Thai Warriors 3: Stunning Muay Thai spectacle hits Leamington

More than 700 spectators, 20 fights, five hours and one massive ring. Live from the Leamington Assembly on Saturday 28 November, Thai Warriors 3 was incredible. The venue, usually home to some of the biggest Warwick club nights of the year, was transformed into an arena fit for a fight night, complete with a ring, tables for the jury, ringside chairs and the balcony open for a better view.

Thai Warriors is a Warwickshire based Muay Thai promotion aiming to become the leading combat sport company in the area. What makes Muay Thai so fascinating, as indeed any fighting sport, is the fact the outcome is unpredictable. The rules are simple: the fighters will attempt to score as many points as possible by kicking, punching and kneeing each other. Therefore, the bone crushing possibilities in the ring are limitless. One could easily end up in the hospital, get knocked out, or worse. Seated just a few meters away from the ring, I could hear the impact of punches, kicks and my personal favourite: knees. The audience were enthralled, accompanying each blow with ‘Oooohs’,‘Aaaaahs’ and cries of ‘Finish him!” Mortal Kombat-eque maybe and just a little bit violent, but that’s all part of the sport: the more brutal the bout the more entertaining the spectacle.

Fight nights always start with juniors and finish with the professionals and champions. As it was my first Muay Thai event, I was shocked to see fifteen years-old entering the ring, extremely impressive shows of bravery that I will long remember. Out in the audience, I found myself seated near one of the younger fighter’s parents: Tina and Mark Breslin: who were watching their 15 year old son Josh compete. I’ll never forget the concerned look on his mother’s face over the course of the fight. After Josh emerged victorious and relatively unscathed (pictured above in black) I had the pleasure of interviewing him. He comes from a fighting family of three brothers aged 9, 11 and 15 who all train at the Chaos Devon Gym alongside the British Number One Christi Brereton. The middle brother Jamie picked up Muay Thai to help him stand up to bullies before his two brothers followed suit. They all compete at a high level, with the youngest sibling the current British National Champion. Josh outlined his incredibly demanding schedule training 8 hours a week, sometimes forced to cut weight in order to fit into weight classes: ‘Last week I had to loose four kilos for a fight because my opponent was 48 and I was 54. I even lost 1,2 kilos in a day’ he proudly stated. Their parents cook meals according to their children’s specially designed diets, they drive hours to fights, and support them through thick and thin even if the sport is brutal: ‘This is their choice, we never forced them to do it. The only thing I tell them to do is to never give up’, Josh’s father told me.

Mortal Kombat-eque maybe and just a little bit violent, but that’s all part of the sport: the more brutal the bout the more entertaining the spectacle.

I also got the chance to speak to a female fighter: Sammy-Jo Luxton. She also trains at Chaos Devon and won her fight, which for me was the highlight of the evening. Seventeen years old, she’s a C Class fighter with more than 40 fights and 16 titles under her belt. When I asked Josh and Sammy-Jo if they were afraid before they stepped into the ring. They both gave me a refreshingly simply answer they love it. They told me how excited they were and how they loved the sport. Luxton however, sees Muay Thai as more of a hobby while little Josh and his brothers want to break into the professional ranks.

The night continued and was full of surprises. One junior fighter had his fight stop because he was kneeing his opponent too viciously to the head and the stomach. I saw what a K-O looked like, I saw a fighter almost thrown into the judges tables, I saw blood, I saw sweat. Each fighter has a different style, and you can easily distinguish their signature moves from the beginning of each fascinating contest.

As the standard of the fights improved the atmosphere intensified. You could feel the tension in the air. The night’s main event saw British Champion Nathan Bendon clash with Italian Champion Guiseppe La Vecchia. Bendon went into the bout the favourite and made his country proud, winning with a magnificent knock-out, claiming victory with a knee to the eye in the third round.

The evening was full of emotion. Children, couples and pensioners all seemed to enjoy the show based on the Thai principles of respect for and sportsmanship. If you are looking for a sport which will change your mundane daily workout routine or if you want to try out something new, I definitely recommend Muay Thai. The Warwick Thai Boxing Club welcomes you anytime for amazing sessions and social events like this one.

*Special thanks goes to Macauley Coyle, my Thai Boxing instructor. I think it is quite fair to mention his name since he did an amazing job gathering fighter and sponsors as well as the preparing the room*