Thursday, December 2, 2010

Samart Payakaroon vs Samransak Muangsurin 1988

Samart Payakaroon should need no introduction. According to most, he is the best Muay Thai fighter to ever grace the ring. Only Saenchai Sor Kingstar is mentioned in the same air as him. Kru Yodtong, Samart's trainer at Sityodtong, says in an interview with Evolve that while Samart didn't have the best technique in any one aspect of the game, his speed and creativity allowed him to come up with counters no one could predict. He was known for his teep and was very skillful and strong with his boxing. After retiring from Muay Thai, he would win the WBC Super Bantamweight strap in 1986 and successfully defend it once. This is a later fight of his against a heavier fighter. Samart fights from the red corner.

Samransak Muangsurin was another famous fighter of the era. He built a name for himself as a heavy puncher and was nicknamed "The Iron Fist." In an interview, Anuwat Kaewsamrit names him as a precursor, another fighter known for knocking his opponents out. The Muangsurin camp also turned out accomplished professional English style boxers like Saensak Muangsurin. He wears the blue shorts in this bout.

These fighters were active in the late '80s and early '90s before the Asian financial crisis in 1997, what is referred to as the Golden Age of Muay Thai. Viewership has not returned to the levels of that era and the advent of football being broadcast on Thai TV has precluded somewhat a highly visible Muay Thai media presence. Samart was champion in four weight categories at Lumpini Stadium against the very high quality opponents of this era. To put that in perspective, consider that Lumpini is one of the two major stadiums in Bangkok, along with Rajadamnern, and belts from the two stadiums are the most prestigious and difficult to obtain in Muay Thai.




Samart and Samransak were anomalies of sorts for their era of Muay Thai. Because of the way Muay Thai has evolved, it is now more common to see more refined boxing being employed by fighters. This was much rarer twenty years ago. Scoring then, as now, favored knees, kicks, and elbows over punches unless a knockdown was scored so many fighters focused on those techniques. Increased recognition of the power of English boxing techniques arose possibly due to foreign participation in Muay Thai as well as increased attention to heavier weightclasses like the 67 kg (147 lb) and 70 kg (154 lb) divisions. Punchers were also popular with spectators and gamblers because they produced close, exciting fights.

Samart had to be a huge favorite coming into the fight. Very early on you see his advantage in speed and technique as he dominates Samransak in the boxing department. He has very slick footwork and is hard to hit cleanly without being countered. Samransak finds his groove later on in the fight as Samart slows, but still has trouble consistently landing consistently. By the end of the fight, Samart is noticeably tired but still manages to outscore Samransak. His switching between stances seemed to make him particularly hard to pin down. He carried that tendency through most of his Muay Thai career, fighting some bouts southpaw, some orthodox, and sometimes both. He competed his entire English boxing career as a southpaw, too, as far as I'm aware.

It has been remarked that his attitude toward training became more lax near the end of his career, resulting in conditioning issues in the ring. This bout is dated as being after his transition to English boxing and, considering that Samransak fought at a much higher weight than Samart did in his prime, it makes sense to place that this bout is toward the end of his career.

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