MUAY THAI GALA 2000 - November 25th, 2000 / Xalapa, Mexico

This report was written and supplied by Mike Miles

MUAY THAI GALA 2000 - November 25th, 2000 / Xalapa, Mexico

Team Canada Coach Mike Miles and 4 Canadian athletes travelled to Xalapa, Mexico to battle in Muay Thai bouts against 4 of Mexico's top Muay Thai athletes in a 'Night of Muay Thai'. The event was promoted by Mexico's leading Muay Thai exponent Mr. Jorge Vasquez. The event was very close to being sold out to a very educated Muay Thai audience. The arena sounded like a stadium in Thailand with the audience screaming "hoy-eee" and "dtee" during the striking and kneeing exchanges. "I was very impressed with the state of Muay Thai in Xalapa", said Canadian Coach Mike Miles. The bouts were fought under full Muay Thai rules with the athletes only wearing boxing gloves and elbow pads for protective striking equipment.

The main event featured Canada's Jason Fenton battling with Mexico's Rogelio Romero. Romero is considered to be pound for pound, Mexico's top Muay Thai athlete. The event was billed as a "Revenge Match" (Romero vs. Fenton de revancha) as Rogelio had battled with the Canuck in Canada on January 1997 and lost a decision. Since that time, Rogelio has been getting lots of international experience (in his last 2 bouts he had knocked out a Japanese opponent in Japan and a French opponent in Mexico) and it was felt (in Mexico) that he would now defeat the Canadian athlete and get his revenge. When the two athletes entered the ring, the electricity and the anticipation for the main event was overwhelming. "Mexican fans sure know the sport and love their athletes", said Fenton.

In the first round, the Mexican athlete came out relaxed but would explode with very fast and strong shots designed to knock the Canadian out. Fenton appeared to be taking some time to warm up and get his bearings but he also was absorbing a few of Romero's powerful shots. Midway through the first round, an extremely powerful right cross caught the Canuck and it shook him to the soles of his feet. Ever the resilient athlete, Fenton was quick to recover and competently exchange with the Mexican athlete who sensed he had hurt the Canadian athlete but could not land a finishing blow. The first round was close but would have been given to the Mexican athlete.

In the second round, Fenton had found his range and timing and he started to counter the Mexican athlete handily and effectively. The Mexican would land a blow but immediately take a counter shot from the Canadian. As the round progressed, one could sense this was starting to frustrate the Mexican athlete. With what was to be the story for the rest of the bout, it would be the Canadian athlete forcing the fight and pressuring the Mexican athlete backwards. Romero would try and move to use angles to frustrate and make the Canuck miss with his attacks. It turned out to be a somewhat effective strategy. When Romero would feel he was out of danger he would then wait for Fenton to square off with him and the Mexican athlete would lead off with powerful shots still trying to KO Fenton. Towards the end of the round, Fenton caught Romero with an excellent spinning elbow and the Mexican athlete hit the canvas face first. It was obvious Romero was hurt as he did not stir off of the canvas until the count of 8 and by the time the count was over and the fight was to resume, the bell went saving Romero from the Canuck's newfound desire to try and finish the fight early. This round went to the Canadian athlete.

In the third round, Fenton was putting on the pressure and Romero was countering at a considerably reduced rate. The Mexican athlete was looking tired and he was obviously conserving his energy for the powerful shots which were designed solely to get the Canuck out of the ring. Midway through the round, Romero landed a straight right and Fenton daringly smiled at the blow. Explosively, Rogelio delivered another straight right which caught Fenton and the crowd erupted with approval. Again Fenton smiled even more defiantly. Fenton then quickly turned the fight around and started landing more of his blows at will shaking the Mexican athlete. Romero hit the canvas but it was ruled a slip. Fenton was now literally chasing the Mexican athlete around the ring. Romero did a good job of providing angles by literally squatting and ducking under some of the roundhouse kicks and elbow attacks from the Canadian. "Wow, he was going low on some of my attacks. It really surprised me", said Fenton. During several clinch exchanges, Romero was also to hit the canvas. Fenton threw the Mexican athlete to the canvas almost at will on the inside. Fenton took this round with more effective and scoring blows as well as with ring generalship.

