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Dieselnoi vs Samart (1982) - Stadium Audio version & in color - notes on Samart & Dieselnoi's record

Added 2020-05-01 04:42:55 +0000 UTC

Dieselnoi vs Samart was the "Fight of the Century," the fight that famed promoter OneSongchai said he never would have permitted himself (it was promoted by Klaew Sor. Tanikul). Two giants, two Legends, GOAT vs GOAT for who would be named Fighter of the Year in 1982. And there was no way to see it, until video surfaced, like finding the "Holy Grail of Muay Thai," and this discovery came from someone within this community, which makes it all the more miraculous and meaningful. Before this video surfaced, all things known about this fight were just vague generalities. With so little footage of these two fighters available online anyway, how could we even imagine what it might have look like? Now seeing it, it's the first time we've ever seen the incredible Samart overwhelmed in the ring. And the first time we've seen Dieselnoi unleashing all his weapons, full length footage of his fights is indeed incredibly rare. So thank you so much Harri from Turku Thaiboxing Club, for discovering this video and immediately sharing it to me.

We've put up different versions of this video, but none like this. There is an exciting "Watch With Me," which is me and Kevin geeking out the very first time we viewed the tape; we couldn't even believe this video was real, watching it together only an hour or so after we discovered it. See that Watch With Me here. Then we made sure to interview Dieselnoi and to sit down and watch the fight with him, getting his real time reactions and memories as he viewed it. Everyone learned perspective on the fight, what it was like for Dieselnoi, the weight cut, his deep and long-standing friendship with Samart. You can watch that commentary version here. The fight was like a diamond, offering some new glimmer each time you turned it. And all of this was made possible through this patron. The things that have flowed out from my Patreon community are innumerable, so thank you.

This though, might be the greatest copy of the fight yet. In fact, it may be the greatest copy of any fight in the Golden Age, without edits, full of all the small things that being in the stadium felt like. It's just the natural ambient audio of the stadium, the electric feeling from the crowd that one feels in their bones when attending fights in person, as they watched one of the greatest matchups in Muay Thai history. Two GOATs battle it out. You can hear the King's Anthem, see the Ram Muays, and hear all the ooohs and ahhhs. I love it. Thank you again, Harri, for making this version possible. You have added significantly to Muay Thai history.

I've made this version of the fight public so everyone can see it, as it's part of history, but it is still part of this wonderful Patreon. Kevin worked on correcting the color a little, sharping up the contrast, and tuning up the audio a bit.

Some Additional Context for the Fight

I've been working on nailing down some of the historical details surrounding this period of Dieselnoi's career. We've all heard that he "ran out of opponents", but at least for me I didn't really have a picture of just what that meant, or the circumstances that surrounded this particular match up between Samart and Dieselnoi. You can read my article on the work I've been doing here:

A Short Biography of Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn

In this article the later section focuses on the final fights of Dieselnoi's career, between the years of 1981 and his retirement before the age of 24 in 1985. They are summarized here:

As you can see above, Dieselnoi had basically been idle from top competition for 2 years by the time he faced Samart. He told me that this fight was agreed to on very quick notice, and we maybe can guess that the very harsh weight cut he describes was made especially so because he simply was not in fighting shape at all - although he has claimed that he continued to train despite not having fights during that time, always keeping ready. For the fight against Samart, he dropped 23 lbs in only a few weeks, which means he was walking around at 153 lbs at the time. It's worth thinking about the possibility that not only are we looking at a very weakened Dieselnoi, due to a huge and rushed weight cut, but also a Dieselnoi that was not really in calloused "fight shape" at all, not having really been active against high level competition in 2 years. Samart on the other hand had just won the previous Fighter of the Year award (1981). Below is a translation of a record of Samart's fights that I took out of a magazine, these fights are from 1980-1982.

