Khmer Thai Fights, PTT Petchrungreung (TH) Vs Gokhan Boran (Turkey), 25 Nov 2017 | Fights Zone

Mornings at Petchrungruang Gym are just me and my trainer, Pi Nu. The boys have already trained in the early hours of the morning, before going to school, and I come about an hour after they’ve arrived to their first classes for the day. In those quiet mornings I get a lot, both in the way Pi Nu trains me but also because he likes to chat with me while we both use the weight room at the end of the session. In these mornings, I’ve heard a lot about the boys who have come through the gym, the boys who are still there and some who have stopped fighting. There’s kind of a joke – one of those jokes that’s so true that it isn’t quite funny – that even the most talented boys will only have a real chance at becoming champions if they can make it through being 16 years old. It’s a trial period age for boys, who will become sidetracked by girls, drugs, motorbikes, smoking, gangs… all the things that don’t fit into a dedicated boxer’s schedule. And I’ve witnessed boys disappearing at this age already in my 2 years at the gym. PTT is the oldest boy at the gym. He’s 18 years old, which is an age when many top fighters are starting to peak and win stadium titles, then they ride the wave for a few years and retire. The arc of professional fighters in Thailand skews quite young and some of the best-known names in the west, like Buakaw and Saenchai, are considered “old men” in their early 30’s. As the oldest boy in the gym, PTT stands out because of his large frame and hierarchical power over the younger boys, but he still comes off as very young. Maybe it’s his sweetness that betrays his youth, but it’s also an incredibly strong part of his character and I reckon won’t change as he grows older. His father often accompanies his two sons to the gym (PTT’s younger brother, “Yodpet” is also a fighter for the gym; he’s 14) and lays himself out along the ropes at the corner of the ring to watch training. PTT is his father’s spitting image, nearly a “mini-me” except they’re pretty close in size – and their smile is an exact copy from father to son. Yodpet is still enveloped in “baby fat,” which barely hides a six-pack underneath and rounds out his cheeks in a way that sets him apart from the hard cheekbones of his father and older brother. But Yodpet is also quite big – huge for his age – and often is fighting adult western men in their 20’s and 30’s at the local Max Muay Thai stadium. This is something PTT experienced as well, although that stadium didn’t exist yet in Pattaya when he was his younger brother’s age, so he was fighting Thais in their late-teens and 20’s. That’s a huge challenge, as Thai men are – as I mentioned before – often peaking at this age.