You've Come A Long, Long Way Sanapar Noi
You've Come a Long,
Long Way
By Elisa Tubecki
From 'International Kickboxer' Magazine
There's nothing better than watching a fighter with sheer skill - and Sanapar Noi has just this. Years of tough training and frequent fights in Thailand and Bangkok has seen this small boy from the North East of Thailand, become one of the toughest fighters in the world.
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It was eight years ago that Sanapar Noi first stepped on Australian soil. Hecame to Perth to fight and although he lost there was something about the great southern land that Sanapar loved. After heading back to Thailand he often mentioned to Western Australia's legendary Muay thai trainer Phon Martdee he would like to live and teach in Australia. |
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| An achievement that has come with living and breathing Muay Thai since he was eight years old. While training in Bangkok Sanapar would run in the morning and have a session in the afternoon from 3pm to 5:30pm. The session would start with half an hour non-stop skipping. Then they moved onto excercises followed by shadow boxing, kicking the pads and bags, then grappling. Over ten years later, Sanapar is still training strong to keep him at the world chamion level. He runs at least ten kilometres in the morning and afternoon, followed by 15 - 20 minutes of skipping. Then he works on shadow boxing, over two hours of pad work, followed by five hours of bag work. "We don't have anything to improve on his skill or technique because he has been training for fifteen years. We need to improve on fitness and energy. Sanapar is really enjoying himself at the moment because he loves to train hard and he loves to be fit," says Phon. Sanapar has always been a confident fighter. With a world title under his belt, confidence exudes from him when stepping into the ring and he's simply excited to fight. The IPMTF is keen for him to fight all over the world, but for the rest of the year he will be concentrating on fights within Australia. Coming up against Craig Hogan from Queensland, the boys are matched very well. Phon believes it will be a good fight, as Craig is a strong boy with good skills who has been training in Thailand for a long time. "When I put fighters together I study the story of the fighter, make sure it's an even match and the fight will be good. People want to see a good match and this will be a great fight with a lot of action. Asking Sanapar what he wants to do with the fights, he laughs and says: "If I can knock him out, I will knock him out for sure." In November, Sanapar hopes to fight Shannon Forrester of Queensland in Perth. Then it will be time to head overseas, to defend his world championship title. "There is a new stadium in Thailand and this is where I will fight to defend my title. I'm not sure who I will be up against, but it will be a Thai fighter who is fighting really well at the time. Over the next few months I will be very busy with lots of training and fighting, but after the Bangkok fight I will probably retire," he says. Whether Sanapar retires or not, Australia has been lucky to have one of the world's best Muay Thai fighters passing on his knowledge. Let's hope Sanapar wants to stay and call Australia home. |
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