The fourth round began with a somewhat rested Romero holding his ground and looking for the powerful punch to land and knock out Fenton. The Canuck was now attacking at will and landing a lot of his weapons effectively. Romero was countering but was considerably less effective than in prior rounds and a third of the way into the round was again looking very tired. The Canuck was fighting at a much higher work rate. By about a minute into the round, Romero was now moving around the ring trying to find the positioning where he could effectively counter attack the Canadian. Romero delivered a jumping back kick which scored but Fenton walked right through it and delivered powerful counter kicks, punches and elbows. Two thirds of the way through the round Fenton cornered Romero and landed another spinning back elbow which dropped the Mexican to the canvas for the final time. Romero was counted out and Fenton won the bout by KO in the fourth round.
"There is talk of another 'revenge' match between Romero and I", said Fenton. "I would do it again if they brought me back to Mexico one more time. He is a tough opponent and Mexico should be very proud of him." Canada's Sokhim Or stepped into the ring with Mexican Bernardo Gonzalez. The Mexican athlete had fought in Canada on May 6th defeating his Canadian opponent Yuki Tatsuno. Gonzalez was now squaring off with a smaller and lighter opponent in Or. The bout started with delivering some fast probing shots while Or looked very relaxed and composed. Or would pressure the Mexican backwards trying to corner his foe. The smaller Or was suddenly grabbed by the Mexican athlete into a clinch and Or effortlessly started scoring with some strong knees to his foes body and legs. Having trouble trying to counter knee, the Mexican athlete tried dropping some elbows on the top of Or's head. Or just countered this technique by forcing Gonzalez to lean backwards while Or stuck his head on the center of his foes chest nullifying the elbow attacks. The two athletes were separated and Or continued with the forward pressure. Half way through the round, Or faked a low cut kick and jumped up and delivered a strong straight punch which caught the Mexican on the jaw. Gonzalez went down face first and struggled to get to his feet while being counted. He managed to get to his feet and Or rushed in and dropped him again to the canvas. Finally while trying to get back to his feet after being dropped a second time, Gonzalez's corner decided he had taken enough and they threw in the towel with Or winning this bout by first round TKO.

Canada's Darren Robson participated in his first international fight against Mexico's Oscar Contreras. The Mexican had lost by knock out to Canada's Ashley Odd on May 6th while trying to win a World Kickboxing Title. Contreras was looking for revenge against Canada and he came out fast with very heavy cut kicks and straight rights. As the round opened a high kick was caught by Robson and he dumped Contreras on the seat of his pants. Undaunted by this, Contreras got up and came forward and showing no respect was obviously trying to KO his Canadian opponent. Robson looked calm while under pressure. However mid way through the round, Contreras landed a heavy overhand right while Robson delivered a jab. The shot connected and Robson went down. The referee stopped the fight with Contreras winning by first round KO. "It was a good decision on the referee's part. Darren was shook and I do not know if he would have been able to defend himself from the power of Contreras", said Canadian Coach Mike Miles.

In a bout featuring 2 athletes both making their international Muay Thai debut's, Canada's Sushil Nand squared off with Mexico's Efrain Martinez. This was Nand's first Muay Thai rules bout. Efrain used his height and weight advantage to win the close decision in this 5 round bout. "Sushil did Canada proud. He was never in any danger from the Mexican athlete. He shook the Mexican a few times but just could not seem to follow it up effectively. Efrain showed great technique, heart, and desire to win this bout", said Canadian Coach Mike Miles.

"Mr. Vasquez is one great host, the card was handled very professionally and we would fight again in Mexico in a heartbeat. I plan to bring Mr. Vasquez and some of his students back to Canada in the year 2001", said Mike Miles.