Interview with Kieran Keddle (April 2003)

Kieran Keddle a young man making his dreams become reality - through the old fashioned way: hard work, commitment and honesty.

Kieran Keddle is currently under contract to Muaythai Online and is managed by Dan Green. Anyone wishing to offer fights for Kieran please contact Dan Green dan@muaythaionline.net for further details.


We did our first interview with Kieran in December 2000 when he was an upcoming star. Now he is a true international star and British number one at welterweight, as well as being WAKO-pro world champion. He has fought a host of top names since his last interview:
Feb 2001 - Warren Brown (WAKO-pro world champion) win on points
March 2001 - Sergi Costabeer (Belgium) win on points
May 2001 - Bo Amomur (French and African Champion - fight was in Italy) win on points
June 2001 - Onderej Huntno (Czech champion) draw
August 2001 - Mika Pietila (Finnish Champion) loss points
October 2001 - Mark Matthews (English Champion) loss TKO 4
December 2001 - Samit Eminentair (Bangkok - in Pattaya Thailand) win on points
March 2002 - Vincent Swaans (WAKO-pro European Champion) win on points
April 2002 - Lee Chesters (WMC world champion) win on points
June 2002 - Frankie Hudders (ISKA World Champion) loss TKO 3rd rd
November 2002 - Farid Khadir (French Champion) loss on points
February 2003 - Thaveesit (Songsang Gym, Krabi Thailand) at Bethnal win KO 2 rd
March 2003 - Sitisak (Bangkok - fight at Lumpinee Stadium) win KO 3rd rd

Kieran has also had many other international and top domestic fights previous to 2001.

You've just got back from Thailand, fighting in Lumpinee and training there for about a month, so tell us about it - the whole story! How did the fight come about?
It was always going to happen it was just a question of when. When I was there a few years ago they said that if I fought there in Thailand and did well they could match me up for a Lumpinee fight. They could have got me a fight there 1.5 years ago but I couldn't do it as I couldn't change the date of my flights back to England. This time I emailed them (Fairtex) in advance and when I had been there just a couple of days the promoter Philip Wong of Fairtex came down and said that he had been speaking to the trainers and I was good enough to have a fight - so I said fine! He said you have 3 weeks. I got drilled by just two specific trainers at Fairtex Apidej and Neungsiam. Apidej only did a couple of rounds with me a day but he did all the technical stuff. Neungsiam drilled my fitness. It really was 3 weeks of the hardest training - I do train hard back in England - everyone knows I am fit to fight all the time but this was really hard training. It was training that I really wanted to do to have the fight but at the same time I really did not want to get out of bed to do it because it was so hard. I didn't moan about it though I just got up and did it.

So would you say it was the hardest training you have ever done?
Yes definitely the hardest I have ever done. It's not just the heat it was the numerous amount of kicks etc. I would also say that making the weight wasn't hard. I didn't drain myself so to speak - but wearing a sweat suit the last three days was hard, especially on the Friday before I had to go running out on the motorway near Fairtex campus and lose a kilo and a half. The other two Thais that were fighting on the same promotion had to lose 4 kilos on the day before the fight. And that was the hardest thing running all those miles and then going in the sauna.

Why didn't they match you at 67 kilos why lighter?
He said I could be matched at that weight but it would be harder to get a fight - but might have to wait longer. I said well I reckon I can make 65kg and he asked if I could do 64.4Kg and I said I'd do it and knew I could. I did it! - The weigh-in was at 6 in the morning, you leave Fairtex at like 5 in the morning. I eventually got weighed in at 6:45am. The good thing is you get there, weigh-in nice and early and then can have loads to eat and then sleep loads. You just eat sleep eat sleep for the rest of the day, massage eat sleep massage. In the last 4 days I must have had 10 massages a day off the trainers - all the time just to keep your muscles from cramping up. Then the fight day came - I wasn't majorly nervous I was sort of nervous but I just wanted to get in there and do it. I had the usual massages before hand - sitting in the cage beforehand before you go in. There were about 2,000 people there - it was a Saturday night. Friday night is the busy night as you know.

How many do you think the stadium can hold?
They reckon if it's full from 15-17,000. That's standing crammed in shoulder to shoulder. I went the night before and there must have been about 12,000 there and it was really busy and I wondered if they could barely get any more in.

