june-2011

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Above, Tee U.S. lands a kick against Phra Chan Chai. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Three kids, ages 7 to 10, posing at a Bangkok gym;
robes of retired fi ghters hanging at the 96 Penang Boxing Camp; monks attend a charity fi ght outside the city
The music continues a er the fi ght
begins, but it’s no longer there to help
express thanks. It is there to egg on
the fi ghters, pushing them to be more
aggressive. Phra Chan Chai delivers
a kick to Tee U.S.’s sternum. Tee U.S.
counters by grabbing Chai’s leg, hanging
on to it, twisting it, and a empting to drop
Chai onto his back. The fighters clutch
one another’s necks, kneeing each other’s
thighs in an effort to put the opponent
off balance and deliver a devastating kick.
The music becomes increasingly intense,
acting as a score, punctuating each body
blow, amping up the crowd of 6,000, as well
as the fi ghters. Up in the top rows of seats,
behind a 20-foot-high fence, where the
most fanatical Thais are seated, waves of
deafening cheers echo around the concrete
arena. Tee U.S. is in control.
JUNE 2011 • HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
uay Thai was fi rst developed in the 16th century
by Thai soldiers, likely as a means to repel
potential colonizers. These days the martial
art, a predecessor to the mixed martial arts
currently fashionable worldwide, is so popular
that even fantastically stylish hotels, such as the
Metropolitan Hotel Bangkok, where I happen to be staying,
sell fi ght packages that include ringside seats and escorts into
the arenas where fi ghts take place.
Five nights a week, muay Thai matches draw thousands
of fight lovers to two cavernous stadiums in Bangkok.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are wagered each night,
which makes the sport more profi table for some fans than
it is for the fi ghters. But the boxers don’t seem to mind the
disparity. “Muay Thai is so infused in the Thai culture that
it’s borderline religious,” says Yodchatri Sityodtong, chairman
and founder of Evolve MMA Academy, Asia’s largest chain of
martial arts gyms, and a former muay Thai fi ghter. “It taps
into a lot of Thai values: spiritual, cultural and competitive.”
Just a day and a half before the big
CONTINUED ON PAGE 144 »
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB COX (TEE FIGHTING), BY NARCISCO CONTRERAS (BOYS, 2), BY JASON NESS (ROBES, MONKS)