flyer or poster.

So if any of you are interested in 3rdborn products and you're headed over to beautiful Bali anytime soon. Check out their store there. The address is:

3rdborn

Jl. Raya Seminyak XSeminyak,

Kuta, Bali 80361,

Indonesia

Tel: +62 361 733 760

If you are not going to Bali anytime soon...! As the aussies like to say,"CRIKEY!!" haha Uhmm oops I meant the other saying thatAussies like to use,"No worries mate!!" You can check out their internet store www.3rdborn.etsy.com to get hold of their stuff. They are slowly uploading images on to the online store as they are busy with their store in Bali and mailing out orders to their international distributors.

Also check out their Facebook fanpage to see some of their older Tshirt designs and to get updates on what new designs are coming in!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/3rdborn/29260689689

Im really hoping to make my trip up to Bali at some point this year for a nice holiday,some good food,some awesome partying and definetly to hold a Muay Thai seminar for David and his students! Thank you David for becoming a sponsor. Im looking forward to wearing your Tshirts to DJ gigs and parties!!

As they say in Bali,"Sampai Jumpa"

LaterZ

Video of my latest fight in Bangla Stadium,Phuket. (12-05-2009)

Hey everyone,

So I got back yesterday afternoon from Phuket and been rushing around the island to do some photoshoots and interviews. Ahhh what a tough life!! haha I fought at Bangla Stadium on Tuesday and was only up there for a couple of days. Sadly this time I didn't get to train at all in Thailand before the fight. Works been busy and I can't keep leaving clients hanging all the time....It's not very professional.

So I did my own training here in sunny singapore. Running and skipping most of the time to get my stamina up. Hit BNM a couple of times to hit the pads and bags. Do some strength & conditionng work. So I felt pretty good. I usually cycle to all my clients so that KINDA helps abit I guess? Since I bought my bicycle in the 2nd week of October til today I've done 2118.4Km on it to be exact!!!! Thats a whole lot of cycling.....even the guy at the Treknology shop was pretty impressed when I told him how much I've done on my bicycle!!

Fight night felt DIFFERENT this time. I really didn't feel like I was there to fight. Maybe coz my mates Dan and James who came up with me were there partying all the time and coming back with funny stories the next day and it kept me amuzed and my mind off the fight. haha

I arrived at the new Bangla stadium and I told the staff at the door that I was a fighting tonight so they said ok check your name. I looked and saw "Fighter - Singapore FIXFEC" hahahahhahaha Right the thai's can't seem to ever get my name right...Phi Phi was "SIXSAX" and now it's "FIXFEC" hahaha So I got in and it was already the 3rd fight of the night and Bao,Bangman's son was fighting. Bao won his fight on points and looked good doing it kicking,blocking and clinchng his way for 5 rounds!! He has improved alot since his younger days. Who wouldn't if your dad was Bangman!! haha

I was fight number 5 so after Bao's fight was over I got ready. Met my fighter as he was getting ready and I just smiled at him politely. He acknowledged. I saw he did't look as fit but then again neither does Bangman look fit and he's won almost all his fights still with bloody knockouts!! So never underestimate any thai!! Bangman gave me some advice on what to do in the fight as he taped my hands. Hands taped,oiled up,warmed up and before you know it,I had my arm bands tied on my arab headress over and down we went to the ring.

Did my full wai kru this time and got a good cheer from the Thai's who always appreciate when someone does a good Wai Kru. Bangman says a prayer for me as he removes my headdress and off it was Rd 1.

We both started out just slowly testing with kicks,push kicks. He hit me with one or two kicks and felt pretty strong. I went for his back leg a couple of times with some hard low left kicks and it kind of bothered him abit. He landed a left kicks on my glove and I remember thinking.."Bloody hell he's pretty quick with that,right hands up!!". I tried to high left kick him and he leaned back making me miss. I could really tell that me not sparring in my preparation for this fight was not a good idea!!! I just felt awkward and couldn't gauge my distance and felt abit jumpy when he came in close. We got tied up in the clinch and he tries to elbow me but doesn't hit. Ref breaks us up and I go back to working the low kicks. He threw a punch combo and finished with an Elbow. And Im glad I had my hands guarded high up coz I felt that Elbow on my left glove and I thought,"Right he means business..." so I gave him a little smile and a shrug to wind him up abit. We were close to my corner and he lands another left kick and I didn't manage to block it and so I contered with a right low kick to his standing leg hard!! And then the bell goes.

