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 News from Around Banderas Bay | May 2005 
Muy Thai Boxing in Puerto Vallarta
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
Walking the streets in Puerto Vallarta, one need not look further than the telephone poles to see what activities are planned for the upcoming weeks. Strange, but residents and tourists are aware of these events far before newspaper reporters are.
Recently, Lanna Gym, located in Puerto Vallarta, presented a 13 fight card of amateur bouts in Muy Thai boxing. Muy Thai is a phenomenon that hit Puerto Vallarta by storm a couple of years ago. Gold’s Gym began promoting the sport when they opened about two years ago, and sponsored events held in an El Pitillal auditorium or at the Collage nightclub.
As interest in the sport peaked, El Torito owner Felix Perez promoted two international cards, with National and World championship events held at local bullrings. This was supported by the IKF, the International Kick boxing Federation in the United States.
Puerto Vallarta boasts two Muy Thai World Champs and two Mexican Champs in the professional divisions. Thirty-two year old Santiago "El Dragon" Manzanarez, weighing in at 75 kilos, is the middleweight World Champion in both Muy Thai and kick boxing. Manzanarez is a Puerto Vallarta native and heads up Round Dragon gym, a popular school for Muy Thai training.
The Dragon is joined by Israel Vargas Corpus, the National Champion in kick boxing weighing in at 71 kilos, and Rafael Ponce Carillo, the National Champion at 65 kilos. These local fighters teach and train future champions, and are considered heroes in Puerto Vallarta and throughout Mexico.
Last Saturday night 26 boxers, half from Lanna Gym and the other 13 from another local gym, competed in a series of three-round matches in Muy Thai. Though on the amateur level, the matches were all extremely competitive and the quality of the fighters was truly impressive. All fights were three, two-minute rounds and a crowd of about 700 was in attendance.
A real treat was a bout between two six-year olds, Jorge Sandoval and Jair Esparza. Amazingly, the two youngsters had an actual ring presence and their understanding of Muy Thai boxing delighted the crowd. Jair was quite the showman, taunting and strutting around the ring, Ali-style.
Although he knocked out his opponent in the first round, both fighters were awarded medals and the bout was called a draw, all in the name of good sportsmanship. Jair had more photo ops during and after the fight than Brittany Spears, as cameras kept clicking nonstop.
Two women's bouts were also on the card, and the female fighters had abilities beyond the expectations of the crowd. The main event was a thriller as Jose Luis “El Rayo” Uribe made a come back from being knocked down early to winning the fight over another great fighter, Jorge Estrada with a TKO in the final round.
Following is a list of all the winners, starting from the opening event:
(Two fighters didn’t have opponents and won by default)
Flaco Ramos
Carla Gonzalez – Paola Espinoza (draw)
Miguel "El Micky" Carreon
Jair Esperaza
Ivan Solano
Pedro Joya
Alfredo Marquez
Eder Huerta
Johnathon "Eldelon" Carbajal
Esperanza Navano
Jose Luis Uribe
It was a great show and all but one of the participants were from Puerto Vallarta. Only Esperanza Navano came from Guadalajara, and she made the most of her trip with a 1st round KO. The audience was shocked with her raw power, dissecting her overmatched opponent.
Do yourself a favor and look at the posters around town and take a drive, cab or bus to El Pitillal for the next local Muy Thai extravaganza. Enjoy the local culture and see live competitive sports instead of watching some overpaid professionals on cable television. |
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