Do you think going to watch a fight night there the night before affects you mentally, either positively or negatively?
No I don't think so. As I said I was excited and nervous but getting in there was part of it. I was watching the fights the night before and they were really good. There were a couple of hard elbows going in there with some nasty cuts and I thought Jesus, that could be me tomorrow! But then that's part of the game and that could happen anywhere - it has happened to me in England before, getting cut. So back to the fight - the fight wasn't the hardest fight I have had, more of a cruise. They just told me to stay back and watch out for intimidation things: big elbows, big punches. They said to me he'd had 8-10 fights at Lumpinee before with 75 fights in total. He was not a super special fighter there; it was a stepping stone for me. The promoter was looking after me and wants to promote me regularly and wants me to do well because you don't see many there. I threw a lot of body kicks - I've never thrown that many body kicks in a fight before, because that was what I mainly did in training. I damaged his arm the first two rounds and then in the third he tried to come at me with elbows. I countered with a couple of punches, a nice knee and a couple of elbows myself and then the referee stepped in and stopped it. It was a good buzz!

Who did you fight?
Sitisak - from the Sitisak Gym. That is all I know. I weighed 142 pounds, he weighed 143. Now Lumpinee, I've got to say, does everything professionally. You wouldn't think it when you go in looking at it. But I had two doctors checkups one in the morning to make sure I wasn't too dehydrated and then another in the afternoon to check you haven't taken any drugs and all that. It is really really top class but I wouldn't have thought it. The weighing scales get changed every night. The judges get changed every fight. At the weigh-in I was 142 and the Thai 143 and it was agreed 142, so he had to go into the sauna and then he made the weight. I thought bloody hell but looking round everyone who had a fight was wearing sauna suits they really do drain themselves to make the weight. He made the weight and then we just got on with the fight. Like I said I've had harder fights but it was a stepping stone and a mental barrier to get over. I know I would be more comfortable fighting there again. Hopefully from what he - Phillip - tells me, he wants me to fight there again at the end of the year and if that goes well then next year I will be at Fairtex for 6-12 months and we can start talking about fighting more regularly at Lumpinee and going into the Mitsubishi and Toyota tournaments. He has all the contacts. Also I will start getting better opponents. He told me "look, we have a few things to work on with you with your transfer from European to Thailand Muaythai. Everything is there; we just have to work on a few defensive things. I said fine. He said next time you come out we will work on them. You get the next fight and win that, and then next year we will go on. He wants to promote me as well as the white boy in Bangkok, that sort of thing.

What was the rest of the card like? Did you see any of it?
Yes, it was Fairtex promotions in conjunction with another promoter and there were 2 other Fairtex lads. One of them was in the top 10 Lumpinee rankings last year and he had not fought for a while due to injury so this was a fight for him to get back into the rankings. The other one was a kid who was just 15 who had fought there 4-5 times before. But it was a busy card with some good fights. I did not stay to the end as we rushed out to celebrate. It was a good experience and I did all the training, the warm up and all the food the way the Thais do. I tried in everything to do what they did. I got them to tell me what they do and did it their way.

Would you say that was the highlight of your career?

Yes so far. I've been involved in Thai boxing for years but only really got into it 3-4 years ago when I was watching international videos etc. And in the videos of Dekkers Sackmongkhol etc, they always fought for a Lumpinee title whenever you read about them. I know it wasn't a busy night there but still just getting in there for me was brilliant.

How many people did you say were there?
2,000 though 2,000 there doesn't look like that much. There were still people gambling on me though. The Thai was favourite to win. He was in good shape.

How did the crowd react to a foreigner fighting there?
I actually walked out after and one of the gamblers there tried to give me some money but I wouldn't take it from him - 500 Baht I think it was but he tried to make me take it saying he had won a few thousand on me. There were a few gambling there that wanted to give me a share of their winnings but I didn't want to take their money. Apparently after round 2 they made me even favourite but now they're gambling when you're going to stop him. It was all good experience!