I get to my corner and Bangmans saying to me,"Take your time you're doing good just block and see what he's got to give. Don't miss kicks and don't rush.Take your time and wait for a good chance then work the elbows."

Round two starts and I do low kicks again. Making sure I land them even if he blocks at least it's doing SOME damage and it looks better to the judges when it lands!! I had to stop making him look like the better fighter!! I kinda sensed he wanted to stay on the outside and kept using pushkicks to keep me away. I tried to kick and he lands a push kick throwing me off balance. Im feeling abit annoyed at myself now. I try breaking the distance and come in with a push kick and kicking his inside of the left thai. Then landing hard low kicks again. I tried another left kick to the mid section and and bloody hell of course it misses he couters and I brought my leg up in time to block it!!

Grrrrrrrrr I felt really rigid and really bad with getting my range. So I said to myself "Right change of tactics see how he likes me in close then?" I step in with a Jab and he sticks his arm out to hold me out and I did the "B-man Special" on him!! Bangman is the elbow specialist!! I always work elbows soo much with him when we're training together and there was one of the techniques that he drills into me all the time. And I put that into good use this time....I land an elbow HARD on him and he goes DOWN Im actually surprised he got up again. After that I knew that right hes doesn't like me up close I keep pressing in and changed worked the punches,knees and elbows dept. I pressed forward and landed a straight knee and as I threw a right elbow he leaned back and I miss..."D'OH!!" He actually elbowed at the same time too and mised me so was pretty lucky!! He counters with a kick and i just stay close to him. I tie him up and land another elbow again on him but he shrugs it off. He presses forward knowing that he's down on points he's ready for a right elbow so I switch and step in with an uppercut elbow and it misses him by an inch. We get tied up in the clinch again and I slip out and land an elbow that catches him!! I see him falling and as he goes down I throw another one. Ref gives him an 8 count and I press in again I fake with the right and throw a short left elbow. I dont really think it hit him but I think he had enough and didn't wanna risk getting hit by anymore elbows. FixFec wins Round 2 Knockout! =)



Bangman was very happy with my performance. He said that I did everything we had trained before and put it into good use this time and I looked realy strong in the fight. I thought I did well and the only thing I would work on was the distance and my reaction. This is why sparring is so important when preparing for a fight. You see your opponents moves better and notice things better!! You don't get so jumpy and nervous when they move in.

So I sat down to watch some of the fights and took pictures with some of the crowd who approached me. There was an english couple who actually were on holiday and recongnized me from Contender Asia =) haha There were two swedish girls who sat infront of us and congratulated me and I just made friendly conversation and said yeah I've been to Sweden and all that. And turns out she actually trains,runs her own gym and used to fight too...and funny enough she knows EVERYONE that I know in Sweden!! From my brother Yukay to the Playboy Hugh Hefner of Sweden....Bingo!!! But yeah it's a smaaaaaaaaaallllllll world. So who knows maybe next time Im in Europe I'll get to do a seminar in Sweden!! =) She also writes a blog but it's in Swedish!!!

http://www.fightplay.tv/author/susanne

Right so I got out of this fight injury free!! =) So I'll mayb try to get another fight in 2 or 3 weeks time. We'll see. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

Many thanks for dropping by Laterz!!!!!!!!

The Dummies Guide to K-1

As many of you know K-1 is prolly one of the biggest event and highest paying Kickboxing events around the world. If you've never heard of K-1??? Where on earth have you been??

What I would love to have hold up my jeans!! THE K-1 BELT!!!

K-1 started in 1993 by Mr Kazuyoshi Ishii. He had the best fighters from Kickboxing,Karate,Kenpo,Kungu even normal Boxing to battle it out in ONE ring,all fighting under ONE Rule to level the playing field. I read this somewhere not sure how far it's true but. Notice all the K's and how his name starts with K and how everyone who fights wants to be Number 1. Also because the concept of the tournament was very much like the racing grand prix,F-1. From there the name K-1 was born!!

The original K-1 was an OPEN weight category meaning there were no weight division. One of my first few trainers the Legendary MuayThai superstar, Nokweed Davy was the LIGHTEST fighter in K-1 in 1995 when he fought French fighter Jerome Le Banner. Nokweed lost the fight to Jerome Le Banner on points.....But hey Nokweed was 75kg and at the END of his career and Jerome weight 40KGS MORE than Nokweed!!! A decent effort for going 5 rounds with someone that much bigger than you!! =)

A very young Zig Zach =) with the Legend and one of the hardest kickers in the business,Nokweed Davy!!

