A bit of Christmas Muay Thai Sparring on Boxing Day.

In the UK and Australia Boxing day has nothing to do with actual boxing, however, here in Thailand we training went on as usual with a bit of Thai Boxing.  A nice thing about KC Muay Thai is they don't close for holidays like most gyms do, especially in Phuket.  Granted no one actually showed up for morning training the day after Christmas but we all trained in the afternoon and on the day itself.

We did a tough 5 rounds of boxing sparring today, and I switched off between 4 different partners.  The  most intense was sparring with one of the Thai fighters, a guy in his mid twenties with a voice as deep as a subwoofer, I forget his name.  I used to be scared to spar him quite honestly, he's fast and always spars at 90%.  But after getting used to him a bit more, I look forward to it now.  I know he's not trying to kill me, he just likes sparring hard.  So today, instead of wasting energy dancing around, I stood my ground in front of him, kept my guard tight and traded blows with him.  I think I finally gained his respect after taking and giving some hard shots.

Another Thai guy, Chai, the 19 year old with 200 fights is fun to spar because he never hits hard, which lets me work on my footwork and speed.  I try to dance around like Manny Pacquiao or at least the best I can with my 200lb+ frame.

Chai and I last night at KC Muay Thai's Christmas BBQ Dinner

I also sparred a tall Dutch guy that had really good footwork and a totally different style than I'm used to.  He'd circle a lot and it wasn't until I was able to bully him into the corner that I was able to be effective.  He stayed after class along with a new English guy to do Kettle bells with me.

My last sparring partner today was Jen, a girl from Canada with a few fights under her belt.  I got to work on my head movement a lot and got caught a few times by her right hook which I need to watch out for.  After sparring she said to me, "Johnny I like that you are flowy" which I didn't really know what she meant until she elaborated.  

"I like that you can spar and hit fast and fluid with me but pull back at the last second so it doesn't actually hurt.  A lot of other people can't control how hard they hit." 

I just nodded, as I had a mouth piece in but I'd like to think that's one of my traits that I've worked on and am proud of.  I think it's because I'm often bigger than my sparring partners I'm really conscious about pulling back my punches at the last second so it doesn't hurt.  This is the exact reason why I get so pissed when other people start hitting me really hard and then blame me for escalating,  I know when i'm hitting hard, and I'm never the first one to start.  But I do finish it.

 Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone, and for those wondering, Christmas is a great time to come to Thailand and train.  I know a lot of people want to stay home and spend it with their family, and as much as I miss mine, I also dread the cold.  So I make it a point to see my entire family and spend time with them during the summer and spend my winters in Thailand where it's 28C/82F everyday.

Warm Regards and Best wishes in 2013,

Johnny @ MyFightCamp.com