Out with the gamblers and harsh neon lights, in with female fighters and fancy lasers — after a 20-month break because of COVID-19, Muay Thai’s spiritual home is embarking on a revolution.
On fight days before the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of passionate fans would pack Bangkok’s Lumpinee Stadium — the symbolic heart of the ancient art of Muay Thai.
It was not just admiration for the fighters’ skill that drew the crowds: On big days more than US$1million could change hands in bets, in a country where gambling is largely illegal.
Photo: AFP
Then, in March last year, everything came to a halt as Thailand’s first COVID-19 outbreak was traced back to the stadium, which was immediately closed.
Rather than throw in the towel, the stadium owners — the Royal Thai Army — said they have bounced back off the canvas to turn the enforced break into an opportunity.
Major General Ronnawut Ruangsawat, deputy chief of the stadium, said that the grand old arena was “taking advantage of the pandemic to revolutionize itself.”
“The arena has been completely renovated, betting is now prohibited and women are allowed to fight,” he said.
Gone are the harsh neon lights that once bathed the ring in an unforgiving white glare, and fighter Sitthichoke Kaewsanga on Saturday stepped into the ring under a shower of ultra-modern red and silver lasers. Behind him, giant state-of-the-art screens previewed the bout with pictures of the 21-year-old and details of his record.
The stands were empty of fans and much had changed, but the hooks, jabs and knee strikes were the same, as was the backdrop of traditional Thai music played by a live band.
Lumpinee is to welcome fans back in January, albeit with a greatly reduced capacity and strict virus-prevention rules.
Betting is to be off the cards because the army decided it “led to too much cheating, with players sometimes being paid to lose the fight,” Ronnawut said. “We want to clean up the sport, and we hope that other venues in Thailand will follow.”
However, industry professionals are skeptical the army’s good intentions will succeed.
“They will continue to bet online — gambling is part of the Muay Thai DNA,” World Muay Thai Organization secretary-general Jade Sirisompan said.
“Many gamblers, among them many gym owners, make a living from it and can pocket thousands of dollars on a good day,” Sirisompan said. “They are not going to give it up.”
No less revolutionary is the decision to allow female fighters to take part in bouts at Lumpinee’s main arena.
For years, women — including fans — were banned from even touching the ring because of a superstition that their menstruating bodies might break the magic protecting it.
Other venues have accepted female fighters for some time, but Lumpinee — the sport’s equivalent of Lord’s in cricket or soccer’s Wembley Staduim — held out.
After a low-profile bout in a backroom in September, two women competed in the main ring for the first time on Saturday.
After beating Australia’s Celest Muriel Hansen, 21-year-old Thai fighter Kullanat Ornok said: “We are so proud to have been the first women to fight here. We’ve been fighting for more equality for years.”
“We have come such a very long way. This was so much more than just a fight,” 27-year-old Hansen said.
For Kullanat, getting back in the ring to earn money after the long break was just as important.
“I hadn’t fought in almost a year. I used to earn US$100 a match, then nothing for months to support my family,” Kullanat said.
Deprived of bouts because of the pandemic, thousands of professional boxers — men and the much smaller number of women fighters — returned to their villages.
After so long away from the grueling daily training regime the sport demands, many will never make it back to the same level and the government has offered no financial support.
Many fighters had no choice but to take side jobs.
Sitthichoke became a rider for a delivery service.
His five-round victory in Saturday’s bout earned him less than US$1,000. Before the pandemic he could earn triple that.
Perhaps inevitably for a venue seen as a bastion of tradition, the changes have not gone down well with everyone.
“We don’t recognize anything. The Muay Thai temple has become a big showroom,” Sirisompan said after watching a broadcast of the matches. “It has lost its soul.”
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