Like the F-1 racing....K-1 did smiliar Grand Prix and qualifiers all over the world and then later all the winners from all the Grand Prix battling in the Tokyo Dome in Japan for the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion titl,a super slick belt + $400,000 USD Prize money!!!! K-1 was a huge hit in Japan and Europe. It made superstars out of the REAL fighters. K-1 was the equivalent to WWE and Boxing put together. It meant that Kickboxing tournaments practically had a facelift!!! The fireworks...the music and the grand entry.....the suits and the press conference. It made fighters realize they deserve just as much attention and glory as the guys in WWE jumping of the top rope!! K-1 fighters were the REAL DEAL. No fake story line...no fake titted girls with bad acting getting slapped around!! =) What alot of fighters make compared to what the more established guys in K-1 make is just UNBELIEVABLE!! Basically alot of us are making loose change!!

With every K-1 passing. Fighters were soon turned to SUPERSTARS!! Names like Branco Cikatic (1st ever K-1 winner 93), Peter Aerts(At age 39 has won 3 K-1 and was runner-up for the last two years!!!!),Ernesto Hoost, Ray Sefo,The late Andy Hug, Jerome Le Banner were made famous in the fighting circle. And now a new generation of fighters have come on the scene like The Flying dutchman Remy Bojavsky,Bad Boy Badhr Hari,Paul Slowinkski,Tyrone Spong,Semmy Schilt the list goes on.

Peter Aerts & the late Andy Hug in action.

K-1 fighters are the "A "List of standup fighters in the world!! And most fighters have a dream of making it ig there!! Who wouldn't!!??? What some fighters make out of fighting in smaller tournaments,compared to what some of the more established guys in K-1 make is just UNBELIEVABLE!! Basically Im making loose change compared to them!!


"K-1 Max" later was born in 2002. The weight set at 70.5kgs. Fight fans wanting to see leaner...fitter...faster yet hard hitting guys in the ring rather than some of the K-1 heavyweight "freakshows"....Akebono the Yokozuna from Sumo Wrestling, Bob Sapp "The Beast!" an Ex-NFL Pro Footballer,The Korean giant,Hong Mun Choi who is a towering 7ft 2Inches who is pretty much as tall as me even when he is sitting down!!!

Image Left:Hong Man Choi vs Kaoklai Image Right: Akebono vs Bob Sapp

K-1 Max has already established some superstars since it's first tournament in 2002
2002 K-1 Max Champ - Alber Kraus
2003,2008 K-1 Max Champ - Masato
2004,2006 K-1 Max Champ - Buakaw Por Pramuk
2005,2007 K-1 Max Champ - Andy Souwer.
Gago Drago, Taishin Kohiruimaki,Mike Zambidis,Sato,John Wayne Parr,Ole Baguio Laursen and last but not least one of my personal favourite fighters who has been making waves the hard hitting Ukranian, Artur Kyshenko.

Albert Kraus after 2002 Final. Andy Souwer winning in 2005.


Buakaw & Masato at a K-1 Press Conf then later bashing each other up in the final.

This years K-1 Max has a couple of new faces,one new fighter who Ive been following for awhile. And is really making a name for himself. He is currently at the top of his game winning everyone from Raffik Bakkouri to Andy Souwer! A name not to forget - Giorgio Pertrosyan. Another deadly southpaw who even managed a draw with Buakaw a couple of years back. Would love to see him and Yoddy go toe to toe!! Battle of the southpaws!!

Also in this years line up,The Contender Asia's smallest,youngest but hardest hitter and my fellow teammate from the Tiger Kings.......... Dzhabar Askerov!! All of us in The Contender Asia knew that he would get the chance one day.

Ohhh and lastly the new show man to the K-1 Max,a worthy mention coz of his Cosplay outfits!!
- Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima of Japan. Wacko is good...Look where it got Zidov!! =) haha

Another event of the night worth mentioning is the Exhibition fight between K-1 Max 2004,2009 and a Legend in the K-1 circle and a Superstar in Japan, Masato!!!! sparring with The japanese wonder boy and K-1 Max champ hopefully next time,Hiroya!! Masato is on his way to retirement and this will be one of his last 3 fights before he leaves the ring for good.

Read More about the Final 16 K-1 Max 2009 Fighters here: http://www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp/b09_0410.htm

Sadly in Singapore...We don't get much Fighting sports aired on TV. So if anyone from Mediacorp.......ESPN....Starworld...Super Sports.......if you're reading this.....GET WITH THE TIMES AND THERE IS MORE TO SPORTS THAN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank god for the internet and this website where you can watch the latest K-1 fights,UFC and other fight shows!! Ahhhh you gotta love the internet!! So check out http://kimjudas.blogspot.com!!

