WEDNESDAY, February 25th, 2004, AT 9:30 PM, PT

Bottom Line...
UTAH ROCKED!
"Love and War" Press And More...
Fight Photos by www.forthewin.net

Those who are familiar to the IKF News page here are probably expecting a story here about some great MuayThai fights from last weekends Salt Lake City Utah event. Well, those stories are coming, but first, we need to tell you about something else...

As many would know, we have been all over the world and seem a countless number of kickboxing, muay thai, and karate schools and gyms. In this time, we have seen some GREAT Ones! Well, no offense to all you gym owners out there (which we are one of you too), but you all need to go to Salt Lake City, Utah if you want to see what we are calling "THE BEST" Kickboxing Facility in the WORLD! Did we say that out loud? Why yes we did.

Our adventures this last weekend took us to Salt Lake, Utah. Yes, Utah. Once there we met up with IKF promoter Craig Lamanna who drove us to the headquarters of MuayThai Institute of Kunponli. An impressively massive 20,000 square foot facility that will make us all jealous! Yes, ALL OF US!

We did an article on this gym back in June of 2002, but words and an article alone did not prepare us for what we saw! Lamanna's facility includes a 10,000 square foot Muay Thai training room (Left) equipped with all the necessary equipment from bags to the ring. But wait, lets go back to the front door and tell you about the full lobby with some sit down tables and massive pro shop featuring Lamanna's own equipment line, AirMonkey fight gear and of course, weight lifting accessories, and aerobic gear. Not to mention the coffee machine that makes a fresh brew to wake you up at the 6AM (8AM weekends) opening time and oh, did we mention this place is open "SEVEN" days a week! They have classes scheduled every day of the week except Sunday.

Moving forward into the club we enter the weightroom with a full Olympic weight center, featuring Hammer Strength (Right) and Life Fitness equipment and a huge assortment of free weights.

Lets move on to the full cardio center with Life Fitness and Tectrix equipment.

Keep walking and you find yourself in the aerobics room (Left) where they feature classes like Boot Camp and Jump & Jab along with yoga. Keep in mind MuayThai is not the only thing these guys offer. Lamanna is also an instructor for the local law enforcement and is a specialist in weapons and close quarters combat, "Reality Style!"

Move down the hallway and you will find several "Live-In" dorm rooms with bunkbeds to sleep in. Yes, if you come here to train from out of state, you can save the hotel fee and sleep right in the gym. Just bring bedding and anything else you need. A few more steps down the hall and you come to the full kitchen for preparing those real Thai meals. And we mean REAL! Not just because it's Thai recipes, but our cook for the night was none other than their chief MuayThai trainers wife straight from Thailand. And who runs the Thai training here? How about multi time World Champion Sakasem "The Punisher" Kanthawong! But before we brag on Sakasem, lets finish the tour.

Did we mention the Thai lounge complete with a direct satellite feed from Thailand to feature Thai TV and live Thai Fights! Don't forget the full tiled locker rooms with showers and to keep things clean, there is even a washer and dryer for you. We are not the first to brag about Lamanna's facility. Grappling Magazine (March 2003) says, "Lamanna has broken new ground in developing a mixture of muay Thai and Western fitness in one of the largest facilities of its kind internationally." Which on that note, lets get to last Saturday nights fights!

The nights action started with two 65 lb Junior MuayThai fighters. Although J. D. Filiaga and Timothy "Junior" Ruesga were both from the Muay Thai Institute, these two had planned to go at it full power and we had all planned to score the bout. However, a small missing piece of equipment (Cup) brought this bout down to just an exhibition. But this didn't seem to change things in their game plans. These two still put on an action packed MuayThai bout!

Hopefully, these two will make the trip to the IKF Amateur Tournament this year to face off against some of the other top Junior MuayThai & Leg Kick fighters from gyms like Dean Lessei's out of Illinois. Oh and Dean, you and Craig need to Hook UP! You will fall in love with his facility! Craig needs to get you on one of his cards along with other IKF MuayThai gyms like Mick Doyles, Ryan Blackorby's and of course, Uncle Brooks needs to make a road trip to Utah!

