Riku Immonen Interview

The current International Coordinator for the Muaythai Association of Finland and one of the few foreigners to win a WMC title, Riku gives us an excellent insight into the development of muaythai in Finland.

He's held both World and European titles as well as winning Kings Cup Medals. Now having retired he devotes most of his time to furthering the spread of muaythai in his own country. If anyone would like to get in touch with Riku about arranging any fights against the Finns please email him or see the Muaythai Association of Finland's web site.

Hi Riku,

As well as having a world class fight career you now work as the International Coordinator for the Muaythai Association of Finland. How strong a following does muaythai have in Finland at the moment?
At the moment we have 19 clubs in our association and within three months 2 more clubs are joining us. We have this year almost 140 fighters competing in gym fights and also several girls too. In this year we had the first junior and women's Finnish championships. Muaythai has gained popularity among the media all the time because of our good achievements in amateur championship rings. Now we are making a breakthrough into TV and also amongst general sport fans. Although we have only 19 clubs which is less than UK, France, Holland, Sweden, Germany, Belarus, Ukraine or any other European country, we have succeeded in producing many strong muaythai fighters.

How do you plan to develop it further?
First of all, we have to stay in our class by producing elite amateur fighters to win championships and second of all, we have to grow our club count in Finland. The first task has gone well so far, but you have to work for the fighters all the time. When it comes to founding new clubs, it will be a much easier task. Youngsters will find excellent information on the internet www.muaythai.fi and they start to ask in their home town after Muaythai. I mean Muaythai, not full contact karate or kickboxing, no they want the real thing. Many martial art clubs have to start practising muaythai because of growing interest. Becoming the known martial art, not necessarily the biggest martial art in Finland, would be a nice goal to aim for.

When did you first meet the Mustonen brothers? Did they introduce you to Muay Thai?
Well, yes and no. I started Muaythai in another town, but at that time my coaches didn’t really know about Muaythai. I trained there for five years and of course saw them (MB) in fight galas. Janne, the younger brother was my idol, in fact he was the first Finnish Muaythai professional in Finland and I guess that he was an idol to most of us. In five years I fought 13 fights and realized that I wouldn't progress in my career if I did not move to Turku, which was the hometown of the MB-Center. At that time they were training IAMTF 75 kg double world champion Vesa Puranen who became later WMC pro world champion and another amateur world champion Harri Nieminen and of course Janne and Kai, the Mustonen brothers. I moved to Turku in 97 and the first four months were pure agony. I almost quit training four times, because I understood what Kai was teaching to me, but I did everything wrong. It was frustrating, but I hung around and learned every time in training something new. That time I was between schools, I used my spare time to watch all 300 Muay Thai videotapes in MB-Center. Then I could say Kai introduced me into Muay Thai. Of course I was doing my best to spar against the very strong Vesa Puranen and being his living punch bag. Those sparring sessions and Kai’s extremely good coaching knowledge took me a giant step forward. In fact Kai is such a good coach, that sometimes a few fighters came from Sweden by ferry to train with us and be coached by Kai. The next year I fought 15 times which was more than in my first five years put together.

How long was it until you started competing?
I started to fight soon as I got a chance. It took 11 months. I don't remember anything of that fight, I was so nervous. Funny that my opponent said same.

Have you studied any other martial arts?
No. I started to train when I was 18 and that's pretty late. I think the best time to start serious Muaythai training is between 12 and 15. But if you have enough willpower, there isn’t such a word as late. The one important thing in Muaythai training to me is, it has to be fun. Although it is hard and sometimes you don't feel like to putting in your best but you still have to do the work, it has to be fun.

You've had a very successful fight career, being one of the few foreigners to hold a WMC world title? who did you fight and how many times have you defended your title since then?
I rose to enter the WMC world ranking list when I knock out Australian Luke Kempton in Singapore March 99. Before that i had won IAMTF's European amateur championships in Calafell, Spain and amateur world championships in Bangkok. I was also selected the most technical fighter in European championships and second best fighter in world championships. Of course my big amateur achievement was Kings Cup victory in 98 Bangkok. Those amateur tournaments are really heavy, because in my category (-71 kg) you have to fight 5 fights in one week and in Kings Cup all fights were 5 times 2 minutes. I had my chance to fight for the WMC world title in July 99. My opponent was from the Ukraine, Leonid Lebedev. The fight was organized in Rangsit stadium Bangkok. It was really hard and Leonid opened my forehead with his elbow in the last round. I won the fight by the same points score from every judge 49 – 47. I defended my title only once after that and it was against Luke Kempton in Finland, Helsinki November 99. I defeated him and opened his forehead with my elbow. I must say that Luke had a really big heart and he is a friend of mine.

You've also won a prestigious Kings Cup medal in 1998 as well as some European titles, which prize do you value the most highly?
The best feeling after winning titles was of course the first one, IAMTF european champion title. But also the Kings Cup and amateur world championship title are precious to me. Maybe the most important title is that WMC world title. It was my goal and when I gained it, I lost some motivation which was the main reason why I decided to quit my fighting career.

Are there any particular fights that stick in your memory?
I will never forget that nervousness that I had in Bangkok when I was fighting for the WMC world title. I’ve never been so scared when entering the Muaythai ring. The fight was live on Thailand TV and there were those legendary judges and referees whom I have seen from videos and representatives of the King of Thailand were there too.

Which was the hardest or most pleasing fight for you?
Hardest fight was that world title fight, but it wasn’t so good because I was so nervous and overtrained. The most pleasing fight was my title defence fight in Helsinki 99. Finnish TV, my family and my friends were there and I fought my best fight ever before my home audience. It was my career peak and it was the perfect end for my fighting career. One thing was important too, the director of Lumpini boxing stadium was monitoring our fight.

Is there anyone out there in particular that you'd still like to fight?
No. I’ve reached my goals and now I am happy at work. You can stick in the ring forever, if you don't ever feel fulfilled by winning fights. Of course there were fights to fight and stadiums to conquer, but I think that I had my share.

How do you think Finland will fare if Muaythai is accepted into the Olympics?
I think Finland will have a chance to win 2 or 3 medals if Muaythai goes into the Olympics. We have always had good success in amateur championships, but opponents will be more skillful and stronger then, so its hard to say for sure.

Do you think there's a definitive gap between standards in Thailand and the rest of the world?
Some countries don't know the fight rules and they are teaching wrong things. The Finns have invented nothing by themselves, we have copied everything from Thailand. The Thais have tried everything that can be done in the Muaythai ring, so they know what is done well and what's not. I think that's a good goal for all.

Lastly are there any more up and coming Finish fighters that we should look out for in the future?
Now we have a very strong fighter Petri Martinez. So far he has won the Kings Cup 99 and amateur world championships 2000. Also he has the Nordic champion title by knocking out Denmark's Oleg Baugio. He has a very good chance to be the next Finnish WMC world champion. He has defeated fighters from Holland and Belgium. The dutch fighter suffered a TKO loss in the 3rd round and the Belgian fellow gave up after the second round. Petri Martinez is a name to look out for!