John Wayne Parr Exclusive (December 2001)

This is an exclusive with John Wayne Parr. His thoughts on the Kings Birthday show and why he's back in thaiboxing. John Wayne Parr is back!

This is the first in a series of weekly interviews - other interviews to look out for include Petri Martinez, Stephan Fox, Chang Peuk Kiatsongrit, Chris MacDonald and many more

Is it true you won't return to boxing? How did the boxing career go?
It was fun to try something different. The prize money is so much more as well but it was different just using your fists. If you get in a tough fight and you can't get your punches off then there is nothing else to fall back on whereas in muaythai if something dosent work you still have six other weapons to choose from. I was very lucky to win a national title in only 8 fights and got to fight on Foxtel a few times helping to lift my profile. My boxing record is 11f 9w 9ko's

This King's Birthday was different to most - Can you tell us a bit about the Super 8 tournament - who was in it, who set it up etc?
It was set up by a French promoter Sammy Kipesche, Competeing there were two Thais, two French, two Dutch, one Portuguese and me.

Can you talk us through each of your fights?
First fight was Duearn Easarn, he is ranked number 5 Lumpinee and has beaten Orono and and a lot of other Thais. The first round was close with the distance of my kicks way off - I had not kicked for a full year. Second round Duearn fought a very smart fight countering me well and getting me with the odd long knee. End of round two I was lossing 10-1 with the punters and Sangtien told me I only had one round left and to do it for my future. Round three I came out hard and didnt stop for three mintues, hit him with some nice hands and a knee to the head, I saw I had a chance of stopping him and just kept throwing. By the end I had won the last round pretty easy and got the win.

One hour later I fought a guy from Portugal who is a European champion with 85 fights. He was a normal Westerner throwing punch punch kick combos. I just kept kicking and kneeing him for three rounds winning pretty easily. I will now meet Nuengtargarn in the final in France fighting for 100 000 francs or $25,000 aussie dollars. I have fought Nuengtargarn twice already in 97 so I know how he fights. I will be going back to Thailand to train for a few weeks with Sangtien before the fight.

How much harder was it fighting again in the same night?
It was a little hard but luckily the final is next month and not the same day, otherwise I would have been in the deep end.

Is it true Songchai gave you a champions jacket before your fight?
After my Ram Muay in the first fight two Generals came into the ring and presented me with the champions suit jacket. They give them to all the best Thai fighters and best trainers, I am the first Westerner to be recogniaed for my achievments in muay thai and also for my love of Thailand. Rammon Dekker doesnt even have one so I am very happy to be the first.

What were the Thailand vs China fights like?
Different, it was muaythai with elbow pads and judo throws. Everytime the Thai would try to kick or knee the Chinese would try and catch it and throw him to the ground. Only problem is Thais kick and knee very hard, there was a lot of bruised and swollen ribs when they came back to the changing tent.

What were the other main fights on this years show?
Mourad Sari fought a Japanese fighter, very tough fight with the Japanese getting the win. There was also heaps of other Westerners vs Thais and some very hard fought fights. The Farangs didnt win many but at least they tried their hardest and put on a good show.

What did you feel was the best fight of the night?
Mine - as I was doing my Ram Muay I would go to each side of the ring and would have that whole side of the park cheer for me. Each side of the park was the same. When everyone else walked out there would be a few claps but people remembered me from the past few years with the gun belt. I got a very big applause walking down the runway to the ring, people were yelling John Wayne and Boonchu all over the park. They cheered harder for me then their own fighter.

Some people said that this years event wasn't as great as previous years - lack of foreign names that sort of thing - what would you say to that?
It was huge, they said there was near to 150,000 people in the park, pretty scary looking over a sea of people. The had four boxing fights start off the day at 3pm and the fights went all the way through til 2am, an awesome fightnight of muaythai.

How did the Thais feel about not having pure muaythai fights on the Kings Birthday?
Most of the fights were pure muaythai, the super 8 was pretty exciting because it was something different for them and watching who was going to fight who. Only thing was no elbows but that could have been good in a way. Kung fu vs Muay was also fun because the Thais got to cheer their home country men everytime they gave the Chinese a good shot. The atmosphere around the park was buzzing.

You recently had a baby boy (Kane Boonchu Parr)- what sort of impact has that had on your life?
It makes me glad I am not a women. I think your not truly a man until you have a child, everything you thought was important in the past cannot compare to the love you feel instantly towards your own child. Now I truly have something worth fighting for.

Who would you like to fight now?
At the moment I have my eyes set on Nuengtargarn for the finals in France, after that anyone who is anyone at 70kg. Now that I am back fighting muaythai I really want to see as many countries as I can. I would love to fight in America because I believe the John Wayne thing would go down really well, I would also like to get into the WPKL circuit in Europe and start taking on the whos who of the world.


Thanks for the interview Dan.

More pictures of John:...

With belts
With baby Kane 2
Wai Khru...
Fighting 1
Fighting 2
Fighting 3