Muay Thai Association of America Recap

Muay Thai World Championship Extravaganza

March 14, 2010

El Monte Expo Center

El Monte, California

The Fireworks came a day late and about 1,400 miles west of Arlington, Texas this past weekend.

Saturday night was suppose to be the day that boxing's pound-for-pound champion Manny Pacquiao

was to be tested by the hardened veteran Joshua Clottey at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium but it turned

into a lop sided affair with Pacquiao scoring at will and walking away with a unanimous decision win. The

featured undercard for the boxing mega event also showed promise but fizzled with two of the three fights

going the distance in less than stellar performances. The action though, was reserved for Sunday evening

at the El Monte Expo Center in California.

The Muay Thai Association of America’s inaugural event got off to a bang when the first fight of the evening

ended in a spectacular knockout at just 1:25 of the first round when Justin Nguyen landed some hard shots

and put Antonio De La Cruz out on his feet against the ropes. Referee Doc Hamilton rushed in to hold up a

slumping De La Cruz to prevent him from hitting the canvas. That set the tone for the eight fights that

followed which was highlighted by two pro bouts which utilized full Muay Thai rules.

In the Main event, Kaoklai Kennorising captured the WBC Muay Thai 175 pound World Title when he stopped Magnum Sakai in the third round.    While the first round saw both fighters give and take, the second round belonged to Kennorising - the round started with both fighters trading low kicks but Kennorising found his target with a right hook that sent Sakai

down. Sakai got up a bit wobbly but shook off the cobwebs as best he could and the fight continued.

Kennorising quickly went on the attack and as Sakai threw a right hook, Kennorising countered with what

looked like a right elbow that found its mark and hurt Sakai. Sakai’s right hook wrapped around

Kennorising’s neck, almost like a headlock, as he was going down causing Kennorising to double over but

Kennorising popped his head out of the pseudo headlock as Sakai hit the canvas to gain another

knockdown. Sakai got up quickly and gamely fought on until the end of the round.

At the start of the third round, Sakai looked to be recovered and came out swinging - with the fighters trading punches, kicks and elbows. But it was Kennorising’s straight left elbow that ended the night as it put Sakai down and out. Sakai was on his back for a while and looked to be in a lot of pain but fortunately, he got up (with a little help from Kennorising). Sakai, cut and left eye completely closed, looked to be okay - more disappointed in himself than with the outcome of the bout or his injuries.

In the other full rules Muay Thai bout, former Lumpini Champion Saenchai Sor Kingstar came out dancing,

with a bit of boogie in his step, to take on New Japan Kickboxing Federation’s Lightweight Champion

Tetsuya Yamato.

From the start of the fight, Yamato looked a bit rigid but came out throwing low kicks. Saenchai countered

with a left high kick and a few more kicks of his own - Yamato stayed calm and continued with the low kicks

and ended up missing with a right low kick which caused Saenchai to rock back and forth for a bit to bring

out a roar from the crowd. Saenchai quickly then attempted what looked like a flying knee but was too far

out and missed and stepped in with a left kick that got blocked. Yamato still looked calm but continued

fighting tall and kept to the low kicks as the round progressed. Both fighters abandoned any type of striking

for the first minute of the fight until Yamato threw a left that missed - that caused Saenchai to stick out his

chin in a taunting motion. A few more low kicks ensued from both fighters until Saenchai tried a cartwheel

kick to the cheers of the crowd. The kick looked to have connected with Saenchai's left leg hitting the head

of Yamato.  But Yamato countered with a low kick of his own after being tagged. After the ref cleaned off

Saenchai gloves, Saenchai tried the cartwheel kick again and grazed Yamato with the left leg but Yamato cleared Saenchai’s leg and again countered with a low kick. A few low kicks later, Saenchai unleashed a left high kick that found its target and sent Yamato down face first. Saenchai did a victory lap before referee in charge Doc Hamilton told him to get to a neutral corner. The ref then picked up the count but it was all academic, Yamato wasn’t getting up as much as he tried. Saenchai wins the MTAA 135 pound World Title.

In other featured bouts, Kristin Shepard battled it out with Malia Spynol for five rounds and came away

with a hard fought unanimous decision win – Shepard becomes the MTAA 130 pound U.S. National

Women’s Champion.

In what would be awarded that best amateur performance of the night, David Huerta out powered and out

scored Jason Andrade for five rounds and took the unanimous decision win to capture the MTAA 130 pound

U.S. National Title.

Others scoring victories on the action packed card include Roy Corona over William Luzuuza, Yamamto

Miura over Tony Juan, Bounthong Syvanthong squeaking out a three round split decision win over

Prudencio Portillo, and Andy Lazarit closed out the night with a hard fought split decision win over the

game Mike Ellison – this fight was also awarded fight of the night.  

Steve Nava

TheFightGame.tv

(3/15/10)