Right and just as a special treat. I've got the latest fight from K-1 Max Final 16 which happened on 21st April. It's one fight that I wished happened in the final rather than the Eliminatin rounds! The fight is between Dzhabar Askerov and Giorgio Petrosyan. Im not gonna say what happens. Enjoy!!

LaterZ

Nikon - Care To Give Charity Campaign!

Right so if you've read my facebook status. You'll know that Im one of the Ambassadors for "Nikon - Care To Give" charity campaign. If you haven't read it yet...Well,NOW YOU KNOW! haha =)

It's a real honour for me,that Nikon has asked me to be an Ambassador for their campaign. I've always wanted to do something for charity as it's a great way to help the under privileged. Apart from all my work,training,fighting and DJing. I try to do abit of good every now and then, like how after every fight I donate money to my neighbourhood mosque and even when I was in Thailand I went with my trainers to the local mosque during the fasting month and bought fruits and donated money to the mosque. But all that is something on a small scale. This is something pretty big as Im sorta using my "STATUS" to promote a good cause. I always believe,"What goes around comes around."

So what is this "Nikon - Care To Give" all about. The link will lead you to a site where you can actually play around and make your own message for the website. Each word provided is said by a different child and you can jumble them up to make some pretty cool messages. Go on to the "MENU" and click on Supporteres and you'll be able to see the message I made.

The elected Charity for Nikon's - Care To Give campaign is the Singapore Children's Society. They were set up in 1952 and have since then reached out to more than 15,000 kids!!! The society helps children of all races and religion. They help children who are neglected,have social problems/issues, are from dysfunctional families and even those who are abused.

There will be a $1 donation to the Singapore Children's Society when you sign up to Nikon's "My Picture Town". Nikon's "My Picture Town" is a FREE online storage and sharing portal. It's very easy to use and it's a perfect site for me coz whenever I'm training in Thailand or travelling abroad and don't have all my pictures on my external harddisk I can just go online to to "My Picture Town" and send it to the promoters,booking agencies or even to the reporters for an interview if it's urgent. For every sign up to "My Picture Town",Nikon will donate $1 to The Singapore Children's Society. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet deal isn't it??

So I really hope you guys after reading this will sign up and help the little kids out. =) Come on people!!! It's FREE and it only takes you ONE MINUTE,and that $1 doesnt even come out of YOUR pocket!!!!

LaterZ

2 weeks of all in ONE blog post!!

Hey everyone,

Sorry for not updating for so long. It's been a BUSSSSSSYYY 2 weeks. I have visited 5 cities in Thailand in 2 weeks!!! I was in Samui,Krabi,Koh Phi Phi,Trang and Koh Phagnan!!!

I was in Samui for ONE night and caught a flight out the next day to Krabi. Where I stayed and trained at Emerald Gym for a week. However upon arriving at the airport,My trainer Bangman said to me in Thai "You're fighting on Sat in Koh Phi Phi.Ok?" I was like...."WHAT?!? It's Thursday today!!!" In the end I thought whatever......been training pretty well the last 2 or 3 weeks so it should be alright.

So I accepted the fight and worked a couple of stuff with him over the next day and a half!! It's always so good to train with him. He immediately see's my mistakes and corrects me back to the way he wants me to fight. Everytime I see him he goes,"Everytime you go back to Singapore ...You train Muay Thai but Farang style!! I always have to slow you down and work on techniques again rather than rush through 5 rounds."

Here's an older video of me training at Emerald Gym.

Saturday morning came quickly and I've had a day and a half training. Was actually abit sore even from grappling with the other Thai trainer,Petch and the owner of the gym,famous french fighter Wilfred Montagne!! We had to drive to the Pier in Krabi and then jump on a ferry that took an hour and a half to Koh Phi Phi. Upon arriving we went straight to Aswindum Stadium where I was to be fighting. They showed us the room...and it was like 3 mattress (and there were 4 of us!!!!!) and the room was sooooooooooooooooooooo hot and had a tiny fan!! So we weren't too pleased and we all decided that we'd get a room elsewhere. Eventually found a room and me,Bangman and Jason (An American Korean Guy who was staying at the camp) shared a much nicer room with a better working fan! Everyone went off to walk around Phi Phi and I decided to stay in the room to rest.

Arriving in Koh Phi Phi!!

