PTT Petchrungruang backstage at Thai Fight, July 23rd 2016

 

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and has been gaining international popularity over the past few decades. Many people travel to Thailand each year to train at Muay Thai gyms – kai muay – from all around the world, and for many of Thailand’s youth Muay Thai is a way of life. It is passed down from generation to generation and touches the lives of nearly every person you’ll meet in Thailand. Get in any taxi and ask your driver if he ever trained Muay Thai.

 

At Royal Thai Residence, we are part of the life of Muay Thai fighters – nak muay, as we call them in Thai. Khun Prasit is the owner at Royal Thai Residence but he’s also a huge fan of Muay Thai and dedicates himself to sponsoring the young fighters at Petchrungruang Gym, an old-style family gym full of young boys training to fight at the esteemed national stadia of Bangkok. These young boys cut their teeth at the local stadium, Thepprasit, and in festival fights around Central Thailand. As they grow in strength and experience, the boys will eventually fight under the lights of the big stadia. Some of them will become champions, like the gym’s budding superstar: 18-year-old PTT Petchrungruang, the newest addition to the famed promotion Thai Fight.

 

Khun Prasit, PTT, and Sudsakorn backstage at Thai Fight

 

Khun Prasit has been sponsoring the boys at the gym for a long time, including PTT, who is a true “rags to riches” success story. Now Khun Prasit enjoys watching the young PTT warming up backstage at these huge promotions like Thai Fight, which he signed to shortly after winning the Isuzu Tournament at Omnoi Stadium in Bangkok; but Khun Prasit is just as happy and proud to sponsor the younger boys, who are still in the early stages of their Muay Thai paths. His patronage allows the boys greater opportunities than they would have without a sponsor. He’s making a big difference in the lives of these young fighters. Khun Prasit is literally the uncle of the gym’s head trainer, Kru Nu, but he is also like an honorary uncle to all the young fighters. You might even see some of the kids from the gym playing in the pool on some Sundays. As we say in Thailand, Muay Thai is a way of life and at Royal Thai Residence, it is part of our way of life as well.

 

At Thepprasit Stadium with 13-year-old fighter Yodpetch Petchrungruang (2015), Pa Pong, and trainer Kru Nu in Champ Magazine

 

You can come watch the young fighters at the local Thepprasit stadium on Tuesday nights. Ask at our front desk for schedule, location and ticket information.

 

Khun Prasit with all the Petchrungruang fighters circa 2012; this banner hangs over the ring at the gym

 

In the corner at Thai Fight with Royal Thai Residence sponsored fighter PTT in the ring.