I went to a fight night at Bangla Stadium in Patong last night. One of the Sinbi fighters and trainers, Pot, was fighting so there was a big following from camp attending. To get to and from Patong we all piled into the camp hilux and off we sped into the night for the 13km trip to Patong. The hilux was a bit of a squash, with ten of us crammed into the tray with Tiger (one of the more 'colourful' trainers), perched on the tail gate preaching to us on the virtues of women and the evils of ladyboys - like we needed convincing!

The stadium itself was indoors with a ring and seats on ground level around it. There was stadium seating on the upper level where the floor was cut away to view down pretty much on top of the ring. The early bouts were generally pretty good. Even with being told bit more about the scoring system (punches don't count only kicks and knees to the body, elbows to the head and different moves in the clinch) I still couldn't figure out how the winner was decided. What is even more bizzare than the fight scoring is the betting on fights. This is a Thai only practice (farang aren't allowed to bet) with everything seeming to be done by hand signals and waving arms, monies are exchanged by various participants at the end of the bout, all this is done without totes, tickets or anything bar a commitment of a wave/nod from participants. The major betting area seems to be only on one side of the ring which in a close fight adds a heap of atmosphere with the frantic arm movements and yelling from the block of punters eager for the big score.

The fifth fight on the cards had a Swedish guy against a Thai and we were all pretty keen to see how a fellow farang stacked up. Within the first 5 seconds of the fight the Thai had been knocked down (by punch), he got up and with arms flaying wildly tried to counter only to be hit again and knocked down. This pattern continued for about two minutes when the referee decided to end the fight. It was actually pretty sad and was pretty obvious to all that this Thai guy had never been in a ring before. To be honest I could have beaten him - which isn't a brag just a statement that he was really that crap. Sarah, a Swedish expat who's lived here for a while, was telling me the next morning that some farang come here and want to fight and win. They manage to have bouts set up for them by dodgy trainers/promoters with novices like the Thai guy in this fight. It seems some people just don't get what it's all about......

Pot's fight finally arrived which he won, though he did give us a scare in the second round when his opponent gave him a solid tap on the jaw almost forcing a standing count. I got some good photos of the night which I'll post soon.