730pm and I went to the stadium. Where I met my fighter who was called in to fight coz my opponent couldn't make it. (This was the first of many changes in my opponents!!!). Bangman was actually supposed to fight that night too,but had his fight canceled. Reason: They were scared of Bangman =) His is pretty known now in the South Thailand as he's been winning all his last fights with some nasty elbows. The promoter than says to me,"We gonna go do promotion"...this is prolly the FUNNIEST thing I've ever had to do for promoting a fight was to wear my muaythai shorts and walk around the whole of Phi Phi Island distributing flyers =) hahah Uhmmmmmm didn't help that the poster said..."SixSax from Australia" AND IT WAS A BLOODY WHITE GUY ON THE PICTURE!!!!!!!!!

SIXSAX!!! We look soooo alike!!

Got back to the stadium and by about 10pm and I got ready and saw my opponent wrapped and ready. And the promoter tells me.....There's a thai guy who wants to fight you? I was like????? Bangman said it'd be better to fight the tall guy coz he's about the same height and size and it would be a better fight for the crowd. But the shorter thai guy kept insisiting he wanted to fight me....Bangman got pissed and said,"Whatever,he'll fight either of them. See you in the ring." haha So yeah I basically had no idea who I was gonna fight til about 20mins before the fight when I see the shorter guy's trainer massaging him. Funny enough while massaging his fighter....his huge ass PISTOL gun slipped out from under his shirt and me and the boys were all like..."Ohhhh shit!!Right...maybe I should lose this fight????" but the thai guy assured us that it was for he was from the Army and was a high ranking officer. Yeah ok...that still didn't really make me any more comfortable!! haha

Getting Ready to Rumble!!

Was really not in the mood when I got in the ring. I just did a quarter of my wai kru and even realized I forgotten my armband!!...Bell went and off we went. Started out nice and easy and I kinda gauged he wasn't THAT good so wanted to take my time and pick him apart slowly.....But he had other plans!!! Next thing I know he's coming at me hard.....So I covered up and threw a couple of straight knees to keep him away. Alot of em landed but he didn't go down. So kept him away with a couple of hard left kicks and then he came at me again. Right I had enough. He dropped his guard alot so I lef loose a couple of left elbows when he punched and the 2nd one cut him open. I saw some blood...the Ref checked and said it was ok to carry on. He still kept trying to come towards me and I must have landed about 5 elbows on him and he didn't go down. There was one I hit right across his forehead and I looked at him and smiled and I was thinking this MUST cut him!! But Nope....NOTHING!!! Bloody hell........Bell goes and we're in the corner.

After some words of wisdom for Bangman. I stand up and am ready for Round 2. I try to keep my distance but he keeps pressing forward hoping to land a good punch on me to knock me out. I just throw some straight knees and same thing it all catches him but he just didn't go down!!! He gets me in the corner and starts firing straight punches and for a minute I think the crowd thought he had me. I covered up well and waited for him to stop then landed a huge elbow and a big knee into him. He stumbles...The ref tries to pull me apart but Im desperate to keep going....I get back to the neutral corner and the ref gives him an 8 count. Once the counts over I charge in and land a huge knee again to the solar plexus and as he covers up I land a HUGE right elbow on the jaw and you can hear a loud "CLUCK" sound as his eyes go back and he stumbles,I land another left elbow and he goes DOWN!! Fight was over Rd 2. =)

I was hoping to not be injured and fight again the next week in Phuket. But yeah my Elbow was sooooo sore from hitting him on the head!! D'OH!!! hahah So yeah it was party time in Koh PhiPhi and when we got back to Krabi I just trained abit on techniques with Bangman and did a couple of weights session.

During my time off from training one day. Me,Bangman with his wife and kids took a road trip back to his home town,Trang. Which was about an hour and a half drive from Krabi. Was nice for me as I got to meet his family and he took me around his favorite places. Loads of people knew Bangman coz he's one of the FEW that has made a name for himself in Muaythai coming out of Trang. There was a small Thai Boxing gym next to his house that his ex fighter,Siamchai had built for the kids. There were about 20 - 30 kids and one of the 8yr olds had to get on a bike with his dad everyday 20km just to get to the gym. Shows you how much they LOVE the sport. Then there were all these old men who would sit there and give advice and tell the boys what to do. It was really nice to see so much KNOWLEDGE and so much PASSION for the sport from all the villagers. Bangman had to train his son,Bao,as he had a fight soon. So the whole gym watched as Bangman trained Bao. Bangman does not show ANY mercy when he's training fighters....not to his other fighters in Bkk...not to ME...and definetly not to Bao!!!! After Bangman finished training his son,some of the fathers who were siting around asked him to please just do one or two rounds with their son. It was very cool to see that people respected him so much back in his small village....Bangman the superstar trainer! =) Everyone from Trang knew that Bangman was a very good trainer and loved Muaythai very very much. The stories I can tell you about Bangman are pretttttty damn cool. He left home at 12years old with very little money and against his parents wishes to chase his dream of being a Muaythai Fighter in Bkk!!