Were there any other foreigners on the card?
No

In the past we have always heard, as you said, about Lumpinee but recently from Thailand we hear a lot about Rajadamnern as Songchai is there now - do you think Rajadamnern had taken over as the bigger stadium now?
No everyone I speak to, obviously though at Fairtex they are promoted by a Lumpinee promoter so they are biased, but speaking to anyone in general, they say the top fighters are at Lumpinee. Rajadamnern is catering more for the foreigners as they go up to super middleweight with their titles whereas Lumpinee is still max 67 kilos. They used to let WMC do shows there but they have stopped that now. That's when Mike Dempster fought there etc at Lumpinee but they won't do that now as WMC is a bit funny over there at the moment they will only do their own Lumpinee rules. Rajadamnern is still a very good stadium and of the two it looks the better stadium - atmosphere wise though, personally I think Lumpinee is where it is. With Rajadamnern I think it is easier to get into their rankings with the heavier weights. Although Songchai is still the biggest promoter in the world I still think the place to go is Lumpinee, at least from what I hear. Maybe if Rajadamnern fights become available I will go there, I know the Fairtex promoter also works there occasionally as well. Though Lumpinee is where I want to fight at the moment.

Okay change of subject now. Since your last interview you've had quite a lot of fights, let's talk about a few of them. Now Warren Brown (who you beat unanimously) - there was a lot of stuff on the internet about that fight before hand and there's rumours now of a possible rematch?
Most people know I will fight the people put in front of me but now I really want to focus on fighting internationals both in and out of England. Known ones preferably, but there's only one Englishman I want to fight now and that's the rematch with Frankie Hudders which may happen in October in Leeds. October 12th is the date we are looking at and Frankie knows that. And then after that win or lose against him I don't really want to fight any more Englishmen. I'm sure people can understand I've fought Warren Brown before and many other English guys; its just not a good stepping stone for me any more. To tell the truth, I don't really want a rematch with Warren and it's no disrespect to Warren it's just the way it is.

Other domestic fights you've had - Mark Matthews - now there was a bit of controversy there wasn't there?
Yeah it was a funny fight really - loads of things had gone on with John Blackledge, the ref, but since then we have actually patched things up. It took a while but we shook hands etc. I don't want him to ref any more of my fights and I think he knows that and all the main promoters do anyway. To tell the truth Matthew was just ahead the first couple of rounds, the 3rd round was even. In the fourth round he threw a high kick which hit my guard but the toe of his foot hit me in the eye and cut my eye open. I'm not making any excuses, he cut my eye open and then we went into the clinch and I got thrown to the floor and was then kicked when I was on the floor. I don't blame Mark for that or take anything from that. He was just following on automatically. I got up getting ready to get on with the fight but then John Blackledge gave me an 8 count even though I had been hit on the floor. I was then a bit unprofessional and swore at him and he went you're not going to talk to me like that and then I swore at him again, so he walked over to Mark Matthews and awarded the fight to him. They talk about a rematch with him and he can say he TKO'd me, but I don't gain much from fighting him right now I've moved on from that level. If he starts fighting more and I think he's got great ability, he's a good fighter, if he wins more fights and steps up fighting and wining more internationals, then maybe that could happen in the future.

Out of all the fights you've had in this country in the last couple of years which is the one you've enjoyed the most?
I would have to say Vincent Swaans on Dan Green's show in London. It was one of those fights where I felt really comfortable and everything I had done in the gym, all the combinations, and it all came together on the day. Other fights it doesn't always come together and you have to dig deep sometimes. Another fight I felt like that was on the fight this year against the Thai at York Hall. I felt really strong of that fight and it flowed well and I stopped the Thai in the second round.

Do you feel that your fight with Mika Pietila was one of those fights where it just didn't come together?
Yes definitely. I made a mistake in that fight and tried to go for the big KO. It was also in front of my home crowd and I used to have bit of a mental block fighting in front of my home crowd, which I am over now. At the time I was always not wanting to fight in front of my home crowd but you have to take what fights you get offered. No disrespect to Pietila - he's a good fighter, a technical fighter right game plan - but I went for the big KO and you can see it was messy. To tell you the truth it was an embarrassing performance. Anyone who was watching wanting to see me fight, that is not a video I would show them. He did the right thing; picked me off, scored the points and I went for the KO with the power shoots. Then I realised I was going to lose and went into survival mode covering up and making sure I didn't get cut or injured.

Would you like a rematch?
Yes definitely. I'd fight him again. I think this time I'm stronger and fitter; it would be a much better fight and I know he wants to fight me again and that I want to fight him. So now I'm just looking for a date really.

