This was my first fighting in over two years, so in that respect I felt I “did ok”. I had a bad injury discussed elsewhere so I was out of muay thai for a while. It was at my gym at one of the now famous Muay Thai Smokers at TigerMuaythai.
My opponent was equally matched, neither of us in ideal cardio- shape that would have made the fight more interesting and both of us a bit heavy. He the brawler, me with perhaps better technique. The referee judge awarded the fight to my opponent.
I reviewed the tapes after my Kru Doug Owens told me where my big error was and as usual he was correct, which I could easily see from the replay.
My opponent a very nice guy , local boy (twentyfive to thirty years younger than I ?) fought a very eclectic style. Spin fist, some power punches and some type of kicks which were not technically well done. As I predicted, he was using the Hawaii Style of a onslaught of barrage. I always have trouble with these barrages, because frankly they wear me out quickly. No damage or pain involved but just tiresome to defend. Then when I try to analyze how to counter another irritating barrage comes my way. The bottom line is I was not in shape for an onslaught Hawaiian style. This means I will be working on my cardio more intensely. My coach said it best , you looked good the first round, but you were out of it by the second as far as energy goes.
Well he is right in that I did not have the energy to move my tree trunk legs for good kicks and relied on hands– but with a barrage there is no time to set up. I saw so many openings for a good kicks, but could not take advantage of that due to lack of juice in the latter part of the second and third rounds.
The other energy I had lost was with the what appeared to be a continuing , almost mma grappling thing , we ended up in. I am simply a stand up guy and we spent as much time on the ground or tangled up in the ropes as we did exchanging blows. This is simply not my style and I have to expend a lot of energy with this. Energy I did not have to spare. There is actually one point in the fight where he does a “piledriver”, thats when he falls down backward grabbing me and drives my head into the ring like seen on wild world of wrestling (my god I am not a wrestler).
The bottom line is my heavy weight and cardio endurance if better I could have taken advantage of his wide open gaps for kicks but seeing them easily does no good if you no energy to take advantage does it?
Bottom line I lost , not by any slaughter or significant gap. It was good, but sloppy match. He landed more punches and some kicks , mostly blocked, but none had any power to do damage, I landed more powerfull blows, but less of them. The fight may be equally matched, but I am too out of shape to endure his style of Hawaiian brawling. That will be taken care of , as I realize my coach is right. I am still not sure what to make of the piledriver move where he bounced me on my head—Yet this is standup Hawaian style.
I will try to review some of the other fights in the next segment. I must say that these “smokers” at Tiger Muay Thai are fun exciting and some great fighters and their skill are seen. I hope this will continue with support from other gyms. You should come to next one.
Doctor808
Hi, doc
Though the award of the match went to the opponent, I know your punch is VERY powerful!! Someday, I want to go to Hawaii for smokers. Take a good rest and resume training.