by James Goyder
Saenchai Sor Kingstar, or Saenchai Sinbi Muay Thai as he is now known, has been involved in Muay Thai for the past 20 years and has been widely regarded as the best fighter on the planet for almost a decade.
He will be facing highly regarded English fighter Liam Harrison in Doncaster tonight and is also scheduled to do a series of seminars in Sweden soon. International awareness of ‘the science of the 8 limbs’ has developed dramatically during the course of Saenchai’s career and he is happy to be contributing to the Muay Thai revolution which has seen the sport become a significant sector of the Thai tourist industry.
“When I was younger there were effectively no farangs at all fighting at the top level. Fighters like myself have done a lot to promote Muay Thai by travelling abroad to fight, run seminars and give training and I think that is one of the reasons Muay Thai is now so popular with farangs,” he said.
Saenchai briefly threatened to put his Muay Thai career on the back-burner in order to become a professional footballer and trained with Thai Premier League champion’s Muangthong United, even appearing in a few friendly games. However he is now fully focused on his fighting career.
“Football was always just fun for me. I love to play football but Muay Thai is my true passion. It is sometimes difficult for me to find fights as I just couldn’t find anybody to fight with as I have beaten them all already! Sometimes if I don’t fight for a while it is just because I can’t find an opponent,” he said.
Saenchai has already faced Harrison once in 2009, winning comfortably, but the fight was well received by the UK audience and he is looking forward to the rematch and to fighting outside of Thailand again.
“I am feeling very strong and ready for this fight, my leg is completely healed and I am in a full training regime. I prefer fighting foreign opponents like Liam because I do not have to lose any weight for these fights. This enables me to prepare better as I do not feel so tired during the build up to the fight,” he said.
Top Thai fighters will cut as much weight as possible in order to give themselves a size advantage. This generally involves dehydrating the body prior to the weigh in and then piling the weight back on once they have successfully stepped onto the scales. The perception is that foreigners are not as good which is why fighters such as Saenchai will happily take fights against overseas opponents who are a little heavier.
Another perception which is perhaps unique to Muay Thai is that a fighter’s prime will be between the ages of approximately 15 and 25 after which he will start to slow down. Saenchai, who is now 30, is happy to be able to defy expectations by prolonging his career.
“I feel no different now to how I felt when I was 20. For me training and fitness is a way of life. I train all the time and keep at the same level of fitness. My fitness now is at the same level as it was before. I am not ready to finish fighting yet. When this time has come, I will know in myself that it is time to stop. I hope to have some Muay Thai related business but I am not sure what it will be yet. I would like to be more than just a run of the mill trainer although I do like helping out from time to time with the training of students at Sinbi Muay Thai,” he said.
One major change which took place in Saenchai’s life last year was moving from the 13 Coins gym in Bangkok to Sinbi Muay Thai in Phuket, a camp which is extremely popular with tourists.
“I am thoroughly enjoying my time at Sinbi Muay Thai. I love mixing with the farangs there and helping out with the training, although my prime role at the gym is as a fighter. I have two pupils, young Thai boys, who I have brought with me from Bangkok. They have been with me for a long time and their parents wanted them to live and train with me, in the hope that one day they will also be great fighters. They are my family now and I get tremendous enjoyment from training them and seeing them develop as fighters,” he said.
Saenchai says he would ‘love’ to fight for K-1 in Japan, which is perhaps the most profitable outlet for a stand up style fighter, but has received no contact from the organization. He would also be interested in fighting in Thai Fights, the TV friendly promotion which made its debut last year.
“I think shows like Thai Fight are spectacular but are probably of more interest to farangs than Thais. Thai people like the more traditional setting to be found in stadiums like Lumpinee and Ratchadermeon and shows like Thai Fight have not really changed that. I would certainly be prepared to fight in such shows if contacted about them though and can fight up to 70 kgs,” he said.
For all the latest on Saenchai and the results of his fight with Harrison visit: www.sinbi-muaythai.com