None of these bouts were short of Great MuayThai action so we were fully entertained from the start. Jose Garcia from Master Toddy's Gym in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (2-0/0, 156, 5'6", 36) and Ryan Luper of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA trained by Sakasam (0-1, 156, 6', 25) kept things going! This was Luper's fight debut but with great training from Sakasam, he looked like a seasoned veteran. However, so did Garcia. Coming from Master Toddy's gym in Vegas pretty much speaks for itself and this being his second time in the ring, the one extra bout gave him the composure he needed. Garcia wins this one, by unanimous decision, 29-28, 29-28, 30-28.

The third bout or second real fight of the night (Not that the Junior boys didn't ROCK!) featured Marcus Kimsey of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (1-0/0, 160, 6'3", 27) trained by Sakasam against someone we will call "Dr. BLUE", Bruce Sherrod of San Francisco, California, USA (0-1/0, 163, 5'7", 32) Why "Dr. Blue"? Well, Sherrod came to the ring with his hair in locks and BLUE! (Which looked pretty cool actually!) With that kind of hairdo, you better be able to fight, and Sherrod had no problem there. Sherrod is trained by yet another legend, Bunkerd Faphmai (formally Fairtex) who recently announced his retirement. However, both Boonkerd and Sakasam, both into their 40's looked and moved like they could step into the ring today and give us all a lesson in Thai! These guys are that good! Kimsey and Sherrod went toe to toe for all three rounds and in the end, it was Sakasam's training and Kimsey's talent that pulled out the win over a very talented Sherrod, 30-27 on all 3 judges cards.

Next up we had a Woman's MuayThai bout. Polly Harris of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (2-0/1, 128, 5'6", 37) and trained by Sakasam had some close fans in the crowd... Some of Utah's finest. Harris is a police officer by trade, MuayThai Killer by hobby. Daria Roseles of Napma, Idaho, USA (0-1/0, 124, 5'3", 26) gets credit for making her Thai debut but on this night, Harris was far too much for her. Roseles took a standing 8 count in round 3 and when she was being given her second one, her trainer Chris Reyna made the right decision to throw in the towel. Knowing Roseles is trained by the Reyna camp out of Idaho (Who has brought fighters to the IKF Nationals and brought home plenty of IKF Gold), this is just a warm-up for her. She's sure to be back, and with a different game plan. But on this night, it was all Harris who took this one by TKO in round 3.

Robby Wyatt of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (3-0/0, 150, 5'7", 24) and Chris Aldea of San Francisco, California, USA (1-2/0, 149, 5'8", 23) had two things in common Saturday night. First they are both trained by Thai Legends! Wyatt by Sakasam and Aldea by Enn Fairtex. However the best thing they had in common was that these two KNOW HOW TO DO THAI! Unfortunately for Aldea, Wyatt brought a little bit more of his Thai game to the ring on this night as he pulled out a very close unanimous decision 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28.

If we were not there, we may have thought this was reported with a typo but sure enough, this bout was for the "MAY" title! Matt May of Napma, Idaho, USA (9-2/5, 144, 5' 10", 20) shared the same name with his opponent, Marom "Whop" May of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA (4-4/1, 144, 5'6", 20) but that was about it. OK, well, their weights were the same too... OK, and their ages... but swear promise, that is it! These two had no desire to share anything else other than punches, kicks and knees in this special 4 round MuayThai bout. As if round 1 wasn't enough, Maron landed a right hand "SHOT" on Matt at the end of the round which was no flash knockdown. Matt took a moment to shake off the cob webs and finally stood to take his count. A trip to the corner for the round break and we saw a revitalized Matt May come out for round 2 which saw plenty of action. Round 3 seemed pretty even until Matt forced referee Lamanna to step in and make sure Marom was OK. However Marom choose not to pay attention Lamanna so Lamanna started an 8 count. It was the right call by the way. Marom, you need to keep your gloves up and look the referee in the eye. If not, the count is starting, which it did. Going into round 4, all 3 judges had the bout 28-27 for Matt. Matt kept the pressure on in round 4, forcing Marom to another legit standing 8 count and finally, the end came at 1:23 when he overwhelmed Marom to take the TKO win at 1:23 of round 4.

