Khaosai Galaxy Title Defense Highlights

Yeah, and just a little addendum on that: during the Golden Age of televised fights were most households equipped with VCRs like in the west, or would any extant uploads today be from "official" archives (usually meaning higher quality but lower preponderance) rather than home consumer-grade recordings?

 

Thanks Russel. From the 70s on there's a fair amount MT but not so many of the boxing crossovers particularly the ones fought in Thailand. It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. I actually have a huge collection, I used to run a Youtube channel of rare MT and Thai boxing crossovers until it was taken done by YouTube around 4 years ago. I think it was due to complaints from Songhai Ratanasuban the biggest Thai promoter. He has the archive...he has everything. He puts out DVDs but only the same old stuff all the time. He's managed and been responsible for a bunch of boxing world champs.

http://www.onesongchai.com/en/onesongchai-co-ltd/

 

No most houses didn't have a TV let alone a VCR so very few VCR recordings exist. Some survived and people put them onto VCDs and sell them online, but every year fewer and fewer. The major TV stations, promoters and gyms have the main archives. When my old gym closed down I went back to try to find out what happened to the archive with no avail. The archive would have been immense as the owner of my Gym Mr. Kleaw Thanikul was Songchai's predecessor, Songchai was his apprentice.

 

Khaosai Galaxy and his twin brother were the first twins to win a world title. Great fighters both.

 

Sent away for vhs tapes. Started like in 81 when a vhs player cost you a grand. Used multiple sources thru the years---some guys were good with foreign fights and some were not. But those Galaxy fights were a real treat to watch after reading a little blurb in Flash about the result.

 

Samart skills were matrix like Russell. Watch while he bob and weaves his way through 14 punches before landing a single ko blow.
https://streamable.com/e1bi

 

I found it on another boxing site. There are plenty of avid boxing aficionado's like u Russell who ensure past boxers
efforts are thankfully never forgotten.

 

Good post...I've watched that many times and it never gets old. Here's more of him doing much the same. About 60% boxing footage and the rest MT but some interesting shots of him showing what a nightmare he must have been for boxing sparring partners.

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Thailand's other crossover GOAT and Boxing Olympic gold medal winner Somrak Khamsing had the same "matrix" like skills. I've seen him fight a few times in person in BKK but I remember watching him in maybe 2000 or 2001 on the annual show of the King's Birthday he hadn't fought in years. I remember in the gym and the Thai fight world there was a massive buzz. He was going to fight a quality French Algerian and back then there weren't many foreign fighters fighting in Thailand so it was a big deal. But the rumour mill was he hadn't been training at all. Out hoaring and boozing every night. Anyway he came in physically looking terrible but using his matrix like skills he made the quality opposition look like a pure novice. I was at the fight and was young, I was blown away by how easy he made it look. I think that was the first time I really understood what people meant by the term "levels".

 

Nice clip!!

 

Yes, that is true. Remember very few people follow western boxing even now let alone back then, only really die hards or people in the business. Back then they had very little access to TVs or tape in Thailand so Ali would probably be one of the only fighters they really knew of due to his giant image internationally in the 70s and early 80s. He was known as the best and a fleet footed... this posed a problem for a Thai who was thinking about taking up boxing and still does to this day.

Remember 99% of Thais who cross to boxing where MT fighters from childhood. MT is a no thrills tough come forward style of fighting, designed to break you down, via relentless full power barrages. The Mexicans of South East Asia, natural pressure fighters not dancing technicians. They are very very aware of their footwork deficiency even to this day. So its not uncommen for a fighter who crosses over to overly focus on tying to change their footwork mostly to no avail. Not an easy task after years of conditioning since a child, Ismael Salas I think had alot of success with this in Thailand but on the whole Thais find it very hard. Anyway, I think this is partly why from the 70s into the 80s Ali was such a big influence.

One interesting story related to this. In my time of fighting here, the late 90s and early 2000s it wasn't Ali anymore the big focus for footwork was Prince Naseem. They loved Naz's footwork it was everything they dreamed of being able to acquire. I trained and was an occasional sparring partner for a MT crossover fighter to boxing called Saohin Srithai Condo. He was strong and a classic kind of durable come forward fighter. He really was obsessed with trying to change his footwork. He really felt for success in boxing he had to float around the ring. He loved Naseem. After normal training you would see him in a corner of the camp like kind of practising almost dance moves to try to become more like Naz, but it just want going to happen he was what he was, heavy on his feet and kind to solid. Anyway, he did ok. He pushed Paulia Ayala for 12 rounds and later fought Linares long after he should have retired and he did it with a detached retina.

Anyway, yes alot of converts see footwork as a rel deficiency so look to some of biggest slickest western names for inspiration.