Bangman and one of the boys doign some technique before he fights next week.

After my quiet days in Krabi at Emerald Gym it was time to head over to Party town Samui again. And this time it was just pure HOLIDAYING!!! =) I was actually there for Jaymee Ong's wedding. yes thats right guys.....I can hear all your hearts cracking into a million pieces as I said that...Jaymee Ong's Wedding!!! Becky introduced me to Jaymee and Matt (her husband)...and we've known them from even way before Contender Asia. So was weird when we found out we were working on the same show =) There gonna be people from America,Singaporea and mainly Australia who were gonna be at Jaymee's wedding.

My home for a couple of months in 2004!

I managed to head over to the WMC Camp in Lamai where it was once my home for 4 months!! Some of the old trainers are still there and the little boys have all grown up. Some familiar faces and some people from the shops around the gym still even remember my name!!! I mean this was the first time in 5 years that I've been back in Koh Samui!!! So much has changed and yet still some of them still remember my name. Crazy!!

DJing at Hush on Soi Green Mango

On the Friday night in Samui I even scored myself a DJ gig at the club HUSH on Soi Green Mango. Samui is a real paaaaaaaarty town with some very cool clubs and after hours places playing some decent dance music. Tho alot of places still play the same old shittyRnB and HipHop music that I last heard 5 years ago too!! YUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!! The DJ before me played exactly what every other DJ played... RnB/HipHop crap that was going on everywhere....I got tired of listening to him and my friends were telling me to go on ASAP....So I kicked him off the decks and soon the club started to get a flow of crowd going. Had an awesome night DJing some good proper dance music!!...Another club to add to my list. =)

So after a mad night of DJing and 2 hours of sleep...It's Sat morning and I suddenly find myself on a speed boat headed for Koh Phagnan with 25 loud drunken aussies giving wedgies to whoever had anything on under their boardshorts!! (Im soooo glad I didn't have any on!!!!) The day goes by and it only gets "fun" when soon one by one started spewing and one by one started to fail the "follow the line" drunk test we had on the beach!!! Yes this was a a sign of a good bachelor party!! =) hahah

The wedding was like a fairytale! It'sgGonna be hard to top what they've done!!

Sunday left everyone unable to do much except lie by the pool and relax in the sun. Not that it was a bad thing coz the Baan Taling Ngam Resort was just BEAUTIFUL!!!! There was a Buddhist Wedding with 9 monks blessing the bride and groom on Monday which was very special for Jaymee's dad who is buddhist, and even just for the Aussies and American guys who flew over to see something different. Tuesday arrived and it was the actual wedding day,and I have to say that this wedding on the beach was one you would imagine out of a movie. Everything was PERFECT!! The music that played as Jaymee and her dad walked down the aisle,the exchange of vows...everything was verrrrrrrryyy touching. Yes yes even I had to shed a tear!!!

After the sun had set and we finished listening to a couple of touching speeches. We had to go to the beach and light paper lanterns that flew up into the sky. It was prolly the most beautiful thing seeing all those lanterns go up in the sky. Just AMAZING!! We were then seated down for a buffet dinner and had to listen to a couple more speeches. And I think Matt's brother,Reds prolly wrote one of the BEST POEMS/BEST MAN SPEECH I HAVE EVER HEARD!!! It was 3 pages long telling us about what Matt was like as a young boy and all his mischief right up til the wedding day. It was soooooo funny and best part is it all RHYMED too!! Damn he must have a lot of free time!!! This was followed up by the bride and grooms first dance. Was very beautiful to see them so happy. And to top the night off.....There were some SERIOUS fireworks!!!!!!!!! That was the icing on the cake to end an amazing night and amazing few days at the hotel!!


Leaving Baan Taling Ngam Resort was hard....but I gotta get back to the real world. It was a GREAT trip altogether,having had good training at Emerald Gym...Fighting in Phi Phi...DJing in Samui....and then the beautiful wedding to end things off. This trip is gonna be one of the best in 2009 I think!!

Until next time! =)

LaterZ