|
BACKROUND
I started training because life was a little boring and this
niggling voice in my head saying "you got to get fit,
learn a fighting art" so I set about finding a decent
Thai boxing school. I only had to look in my own town of Eltham
to find a small but excellent club coached by lee Whittington,
I sat in and watched first to see how everybody trained, I
remember feeling at home in the gym and thinking this is what
I want to learn.
After a few years of training I felt the only way to learn
more was to compete. Even though I learnt loads from sparring,
helping others to prepare for big title fights and helping
my coach in the corner I always felt I was on the wrong side
of the ropes and wanted to put my years of training and dedication
to its proper use.
I felt that now was my time and I am learning considerably
more and growing with each fight. I love the buzz I get from
competing and I'm proud to fight for eltham, I feel I represent
my coach and the years of work he has put into me as well
as my club and myself. We have good teamwork at Eltham Thai
and have excellent trainers. I have a really solid relationship
with my coach Lee Whittington, he is a close friend and I
have a lot of trust and faith in him. Lee has trained me,
coached me and supported me throughout my Thai boxing career
and to whom I am very grateful for everything he has done
for me.
What attracted me to the eltham camp was each fighter's individual
flair, which was encouraged upon by lee. There are no right
or wrongs, or set routines, we are allowed to express ourselves
with our Thai boxing skills with each student having their
own sort of style but not neglecting the
basic Thai boxing guard, stance and skills. This is why you
don't see "robot" type fighters from our camp.
INFLUENCES AND INSPERATIONS
I have a few fighters I looked up to, Ronnie Green, Rob Kamen,
Ramon Decca, Remmy Bonjasky, Mike Tyson, Mohamed Ali, Rocky
Marciano to name a few, but the person who inspired me the
most was Tyrone "the terror" Alexander, British
and commonwealth WMTO super middle weight champion, iv never
seen any body train so hard or as physically fit as Ty, he
set a standard for me on how to train for fights, how to grit
your teeth and get on with it, the
best super middle weight Thai boxer i've ever seen in the
UK. He also represents the Eltham camp.
TOUGHEST OPPONENT
My toughest fight was for the WMTO amateur super heavyweight
title, my opponent was Chris Knowles of the Minotaurs gym
trained by Paul Taylor and Ralph Beale. I have loads of respect
for Chris and his camp, Chris has got a great team behind
him and Lee and I try to get up there for sparring and training
before fights.
Chris is a top fighter, and a good sportsman, its always good
to see him at shows, you know there's going to be sparks flying
when he's competing. We did five hard rounds-I thought Chris
was going to gas out in the last round but he was there to
the last second, he pushed me on every level, fitness, strength,
stamina, skill, and heart; he was a very good test....
|
