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| Karl ready for his first time |
I first met Karl-Hanz in India and then later caught up
with him in Thailand. He has been training Muay Thai for a couple of years in
Canada but never faught a real fight. His parents named him Karl-Hanz as he
should have become a famous soccer player (as per Karl-Heinz Rummenigge) but he
switched over to Muay Thai Boxing - so we might have to change his
name.
It is a tough sport with limited rules, basically
everything is allowed except biting and kicks in the groin. As soon as
somebody touches the ground with his hands, the ref interrupts the fight until
both fighters are back up on their legs. The fight is over as soon as one of them is
knocked out or the ref declares the fight for too dangerous for one them. If
both are still on their feet after 5 rounds the refs use a point system to
determine the winner. Funnily not even the fighters could explain me the scoring
methods, they seem to be different to where ever you are. Bottom line is kicks
are higher value than punshes.
Karl trained hard for a month in Thailand and wanted to
join an amateur fight - that's when they use head protection. Well, the audience
wants to see blood and hence there are literally no amateur fights around so
Karl ended up in a professional fight with no protection except the little box
for your best parts.
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| The Stadium in Phuket |
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| Protect your knuckles... |
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| ...lub up your body... |
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| ...and more lub... |
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| ...and even more... |
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| Get the last instructions |
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| Ready - almost... |
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...one important bit is missing, the box
for your better pieces. |
Before getting into the ring, he got his body lubed up
to protect from skin scratches, got his hands bandaged to protect his knuckles
and was warmed up by the coach. Then he has to wait as the fights before could be
over in one round or go until the 5th round. He was hiding his nervousness well
- I would have shit my pans seeing other guys knocked down in the ring in front
of your eyes. There was a considerable full house even though tickets were
starting at 1300 Baht (ca. $45) which is a lot of money in Thailand where
salaries start at around 6-12.000 Bath/months. Then fight 7 of 8: Edward (Karl's
last name) - Canada (0 fights) vs. Sinchainoi - Thailand (70 fights). Both weigh
in 154 pounds but my stakes are on Karl as the Thai guy looks a little bit less
muscled up than Karl. That was my opinion but the bookies thought differently -
they were putting money against Karl, not a good start. Well, lucky he didn't
know.
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| Waiting |
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| Waiting for the stage |
The fight starts with a usual ritual where each fighter
'dances' around in circles and touches each corner and the floor. The
announcement were done: "Welcome Edward giving his professional fighting debut -
wow, the stakes are high. Then we are ready to rock: Go Karl! I've no real idea
of what is good and bad but Karl kept up very well. He landed a couple of good
hits straight on the face of his opponent but he didn't show too much impact.
One thing in muay thai is to not show your opponent your pain - just keep
smiling. Karl danced around him and the fight was quite equal in the beginning.
Some good elbow hits and some knee kicks from Karl gave hope. Well hope lasted
until round 4 [?] when the other guy landed a nice and hard kick (sorry Karl, it
was a good hit) straight on the upper side of his leg above his knee. Even I
could feel the pain in my/his leg and it was quite clear that Karl was in pain - his
faces couldn't hide it and his weight moved from the left to the right leg
- clearly visible. I guess the other guy could have landed another blow on the
same spot straight away and the fight would be over but he didn't - maybe he
didn't realize? The round 5 and Karl came back. Well, we could see that he
started to be tired, 5 rounds on your legs on full alert can be draining. But
Karl scored some good blows again. Unfortunately not good enough to knock the
other guy out so that at the end blue gloves were lifted into the air instead my
favorite red ones. Anyway after he had to be carried out of the venue some
strong painkillers and a numerous amount of drinks combined with some caring
Thai ladies made him dance all night into the morning - that's a real fighter's
happy ending. Well done Karl!
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| Before the start |
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| Go - test your enemy... |
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| ...with some surprising early hits. |
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| Refreshing break before round 2 |
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| Be careful, this guy can kick! |
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| Ice melting in the ring |
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| Where is he kicking? |
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| Manlove - not |
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| Break |
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| He made it through 5 rounds - well done |
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| ...but has been hit a couple of times...so... |
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| ...the winner is not Karl |
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| Exhaustion and Frustration |
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| Adrenaline gone, pain kicks in |
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| World of pain |
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| Breath brother! |
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| Time to walk/ being walked home? |
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| Well earned rest |
