Quinty Fights At WBC Games
Young athlete Quinty Gotnik is gearing up for her next challenge. The athlete from the Netherlands fought at Lumpinee Stadium for Fairtex Fight earlier this year. She returns to the iconic stadium for the WBC Amazing Muay Thai Festival.
“I feel great and am excited,” Gotnik said.
She started training at Fairtex three weeks ago. The 17 year old is familiar with the schedule but is looking forward to this new opportunity.
“I haven’t done a tournament like this in a long time,” she said.
Over 600 athletes from 50+ countries come to Lumpinee. The festival spans from February 2-5th. The final gold medal matches are in the mecca of Muay Thai.
“I love that it’s at Lumpinee,” Gotnik said.
How To Understand Fight Offers
(In This Photo: Fairtex BPV2, Fairtex KPLC5, Fairtex AS1-Black)
There are two parts to a fight offer. There is the fight and there is the promotion.
The fight is the details of the bout. Managers/coaches need to know the weight and walking weight of their athlete and opponent. Plus the experience level, age, purse size, location, date, travel arrangements, and when weigh ins are.
Some of these are negotiable, like purse and travel arrangements. Some are not like location and date.
The second part is the promotion. Understanding the promotion as a business is important. This helps to put the athlete in a favorable position. The questions to know and understand include -
Is the promotion growing?
What do the contracts look like?
What are the stipulations (such as a matching period, or a non compete)?
And is the athlete an opponent or a favorite?
International promoters regularly contact Fairtex for fighters. For example, a promoter recently contacted the gym looking for a female fighter at 50kg, the purse was 8000 baht, no transport, the match up was even, and there was no live stream but it was a rapidly growing promotion.
The bout was accessed. The purse is normal for a female fighter at that weight and experience level. But, the bout required national transportation which would cost at least 4000 baht for one person.
Because of that and the lack of livestream the offer was turned down. While it’s worth investing in growing promotions, it is not worth a monetary loss.
A second example was an offer for a. male fighter for a bout at Lumpinee. The purse was 12-15000 baht. The weight was a little lower than normal for the boxer, the experience level was fair, and weigh ins were 36 hours before the bout for a growing promotion.
The extra weight loss is not ideal, however, because official weigh ins are further away the lower weight was doable. The bout was booked.
International Friendships
(In This Photo: BGV1BR-Blue, BGL6-White, AS1-Green)
Fairtex is an international hub. Pokbill Fairtex was born in Thailand. When he was young he migrated to Finland. It was there that he started in the sport. He trained with a local Tha trainer and racked up the experience. He returned to his homeland and picked up his professional career.
One of his stops on his journey was the Road To ONE tournament. He met Uzbekistan athlete Ismoilijonov Uzair. The two fought in the tournament together.
Pokbill fought in the weight class higher.
But both of them won. Now they reunited to continue their path to success.
Stamp Fights Former Teammate
(In This Photo: BPV3 Belly Pad, Fairtex SP5-Red)
The bout is on. Stamp Fairtex defends her MMA title against Denice Zamboanga on March 1st. The atomweight contest is for the ONE MMA world title. Held in Qatar at the Lusail Sports Arena it pits two friends against each other.
Zamboanga was a former fighter out of Fairtex. The Pinay athlete was on the MMA team in 2019.
“Yes, it’s very difficult to call out a friend, of course. With Stamp, I love her, but this is business. It’s all about business, it’s nothing personal.”
Zamboanga is making business moves. She’s looking to get the belt after two wins against Julie Mezabarba and Lin Heqin. The Filipina athlete dropped two consecutive losses to Ham Seo-hee via decision.
Stamp is riding a three fight win streak. Including a TKO win over Ham Seo Hee via body punches.
A New Weight For French Fighter
(In This Photo: BGV1-Black)
Valentine Compagnon is a determined athlete. The Frenchman is slowly cutting his weight down while also pushing his limits.
“I said 65kg for this bout,” Compagnon said. “But it’s 64.8kg.
He’s been at the gym for two years now. He began fighting at 70kg. Then he dropped lower and lower.
“It’s one more kilo maybe it will kill me, maybe it won’t,” he said.
The smiling Frenchman is back in Lumpinee for Lumpinee World Championship in mid January.
Seminar Success
(In This Photo: Fairtex BS1702 Blue, AS1-Black, Fight Team T-Shirt-White)
The Training Center held its first seminar for the year.
Led by pro Muay Thai fighter Aaron Zackon and Kru Veera, the workshop focused on boxing and elbows.
Zackon fought 15 times in the last 2 years. Kru Veera fought over 50 times while at Fairtex.
The two combined their experience to teach different handtraps, feints, and ways to land the elbows.
The hour long course is part of a growing program to teach and train athletes and grow careers.
We’re looking forward to the next event in February.
Author: Matt Lucas
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