The original copy of this has significant errors in it, but I've duplicated it as faithfully as I can below, minus the year corrections, and some cross-reference clarifications from siamfightmag:

1980

February 11- Kongsamut Sor Thanikul, Lumpinee (win, points) wins the 102 lb Lumpine belt

March 14 - Parahatlek Sitchuntong, Pattaya (win points)

March 28 - Sonsil Sit Nernpayong, Lumpinee (win points)

April 29 - Gongsamut Sor Thanikul, Lumpinee (win points)

March 28 (sic) - Somsaknoi Aekyotin, Lumpinee (opponent/fight cancelled)

April 29 (sic) - Prappirpop Lookklangdon, Lumpinee (win, points)

June 6 - Parahatlek Sitchuntong, Lumpinee (win, points)

June 27 - Bangklanoi Sor. Thanikul, Lumpinee (loss, points)

August 8 - Chamuakpet Fairtex, Lumpinee (loss, points) - loses the 102 lb Lumpinee Belt

September 5 - Jampatong Dornontachai, Lumpinee (opponent/fight cancelled)

September 23 - Bangklanoi Sor. Thanikul, Lumpinee (win, points)

October 14 - Numan Sit Pohluang, Lumpinee (win, points)

November 11 - Punlap Sit Niran, Lumpinee (win, points) - 108 lb Lumpinee belt

December 12 - Chamuakpet Hapalang, Lumpinee (win, points)

1981

January 13 - Punlap Sit Niran, Lumpinee (win, points)

March 31 - Singtong Prasopchai, Lumpinee (win, points) - wins 115 lb Lumpinee belt

April 28 - Fanluang Looksadejmaepuangtong, Lumpinee (win, points) - it would be voted the Fight of the Year

June 9 - Mafuang Weerapol, Lumpinee (win, points)

September 4 - Paruhat Lohngern, Lumpinee (win, points)

October 12 - Samingnoom Sit Boondam, Lumpinee (win, points), wins 126 lbs Lumpinee belt

November 9 - Gitti Sor. Thanikul, Rajadamnern (win, points)

1982

January 15 - Nongkhai Sor Prahpatson, Lumpinee (win, points)

March 12 - Padejsuk Pitsanurachan, Rajadamnern (win, points)

May 10 - Padejsuk Pitsanurachan, Rajadamnern (win, points)

August 24 - Netnoi Sor Wansing, Lumpinee (win, points) - his first pro boxing fight

December 24 - Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn (loss, points)

see the primary source for Samart's record here, covering all his career

As you can see, Samart did have some trouble finding opponents in 1982, only fighting 4 times and even fighting his first boxing fight. But in terms of activity Samart had fought 11 times since January 1981, Dieselnoi only had faced a few kickboxers in an international tournament, opponents he walked through. Samart would go on to finding opponents again in 1983, winning Fighter of the Year once again.

Dieselnoi Was Really a 130 lb Fighter

Dieselnoi's points during all this time I've been pestering him for details about his fights have suggested to me that he really wasn't a 135 lb fighter, even though that was the weight he remained undefeated in with his Lumpinee Belt. He said he would step on the scale around 132 lbs and then go eat in order to try to get to 135 for the official weigh in. After winning that 135 lb belt he seems never to have fought at that weight again (other than in the Free-style tournament), instead choosing to fight at 132. I asked him about this:

translated:

Q: The time you fought Samart you had to cut a lot of weight and it was very hard, but when you were fighting frequently could you have made 130?

A: Easily. When I fought with Samart I hadn't fought for many months, yet I had to cut down to 129, losing 22 lbs.

So, instead of the image we have of a massive Dieselnoi coming down from a huge 135 lb weight class, to fight the diminutive Samart at a catch weight between their title weights, Dieselnoi, in his prime and when in shape and fighting often, really was a 130 lb fighter. For this fight with Samart he was not in prime fight shape and cutting from a much higher walk around weight than usual. That could be the added reason he pushed himself to get down to (below) 130, even though the fight was an agreed 132. He was pushing to his natural fight weight after so many months off. If this is the case, it's incredible to watch the dominance of Dieselnoi in this fight, after being inactive for so long, pushing himself down in a dramatic weight cut, and facing off against another of the greatest of all time - all things that could make his performance less than "peak," and yet he looks incredible. What did he look like when he was in shape, active, and at a more comfortable weight? Think of Muhammad Ali's missing fight years. Samart is in the middle of his best years, 1981-1983, winning the Fighter of the Year twice. Dieselnoi was maybe is in the middle of his final stretch, often not in prime fight shape, before retirement was imposed on him for lack of opportunity. Samart was definitely the 126 lb champion, and probably could have fought at 122, so this is still two weight classes, but what we are seeing visually, in this fight, was likely not prime Dieselnoi.