Ever so often a fighter comes along that stands out from the others. All of the nights fighters had their own magic but in the nights main event, it was a trimmed up white kid (Please, not being racists here...) named Dan Green from Provo, Utah, USA that stood out among the others. It wasn't so much his Thai skill in the clinch or his knee work that made Green (8-3/4, 180, 6'1", 27) stand out as was his punching and kicking skills. But there was more. Green's punches looked as straight, quick and solid as watching Roy Jones. His kicks were not just hitting the legs, this kid kicked high and did so with accuracy! Just ask his opponent, Arthur Wong of San Francisco, California, USA. This did not appear like a traditional Thai fight. There was little clinching and when there was, the two broke up. This was more of a K-1 style (No clinching) bout. Wong (9-2/1, 180, 5'10", 27) came into the ring as a favorite against Green with plenty of smoker bout experience (Which in reality, are real bouts) and trained by one of the best in the game, Enn Fairtex. Green is trained by Jason Farrish and together these two put on a show. Our question is where have they been? Green should be going to the IKF Nationals with his skill! Only one flaw came to mind here, if Green would have stuck to his hand combinations from the start, this could have ended in round 1. Regardless, Wong took him the distance but there was no questioning who won. This was all Dan Green by unanimous decision, 48-47, 50-45, 50-45.

Green has a great opportunity having a great promoter to promote him such as Lamanna. Something few fighters have at their availability. If the two work together and appreciate each other for what they can bring to an event, we should hear more great things from Utah, not just from Green, but from all these fighter named above. The true test for fighters like Green, and what elevates them to Great will be going to and winning at the IKF Nationals. Hopefully we will see him and others we saw Saturday night there. Nationals is the proving grounds for all amateur kickboxers. Once there, fighters like Green can test his skills against the best such as 2003 IKF/TKO National Champions Tony Stumpf of Omaha, Nebraska, USA or Andy Hoffman of Hanna City, Illinois, USA.

Before we end, lets not forget who was "In the House" in Utah Saturday night. Check out that photo at the right and you will see 4 Thai LEGENDS! Current IKF Pro Muay Thai World Champion Enn Fairtex of Fairtex San Francisco, Luukchang of Master Toddy's in Las Vegas, Bunkerd Faphimai (formally Fairtex) and of course, Sakasam who has done an Outstanding Job as head/chief Muaythai trainer at the MuayThai Institute of Kunponli. Talk about some talent in the ring!

However we had talent outside the ring too. We had three great judges on this event that we here at the IKF as well as promoter Craig Lamanna were very impressed with. "Griffen Reynaud, Jennifer Howell and Jeremy Horn did an outstanding job!" said promoter Lamanna. We here at the IKF second that! Oh and Craig, you my man did an Outstanding job as event referee too! Great job by our fight doctors too, Pari Mashkuri and Ehsan Hadjbian. And don't forget the rest of the staff at the MuayThai Institute of Kunponli for putting on an outstanding event! A special thanks to Richard Weinsoft, Director of the Utah State Athletic Commission for his work and assistance in making MuayThai legal in Utah. For more event info, please contact Mr. Craig Lamanna at (801) 474-3136 or by e-mail at admin@thaiboxutah.com or go to their web page at www.ThaiBoxUtah.com

Fight Photos by www.forthewin.net

NOTE: The MuayThai Institute of Kunponli is in the process of potentially holding and sponsoring with the IKF North Mountain Regionals if all goes as planned. however, this event may be done at another location since the Utah Commission requires a $25 fee to license all amateur kickboxers in Utah. More on this as we know it.