Child Muay Thai boxing

Every Friday night, at the Grand Sport Hua Hin Petchkasem Road, a Muay Thai contest is held. This isn’t the “real” bloodsport type fight, but is an interesting one that left me with an odd taste in my mouth. I was staying in nearby Cha Am, and decided to check it out anyway.

First of all, the venue was more like a gym with a ring in the middle than any sort of modern stadium. It’s possible they taught Muay Thai there during the week. The music, being pre-recorded rather than a live band, could not keep pace with the fighters and speed up as is more common in a fight with a live band.

I got in for 500 Baht, which a local bar owner said was a bit much. If you have a flyer for the show, any tuk tuk or taxi in Hua Hin will take you there free. The fights were among youngster between 12 and 19 years old. I was amazed that the younger ones already had the ripped physiques of the serious fighter. And yes, these fights were pretty serious. One between a 16 year old and a 19 year old girl had to be stopped in the second round because the older girl was hurt.

The main event, the one that gave me an odd taste in my mouth, was between a nine year old girl and a nine year old boy. This match started at 11pm. When they entered the ring, it was announced that the boy had bet 7000 Baht on himself. Not only did I wonder where a child would get 7000 Baht, I couldn’t help noticing the English-only signs forbidding betting!

The children were amazingly graceful and very well-received by the crowd. It started with the traditional Wai Khru -- a ritual of respect to one’s opponent involving bows and a dancing movement. The girl threw in a non-traditional part of this by shadow boxing with her opponent that really seemed to intimidate the boy, but delighted the crowd.

Then the match got real. There was none of the slow grace of the shadowboxing as they unleashed the speed and accuracy of youth. The girl had reach on the boy, so was able to get in punches faster and more accurately. However, I found myself ambivalent. While I cheered every blow she landed, I winced at every blow that she took, feeling that somehow it was wrong of her opponent to hit a girl like that!

As the children, especially the girl, started to tire, I started having serious misgivings about watching them and paying to have two children fight. I was able to put away my conflicted feelings well enough to give the girl, who won, the hearty cheers she deserved, but I could not help feeling badly for the boy who lost 7000 Baht (presuming the story was true).

After the fight, the kids went around the audience and posed for photos, accepting money from the crowd. I gave her 100 baht and the boy 20 Baht (6980 Baht to go, huh?). When I posed with the little girl, I was impressed that the girls muscles were so solid. I left immediately after that even though there was another match. I had to get back to my Cha Am hotel before the last bus left, ir I would have been in for either a long night in Hua Hin, or a nice taxi fare. Were they fighting for real? Were they a brother-sister act and were they making money for their parents? Were their parents okay with making their kids fight for money.

I still don’t really know…