HOLA.
Feels like it’s been a bit since I was last in the gym. I missed the crew and appreciate all the staff, coaches, and members of TBI for maintaining the space while I was away. Thank you for allowing me the space to learn and grow into a better coach, community leader, and human being.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Re: Panama
I took some time off to explore Panama! I hung out at Dynamite Academy, took a class and a private lesson with one of the coaches, and met the owner. It was cool to learn a bit about the history of the sport in the country, along with its competition culture. It’s always great meeting new people in the scene, creating friendships, and learning from people of all levels.
Everyone in the gym was super friendly and curious, and the warmth of the community was very apparent. Really inspiring!
Thank you to Coach Johnny and Coach Giancarlo for your hospitality and help navigating PTY.
Hopefully, I’ll see them again in the future!
https://share.google/Lln20ojKYBfxrKA4L
https://www.instagram.com/dynamiteacademypty/?hl=en
Re: TBI Goes to WKA
We went 4–3 this past weekend, with Nick getting second place in the finals and both LJ and Alexis losing in the semifinals.
It was a fun event with an interesting location and setup. I’m glad we went, as it was a great way to get seven fights in over a weekend.
Congrats to our athletes on their participation! No one got seriously hurt. We wanted better results, but sometimes that’s the way it goes. 🙂
Nonetheless, we are all still very proud of you. Competing is no easy feat.
Thank you once again to Coach Tony for your help this weekend.
Thank you to Kristy for chaperoning and providing in-person moral support.
Thank you to everyone tuning in and rooting us on from home.
Thank you to the staff at TBI for taking care of the gym while we were away.
Thank you to all the members who helped by being training partners for the team.
Thank you to 818 Boxing for your help with sparring.
And thank you to whoever I missed. Onward and forward!
Re: Cali Muay Thai — October 10
Looking for someone who wants to step up and compete locally. Preferably sans shin guards for those with three or more fights, but if anyone wants to make their debut, that works too.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DbwVvjVyC9A/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsi=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Re: Medium Shirt Preorders
Hello! We’ve been out of stock on medium shirts in these two designs for the last month, and we are finally going to put in an order. If you would like to preorder your shirt, check out the links and details below. Thank you for your patience!
TBI “Minimal” Tee
https://the-thai-boxing-institute.gymdesk.com/product/tbi-%27minimal%27-tee/10996
TBI “Think Lightly” Tee
https://the-thai-boxing-institute.gymdesk.com/product/tbi-%27think-lightly%27-tee/10995
🥋: $30 for the shirt
🛫: $7 for shipping
🚗: Pickup available
✨ PRESALE ENDS SEPTEMBER 10 (9/10) ✨
Venmo: @COACHVIK
Zelle: info@thaiboxinginstitute.net
Please include your size, shipping cost, and address, if applicable.
You can also make a credit card purchase through our website, TBImerch.com, or by clicking the “Shop” link on our site.
Re: Labor Day
We will be closed Monday, September 7, for Labor Day.
The regular schedule will resume Tuesday, September 8.
Thanks!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
September Curriculum
September 1–6: Review
September 7–13: All Kick Defenses
September 14–20: Boxing with Elbows
September 21–27: Kicking as Defense Against a Boxer
September 28–October 4: Jabbing
Since tournament season is over, we are moving away from tournament-style training and toward more foundational and exploratory learning. Check out some of the videos in the next section for influences from this month’s curriculum.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
This Month’s Influences
Karuhat Sor Supawan
A very smooth boxer from the “Golden Era” of the sport, from the 1980s to the mid-’90s. During that time, kicking was an integral part of the sport, along with its scoring. Karuhat has some of the best kick defense from that era, in my opinion. I was fortunate enough to do a seminar with him earlier this year when he was visiting Boxing Works.
Karuhat Sor Supawan “Top Master”
https://youtu.be/E2DSmvomjV4?si=vbiLXdptdAAjWTPv
Nathan Corbett
Arguably one of the best fighters to mix boxing with elbows. He has a really interesting style because it teeters more toward kickboxing territory, with the heavy use of low kicks. We had a seminar with him at TBI back in 2018, where I picked up a few technical details from his style. Nice guy!
His fight with Magnum Sakai is dope as fuck. The “Xplosion” event series, which was held in Hong Kong at that time, is full of great, high-level Muay Thai matchups.
Nathan Corbett — Carnage (KO Highlight)
https://youtu.be/FnWrM9UURhA?si=qO7bNqpu3-EExjaq
Nathan Corbett vs. Magnum Sakai
https://youtu.be/AGHyFiA75J8?si=ImxcpO7A_BuTDp3z
Buakaw
Whenever I think of kicking, I think of and always suggest Buakaw. Not modern Buakaw, but the younger Buakaw who sawed through the best kickboxing organization of the early 2000s, K-1 MAX. He was the fighter I modeled my kicking style after.
For the sake of congruence, I added a link to his fight with French-Thai boxer Jean-Charles Skarbowsky, another one of my inspirations, from Xplosion. It demonstrates the high-level matchmaking of that kickboxing organization. However, my suggestion is to watch Buakaw’s career during his K-1 MAX reign from 2004 to 2006 to see how well his traditional Muay Thai kicking style—left kicks and push kicks—neutralized the heavy boxers of that kickboxing organization during that time.
Buakaw’s Finest Moments (Knockouts & Highlights)
https://youtu.be/AbHvnKBxwi4?si=b2_WsF5UoLcgZWUO
บัวขาว Buakaw Por Pramuk vs. Jean-Charles Skarbowsky — Xplosion Hong Kong
https://youtu.be/656o5-D-WOQ?si=vqd-jW6QRUPeAdUS
Finally, when I think of jabbing, I always think of Mexican boxers. One of my favorites, and someone I model my boxing style after is Juan Manuel Márquez. Not just his jab, but his overall lead-hand use.
Also, we can’t talk about jabbing and Mexican boxing without discussing the minimumweight champion (105 lbs!), Ricardo “El Finito” López. Considered one of the finest technicians in the sport.
Juan Manuel Márquez — Dinamita (Highlight Reel)
https://youtu.be/gLGXC9czt1w?si=w9owUQzJgvEeBB0v
Ricardo “El Finito” López — Perfection (51–0–1)
https://youtu.be/I1qjTPg_oYw?si=ttNG34zJX4gJZo8T
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
On/Off Topic
Current Culture Consumption
Dark Thoughts — Dark Thoughts (Full Album)
https://youtu.be/JUA1VKOT_-4?si=eS_cko42DgKcHKsJ
Saw them last month at UFO, a tiny little punk venue in DTLA. The album is a quick little listen with no skips, but the standout songs for me are “I Won’t Say Nothing” and “Addicted to Debt.”
Wisp Covers Green Day’s “Last Night on Earth” for Like a Version
Great Green Day deep-cut cover by Zoomergaze SF band Wisp. Very romantic :’)
https://youtu.be/o1awA_EmS_o?si=2cPkCMNYN7-WnoOV
Ocean Vuong Teaches the Art of Writing (NYU Professor)
https://youtu.be/kn4r4CmWmUw?si=KJZRP3Tif41f7Mv9
I took a poetry class this past semester at SMC to improve my AI prompting (jk…). No, but seriously, I was introduced to Ocean Vuong’s work, and it’s pretty magical, I think.
My Introduction to His Work:
Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Currently Reading:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Final Thought
“Grief is the metabolization of change.”
— Ross Gay, Inciting Joy: Essays
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━