Jomthong Chuwattana vs Kaew Fairtex 2009

This fight was in Japan. I've introduced Jomthong before but, in short, Jomthong and Kaew are both former champions who are still fighting at a high level. Kaew's currently in the army and Jomthong is still competing in Muay Thai. Both take (in Kaew's case, took) occasional fights internationally.

This is a fun bout to watch because both are outside fighters with good technical boxing, including head movement and footwork. This type of match can be hard to find because, in Thailand, a lot of fighters find success on the inside with clinchwork. An outside fight might be forced to adapt, based on the opponent. For example, Kaew fought similarly against Genki Yamomoto, but against Chalermdet Infinity was much more static. The same goes for Jomthong who, against Anuwat Kaewsamrit, employed a lot more footwork and head movement than he does against most opponents. Their styles in this case might also reflect Japanese scoring preferences.

Jomthong wears blue shorts this bout, and Kaew red.




Thanks to aromashoota for the upload. I've read on Mymuaythai.com that people disagree with the decision. This might be due to the ten point must scoring system used which meant that Jomthong won the entire fight due his big elbow in round two, though the fight was otherwise very close. If you'll notice, the Japanese judges give a draw at the end of the other four rounds. The Thai judges use a graded system emphasizing latter rounds of the fight and favoring technique, damage, and control. It can be hard to follow their decisions, but to draw a parallel with MMA, it looks more like Pride FCs scoring system where the judges look at the overall fight. In Thailand, if one fighter wins the first three rounds, loses steam, and gets smashed in the last two, then his opponent has won the fight.
That is not how most people see this fight, since they see Kaew dropping one round but winning more exchanges, particularly with an advantage in boxing. Neither fighter pressed forward particularly hard in this match, choosing to sharpshoot in a technical way. It may be because no major belts were online.