Translation Project: Thongbai Jarernmuang vs Adul vs Pornpichit 2 Fights from 1960s (English subtitles)

This post is open to the public, but it comes to everyone through the support of our patrons. We've begun paying a Thai to English translator to bring the commentary found on classic fights to life.  This is the latest translation.  - Kevin

Why Thongbai?

A huge part of the Muay Thai Library project is the idea of Preserve The Legacy. Sylvie and I are filming with legends and hidden krus in an attempt to document and archive not only the disappearing genius of Muay Thai, technically, but also the marvelous men of those glimmering ages of excellence. Men who may be starting to age out of teaching, or in some cases, have been removed from Muay Thai itself altogether. 

What makes the Library also special is that Sylvie, the most prolific western fighter in Thai history, is studying these techniques, for real, in real time, and applying them to her own development as a fighter. She tries to take something from everyone, and she talks about how she incorporates what she learns. 

A lot of our process also involves film study, and once in a while we come upon a special fight, or fighter. Often we'll then make a Watch With Me, sharing our excitement about the matchup (see that Public playlist here). When we came upon Thongbai, especially is fight with Adul, we had heard only of Adul who was considered one of the all time legends of the time well before the Golden Age. A fighter with slick fighting style, high IQ, a gentleman's demeanor and movie star looks. A superstar. 

watch the fights

Watch the Thongbai fights with commentary here, be sure to turn on [cc] English subtitles.

You can watch the Thongbai vs Adul fight above (the 1st fight of the two). Adul is at the end of his career, despite being only 25. Thongbai is a complete stud of the late 1960s, and he brings an exciting Muay Buk - forward fighting, aggressive - style.  What we were drawn to was the absolutely relentless way that he threw low kicks, and at such close proximity. This is close to some of the themes we've picked up from other legends.  Dieselnoi, who lost to to the lowkicks and hands of the legend Wichannoi, twice, taught Sylvie that she should employ close range low kicks which he probably learned from his Wichannoi losses in the late 1970s. You can see Dieselnoi teaching Sylvie this, in this public video: 

watch this impromptu vlog of Dieselnoi teaching here. Apologize for the very informal camera. I was just sitting there next to Dieselnoi and he just got up and teaching excitedly, I just let the camera roll.

For more in depth video on Dieselnoi teaching low kicks at close range see the bonus post for patrons, with Sylvie's commentary:

 Dieselnoi On Attacking the Legs - Mini Bonus Clip (10 min) - watch it here 

In any case watch Thongbai's relentless attack, especially with lowkicks vs Adul, was mind-opening for me. No kick matters, the form doesn't matter all that much. He's smacking down from every angle, with a kind of leg straightening technique that Samart teaches in his Library session. It just wonderful chaos. Below I'll post some more related fighters to study that connect up with this kind of churning, Muay Buk style. 

The reason though we wanted to translate the commentary was that there was suddenly this amazing, badass fighter who reminded me of 1991 Fighter of the Year Samson Isaan (the commentary thought so too!), that was otherwise washed down by the tide of history. If we could bring the commentator's thoughts into these two fights we not only would learn more about him, but also feel his reality as a fighter, bring him more to our age and time. What is really interesting about these fights is that they are rebroadcasts from the early 1990s. So we not only get information about him and his opponents, but we get a Golden Age perspective too. We are reaching back to two eras at once.  Rescuing two perspectives. 

Thongbai Jarerngmuang - The Great Intense Darkness

Above is Thongbai's page in the fantastic 123 All Time Greatest Muay Thai Fighters of Thailand book, which has profile pages of so many of the greats throughout history. You can see the entire book in photos here, were I posted it. In that thread you can see how you can order it for yourself from Thaismai in Thailand. 

Here is a zoom-in on the English portion of his profile. 

Thanks to patrons we now have a translation of the commentary and can bring some of the great Thongbai's career. Some very cool things in the commentary seem to be that there was a 50,000 baht bounty put on his head for anyone who could knock him out, when he fought Adul, which is 2x his recorded fight purse. That's incredible. And what is also very interesting is that after beating Pornpichit he recieved the fight name of "Jom Mahagaan " which is something like "Great, Ultimate Darkness", and appears connected to this deity:

Said to be husband to the goddess Kali, in some traditions. It's enough to say that he was read as an incredible wrecking ball, an absolutely destructive force in the late 1960s.

Here is Adul Srisothorn's 123 page:

Could not find much biographical on Pornpichit. If anyone does send it to me on Twitter or Instagram and I can add it.

What to learn from Thongchai? Sylvie is totally stealing from his energy and his metronome. And the continuous, eroding lowkicks connected to hands and elbows. The low kicks aren't specifically meant to put someone down, they are meant to distort and open up other attacks, much as Golden Age Muay Khao fighters link elbows and knees together. There is something inspiring about the way he uses them vs Adul. 

Low Kicks and Other Attacks, Through the Ages

Successor in the lineage of relentless high and low pressuring Muay Buk attacks can be found in the legend Thongchai. You can watch these awesome fights of his on YouTube, or just search his name:

Watch Thongchai Dor Silachai here 

Also, in the Library is the great circular muay of Kongsamut Sor Thanikul who chains lowkicks and hands as a smaller fighter:

watch the Kongsamut Library session here 

Also, great reading and study on this can be found in Ryan's study of Wichannoi (the fighter who taught Dieselnoi through defeats). It captures the logic of the hands and lowkick attacks, which developed a generation after Thongbai. You can find his article here: 

Vicharnnoi Porntawee: Legacy of The Immortal Boxer 

Also, studying Samson Isaan is important:

#41  Samson Isaan - The Art of Dern Fighting (64 min) watch it here 

To "dern" in Thai is to "walk", which means basically to just come forward no matter what, to create a relentlessness. Voted Fighter of the Year in 1991, Samson Isaan was one of the great Dern Fighters of the Golden Age, and in this session he shows his forward pulsing techniques which are meant to just overwhelm his opponent. Also a great session for pressure Southpaw fighters. 

#74 Samson Isaan 2 - Muay Khao & Western Boxing Excellence (59 min) watch it here 

In 1991 there was no fighter more of a force than Samson Isaan, who took Fighter of the Year then. His relentless style combining Muay Maat punching aggression with Knee Fighting pressure and clinch made him a wrecking ball. In this session discover what made this little fighter so impossible to handle.

In the end though, it is all about pulling the past forward with us, and this added translation does something important in this. It is wonderful to have great fighters of the 1960s come alive for us. There is not only so much to learn from them - techniques and tempos that can be really effective sometimes can just be lost to time, because they pass out of fashion - but we also learn about the lineage that helped develop the styles we admire, and the styles of today. So thank you for helping with this translation project, I hope you get as much out of it as we do!  

Other fights in the Translation Project:

all available to the public

English trans: Paidaeng Lergsakgym vs Chamuakpet Hapalong 1994 | 122 lb Rajadamnern Belt - watch it here 

Fighter commentary interviews and translations:

the very special Dieselnoi commentary

Dieselnoi Watches: Samart vs Dieselnoi the "Holy Grail" of Fights (1982) turn on English Subtitles - watch it here 

and Namkabuan's commentary on his fight with Dekkers:

 Namkabuan Watches His Namkabuan vs Dekkers Fight (1997) [turn on CC English Subtitles] - watch it here