Since then you've also won a world title against Lee Chesters - the WAKO-pro welterweight title. How do you feel about that?
Like I've always said, titles aren't the major thing for me - I like to fight as regularly as possibly and fight anyone. A couple of years ago it was the English top 10 and Chesters was up there. He wanted to fight me but for a world title. I wouldn't fight him for the WMC which he held at the time as I'm not a 70 kilo fighter so it was for the Wako-pro new full Thai rules title. I think the most important thing was that I beat him - the current WMC 70 kilo champ and I don't go round saying I'm the world champion. But that title has helped me from a marketing point of view, in getting people to train at our gym. The rematch with Hudders happens to be for that title.

In your last interview you stated that you thought the top 2 sanctioning bodies were the WMC and the WPKL. Do you still feel that to be the case?
A lot of things have really changed in the last 2 years. Well more I have gone to other countries etc and got a real awareness worldwide. Now Holland is big, its a big market. The Dutch don't have many foreigners fighting there but I understand this as they want real quality in their fights and they are very good. The WPKL is a name you always hear about because they pay very good money and do big shows and the big Dutch fighters are always fighting on their shows - Ernesto Hoost, Alexi Ignashov, Joeri Mes, Rayen Simson. So if they are attracting names like that then they are doing things right and people will want to fight on their shows. WPKL I think are really up there at the moment. It's not really an organisation but the one in Thailand everyone dreams about winning is the Lumpinee stadium title, but that's a far cry for most Thais. Really WPKL, WAKO-pro, ISKa, WKA are big in different countries but at the end of the day its about big crowds with the best fighters on them and WPKL seem to be the ones doing that with all the best European fighters on their shows.

How do the other stadium titles compare to Lumpinee, such as Mitsubishi Omnoi etc.
They are all good titles. They are stepping stones to Lumpinee. You can still get just as hard a fight as you could in Lumpinee at any of those stadiums but they are all building towards the big stadiums Rajadamnern/Lumpinne. The winners in those stadiums qualify to fight in the major Bangkok stadiums.

Your fight at Lumpinee wasn't actually the first time you fought in Thailand was it?
No. I fought there about a year and a half a go at Theparasit Stadium in Pattaya against Samit Eminentair. It was a WMC promotion, quite a small show. I beat him over 5 rounds quite convincingly really. He landed a few elbows, some hard kicks but it was pretty plain-sailing. That was another stepping stone, fighting out there the first time. Something I had wanted to do from the start. Kurt Finlayson also fought on the show - and some local Thais; 8-9 fights were on the show, 6-700 people there.

What gyms have you trained at in Thailand?
I've trained at Fairtex most recently and a couple of years ago at the WMC camp in Samui, plus I've seen Jittys Gym and I visited Jareonthong Gym in Samui, where a friend of mine from Russ O'Connor's Gym was training. Jaeronthong's is quite small but there are a few Thais there. For me Fairtex is the best - though obviously I'd say that! But from speaking to other people I believe Fairtex is the best. It's not about the gym though but how you get trained. Fairtex is absolutely beautiful; has a swimming pool, gardens etc, but it was the level of the training that stood out for me. You get a really hard days training there. That is the hardest training I've done and they produce top Thai champion there Lumpinee Rajadamnern Mitsubishi etc. But each to there own horses for course etc. Some people prefer a gym by the beach etc such as Samui. Maybe over the years to come I will have a look round a lot of other gyms but for the moment I am sticking with Fairtex!

Going back to your fights in England, after your fight with Chesters you fought Frankie Hudders in your second world title shot. Hudders made a few comments about that fight on the net afterwards. How do you feel about that fight now? It wasn't at your usual weight was it?
No, it wasn't at my usual weight. It was at 64.5, the weight below, but I agreed to take it at that weight so you cant take anything away from him for that. He did the right thing; he started fast and landed elbows from round one. I started slow and I've learnt from that now and I think the next fight will be very interesting. He wrote things on the net, but so what. Let him. I don't have a problem with him and have bought him drinks since - he's okay with me, we're not best mates don't get me wrong though. That happened with the Brown fight as well but now we are both looking forward to meeting again.

Speaking of comments - in a recent UK magazine in an interview with Eval Denton, he commented that he doesn't rate you as a fighter - what'd you think of that?
Well each to his own opinions but if you read the interview you'll notice he talks about all his fights in England except one - the one where my brother knocked him out in round 4. He probably wants to fight me but I have no interest in fighting in him - Alan has done all the talking for me on that one - knocking him out! I think Denton has only seen me fight once against Farid Khadir, which was another poor performance. I think some people have a bad tendency to judge people on one fight rather than across all of them.