Dieselnoi has said that, traditionally, 130 lbs was the "man's man" weight class. He said the weight class was just brimming with the best yodmuay at that time. Wichannoi, Diesenoi's idol, had famously held the 130 lb Rajadamnern belt, and it's been noted in his biography that Padejsuk tried, but could not take it away from him (he was able to become 130 lb Lumpinee champion). I'm not sure why Dieselnoi never fought for the 130 lb Lumpinee or Rajadmanern belt, I'll update this article if I find out, but he did say in our interview before watching this "Holy Grail" fight against Samart, that unlike other legends, (the much admired Chamuakpet, for example) Samart did not have a lot of success fighting up. And by up I think he meant up at the 130 lb weight class.

What this means is that our picture of Dieselnoi holding the 135 lb Lumpinee belt, undefeated, is only a partial picture. He wasn't cutting to fight at 135 as most champions do for their weight class, he was actually weighing in light, and perhaps at the time the champion and his management had great control over the kind of challenge that could be accepted. There were other champions that went on to long undefeated streaks in their belt weight-class, like Namkabuan and his six year run with the 130 lb Lumpinee title (eventually giving up the belt, like Dieselnoi had), or Namsaknoi and his 6 year run with the 135 lb Lumpinee title. The conditions for fighting for the title were maybe quite political or required a particular gambling stake that others might not want to risk. These limitations are usually largely outside of the control of the fighter, lying entirely in the hands of their management and the promoters.

More on Dieselnoi

If you've missed it, here's a video of me sitting down to talk with Dieselnoi about this fight, the brutal weight cut, his relationship with Samart and watching the fight together:

watch and read about this here

More On Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn

If you have fallen in love with Dieselnoi, like I have, then please take a look at the two Kaimuay Documentary series episodes I made for patrons, following his time advising and driving energy into the young fighters of my gym in Pattaya, Petchrungruang, as they prepare for fights at Rajadamnern Stadium:

Kaimuay Diaries - Episode 5 | Dieselnoi In the House Part 1 (52 min) In this episode I follow Dieselnoi and his impact on Alex, one of the Petchrungruang fighters, at Rajadamnern stadium. Alex has been featured in previous Kaimuay Diaries, an Italian boy who has been raised at the gym like a Thai boy since he was 12. Now 17, Dieselnoi wanted to make make him more intense and forward fighting. Alex is shaped the way Dieselnoi is, long and tall, but Dieselnoi is trying to drive power and intensity into Alex's style. You get to see Dieselnoi's passion, and listen to Pi Nu talk about what it has been like having a legend like Dieselnoi in his family's gym. watch it here

Kaimuay Diaries - Episode 6 Dieselnoi In The House Pt 2: Bank (47 min) this is "Part 2," focusing on Tongchai and Dieselnoi's dedication to him, leading up to a fight at Rajadamnern that was a step up for Bank (Tongchai). If he won, it would push him into a next level of opponents. You can see the difference between Dieselnoi's training of Alex and his training of Bank, but you can see the similarities as well. Mostly it's just amazing to watch how f***ing much Dieselnoi puts into everything. watch it here

you can check out all of the Kaimuay Diaries series and so much more patrons access here

First Watch, Then Study

What is cool about the Muay Thai Library, of course, is that after watching a fight like the above, you can actually study the techniques and styles of the legends themselves, because that is what the Muay Thai Library project is. Below are the entries in the Library for both Dieselnoi and Samart.

#48 Dieselnoi Chor. Thanasukarn - Jam Session (80 min) watch it here