Suffolk’s Joe Le Maire is one of the best young Thai Boxers in England. For the next year, he’ll be living and fighting in Thailand, the home of the sport, and every month he’ll be writing a diary about his experiences. Here, in his second diary entry, he has exciting news.
Hello everyone and welcome to my latest diary from Phuket – and I’ve got some exciting news!
You may have seen it on the back of the East Anglian Daily Times a couple of weeks ago, but if not – I’m going to fight in Las Vegas!
I’ve been matched with a fighter from Hong Kong called Chan Kai Tik for a 48kg K1 bout on a big Chinese promotion (WLF) on November 16.
It is an amazing opportunity so soon in my fighting career and one that I just couldn’t turn down. Las Vegas is the home of combat sports, and I never thought I’d end up fighting there so soon!
As for the fight, I know my opponent is fast and erratic, but I’m not too worried about him - I just want to put on a good fight and do my best.
It’s a K1 fight which means limited clinch as oppose to Muay Thai, but I’ve had plenty of those back in the UK so I’m used to the different scoring and style.
With it being a big Chinese show, shown to millions of people, it could open the door to more fights and events across the world for me.
Training is going really well, I’m feeling strong and can’t wait to get in there - I’ll tell you all about it next month.
Since I last wrote, I’ve had two more fights in Thailand, winning one and losing one.
The first was at the Bangla Stadium, in front of scouts from Bangkok. It was a tough fight but I came out with the win.
I knocked him down with a head kick and just improved from there really, taking a points decision, which was great.
Then in my next fight, my fourth so far since moving to Thailand, I came up against a guy who was taller and really good with his elbows.
I made him weigh in, having been stung before by having to fight much bigger guys, and we were evenly matched.
But he used his height to just spike down elbows and cut e pretty badly, on my forehead and on the side of my head.
That’s the first time I’ve ever been cut in my life and it felt weird to have blood running down my face, tasting it and dealing with it while fighting, but it’s just one of those things I’ve got to get used to.
Unfortunately I lost after being given three eight counts but I’m not too worried about it - the main thing is I’ve got the experience of getting cut now, and I’ll deal with it better next time.
I ended up with 12 stitches in the cuts and a couple of scars - I’m pretty proud of them!
Away from fighting, I’m still enjoying living in Thailand - I’ve picked up a bit of the language and still getting to grips with writing and reading in my lessons.
I’ve also teamed up with a new sponsor, SBG nutrition, who will be helping me with meal planning, which is great.
I always need more sponsors though - fighting isn’t a big money maker yet - so if you want to get involved, just get in touch with me!
Right, I better get back to training. I’ll speak to you again next month - hopefully with a win in Las Vegas to tell you about!
Make sure you check out my progress by liking my athlete Facebook page Joeyboy ‘Sumalee’ le Maire and my Twitter and Instagram page.
Also make sure you check out Sumalee Boxing Gym on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Cheers,
Joeyboy
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