This past Saturday the finals of 22nd Isuzu cup tournament were held at Omnoi stadium in Bangkok and broadcasted on Channel 3. The final was between Singmanee Kaewsamrit and Superbon Lookjaomaesaivaree. There has been a big hype for this fight for weeks and it did not disappoint. In an exciting back and forth fight, Singmanee (formerly a trainer at Tiger Muay Thai) used his experience to counter the strong clinch and knee style of Superbon with heavy punches, left kicks and counter knees to take the tournament title.
I was really happy to see Singmanee win. When he was a trainer at Tiger I lived next door to him and got to know him and his family well. He’s already done a lot in the sport, being a former Radjadamnern and WMC champion. However, in the past few years he’s had some hard times, and at 29 years of age (comparatively “old” for a Thai fighter), some people thought he was done before the tournament began. Singmanee proved them wrong though with strong performances throughout the tournament with decision wins over Samranchai 96 Peenung and Ekusung Kor Rungtanakiat and then a huge knockout victory over Phetaswin Seatranferry in the semi finals.
By beating the 22 year old rising star Superbon, Singmanee won 1,000,000 baht and a new Isuzu pick up truck. This is a massive prize for Thai fighters, as even Lumpinee and Radjadamnern stadium champions normally fight for around 100, 000 baht while the contenders fight for a lot less.

On the same card as the final was the fight to decide the 3rd place taker, between Phetaswin Seatranferry and Ekusung Kor Rungtanakiat (who was the winner of the 21st Isuzu cup tournament). Before Tiger Muay Thai trainer, Kay, moved to Phuket, he trained Ekusung in their home province of Surin so as a fellow student of Kay I was rooting for Ekusung. He has a very hard hitting and exciting style, and likes to throw big elbows and flying kicks. Unfortunately he lost a close decision in this fight, but as always made a good fight. Check it out here