Since the Khadir fight you then fought a Thai at Bethnal Green. Did you change anything in particular for that fight, as you came out a lot more aggressively?
Yes I did - we looked at different things in how we train for fights and one was warming up enough. Before fighting Swaans I did lots and lots of rounds on the pads and was quite nervous before that fight. But to get rid of the nerves I kept myself warm. Chesters done a few bits but Hudders and Khadir not so much and I found they made me start slower; I was a bit colder. Then before this fight I did 8-9 rounds on pads warming up and was raring to go, shadow boxing keeping really warm. However I knew if it went the full 5 rounds I was fit enough to go the distance. The tactic worked and I stopped the Thai with a clean elbow in the second round. We're going to work on that more and it's nice to know that I've learn from mistakes and it's brought me forward.

Denton's fighting on the K1 - are you a fan of K1?
Not a big fan to be honest. With the K1 it's not something that really interests me - I like 5 x 3 min rounds and full Thai rules. In Thailand they've got a K1 style tournament system - the Mitsubishi tournament - but they do 3 x 3 mins full Thai rules for the early rounds of the tournament and then 5 x 3 mins for the final, all on the same night. The winner gets a lot of money and a Mitsubishi jeep! I prefer this!

Who would you like to fight at the moment?
From Holland there's Fikri Tijarti the WPKL world welterweight champion. He's good. I've watched him on video - he's a great fighter with a good knee and that is an interesting fight for me. I think I can beat him but wonder how well he can take shots. I've only seen one of his fights so I can't judge him.

Are there any particular countries you would like to fight in?
America would be good to fight in. Mark my words, the Americans are going to start getting good. They've got a few camps out there with the money to pay good trainers. Australia would be another fantastic place to fight they have some great welterweights there - Soren Monkongtong I'd like to fight. Oh another guy I'd like to fight is Yoshiro Sato of Japan.

Who do you rate as the other top English fighters at the moment?
There's quite a few - Damien Trainor is still there in the lighter weights and Reece Crooke is really coming through - you hear about him fighting nearly every month now. Obviously there's Peter Crooke; he's a good light-middleweight, though I think he's more on the K1 side at the moment. Frankie Hudders is a good fighter. What I'd like to see more of in this country though is people fighting more often. Some fighters only fight about once or twice a year and that stops them progressing. They might do well in those two fights but if you want to progress properly you have to fight at least 8 times a year. If you fight that regularly you have to accept you will lose 1 or 2 a year and just deal with and learn from those losses. It's like the Thais; they fight as often as they can and they get better every time. I hear Dale White is doing well and everyone I speak to says he's a good technical fighter and is one for the future. Steve Wakeling is young as well and can certainly go very far. Neil Woods is good and tough - I actually believe for K1 Max he is the future. He is the future of the K-1 Max and is perfect for it I think. He fights just like it and is made for it - fights hard and fast over the rounds and is a fit lad as well. Kevin Harper is another really good fighter. He's technically a good fighter and he fights often as well. There's some good match ups around the country.

What about foreigners that are currently active - if you had to pick 3 at your weight, which is nearly impossible, but...?
Ok Kaolan, Dejipitak and the current Lumpinee champion. At my weight there are some great Europeans such as Tijarti, but the Thais are still he best for me.

Did you get paid for your fight at Lumpinee?
I did actually I got paid 5,000 Baht which is about 80 Pounds. Not bad money for the first one. To be honest I wanted give it back to them; I just wanted the experience. So I gave some to my trainer, some to the other corner man and took them out down the pub with it. That fight wasn't about the money. You can get paid at Lumpinee, Dekkers got offered a lot of money there - thousands. The money just for winning the Mitsubishi or Toyota tournaments is 5,000 GBP, a jeep/pickup truck and an acre of land. A lot of the time the Lumpinee champs tend to win these tournaments though with the draw being made in their favour.

Is there anyone you would like to thank?
You Dan! Obviously my brother Alan but also my other brother Shaun who helps me a lot but doesn't get mentioned so much. Chris Carlew our other trainer as well. And the whole Fairtex Camp and you Dan for the interview etc.