Better and Twisted the Ultimate Getaway
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1938 The year LSD was first synthesised by Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman > TOMORROW IN LIFE Monday, October 15, 2018 BETTER AND TWISTED THE ULTIMATE GETAWAY Netflix’s Daredevil is back for season 3 with an We journey to a far-flung Canadian island that’s ailing superhero and darker plot DIGITAL LIFE C6 clinging to the edge of the Earth TRAVEL C7 Twin brothers Jirasak (left) and Pornsak Katsriphuak, who are 10 years old, sparring at their Bangkok gym. Photos: Tibor Krausz Fellowship of the rings Critics say recruiting children for Muay Thai is a form of abuse, but that doesn’t deter Pumpichai Rattanawisit, a Several of the four-decade-old without such protective gear as a trainer and fight promoter, makes gym’s alumni have become cele- head guard. thousands of youngsters in Thailand from getting into fights as a way out of poverty light of such concerns. brated champions at the Lumpini Pacharadanai Poolsawat was “Kids can get hurt,” he says. and Rajadamnern boxing stadi- one such youngster. A mild- “But their injuries aren’t serious. A ums, Thailand’s two most presti- mannered 20-year-old whose Tibor Krausz It isn’t only in sparring Their father is more sanguine. bruise here and there. Children gious Muay Thai venues. Fading entire back and left front is [email protected] sessions that the two youngsters “In the ring it’s them against an aren’t strong enough to injure news clippings of them are covered in picturesque yakuza- exchange blows. The twins, who opponent. Only they can help each other seriously.” pinned up on vertically mounted style tattoos, Pacharadanai had started training in Thai boxing at themselves,” says Somsak Pumpichai, 60, runs a decrepit cardboard. his first fight when he was four in The 10-year-old twin boys are age six, each have a dozen fights Katsriphuak, 42, a handyman and open-air gym in a Bangkok slum “I motivate the kids by telling his hometown of Khorat, in north- prize fighters in the making, and under their belt. They have fought former boxer. “They win or lose where on a recent afternoon five them, ‘Do you want to be like eastern Thailand. they waste no chance to duke it and beaten children their own age based on their own merits.” boys in their early teens pum- these guys in the pictures? Do you “The other kid was seven or out. In between pounding a in Bangkok and the countryside, Win or lose, his sons earn 300 melled tatty punchbags, lifted want to be champions and make eight, much older than me. He punch bag and kicking a pad held with some tournaments ending in baht (HK$71) a fight – a paltry rusty weights and skipped rope. lots of money’?” Pumpichai says. kneed me in the side,” he says. “I by a middle-aged trainer, Pornsak a knockout. sum, even by local standards. Yet Outside, chickens rooted through Anywhere between 200,000 cried a lot, but mostly because I and Jirasak Katsriphuak clamber And just like fights with older the prospect of far more cash mounds of rotting garbage by a and 300,000 children around lost.” up into the ring and let fly at each boxers, those for boys are lively beckons once they can turn pro- scummy stream of putrid water. Thailand are believed to be train- These days, Pacharadanai other. fessional at the age of 15. “These kids can make 2,000 ing in Muay Thai, and lots of them rarely loses a fight. He is the The diminutive wannabe For underprivileged children baht a fight,” says the promoter, want to become champions. reigning flyweight champion at Muay Thai bruisers each weigh like Pornsak and Jirasak, a career who gets a cut from their earnings. Many of them start competing in Rajadamnern Stadium, Bangkok’s just over 20kg. During their in Muay Thai can be a ticket to “They’re happy with that. They the ring as young as age four, often oldest boxing venue. sparring bouts they pull few of fame and fortune in a boxing- come from poor families.” Pacharadanai, with more than their punches, bobbing and [Children] aren’t strong obsessed nation where champion One of his proteges is 200 fights under his belt, can earn weaving in imitation of profes- enough to injure each fighters are feted as celebrities. Teerapong Khantong, a fresh- up to 540,000 baht per fight – three sional boxers before unleashing The twins live in an inner-city faced 12-year-old who has already times the average annual wage in flurries of kicks and punches. other seriously community of modest dwellings had 71 fights. He has won 60 or so Thailand. A picture of him from Jirasak tends to get the upper along a fetid canal. Five days a of them. The other kid was … much a magazine, displayed at the hand, but his brother will not back PUMPICHAI RATTANAWISIT, TRAINER AND FIGHT PROMOTER week, after school, they go to “I like fighting. It’s easy to alfresco boxing camp where the down. Pornsak weathers an on- training. Their next fights will be in make money this way,” he says. “I older than me. He kneed twins train, shows him knocking slaught of flailing fists and flying affairs. Parents and spectators egg a few weeks’ time and they can give what I earn to my parents.” out a Japanese opponent. feet from Jirasak, before sending young contestants on from ring- barely wait. His father is a security guard, me in the side. I cried a lot, “I want to be a fighter like him,” his twin tumbling by sweeping a side, rewarding each punch, knee Critics say encouraging his mother a housekeeper. “My but mostly because I lost Pornsak says sheepishly. leg out from under him. In a thrust, high kick and elbow strike children to fight in the ring is a mum worries when I fight,” Teera- The twins are on the right track refereed fight, Pornsak would with an enthusiastic “Ahay!” “Oy!” form of child abuse. Several pong says. “I tell her not to worry.” PACHARADANAI POOLSAWAT, FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION for that, Pacharadanai notes. have earned points for the move. or “Aye!” There is also a good deal physicians in Thailand have been Muay Thai is a highly competitive Then he gets caught off guard of gambling going on as inveterate warning that young boxers can sport, and the sooner they start as Jirasak lands a well-timed kick gamblers place wagers on the suffer lasting brain damage from training and get some fighting on his head. Wincing with pain, pint-sized pugilists. Plenty of cash knocks to the head. experience in the ring, the better. Pornsak drops to the floor to nurse can change hands during these “Brain injuries from boxing can “One and Two are at the best his ear. Momentarily, though, he junior contests. “I like punching have long-term effects on the age,” says Uthai Siriyota, an is back on his feet for another and kicking,” Jirasak says. “I neurological system [of children],” experienced trainer who helps out round of rough and tumble. especially like using the elbows. Professor Jiraporn Laothamatas, a at the training camp. He is “They’re like angry grass- You can knock out your opponent neuro-radiologist at Ramathibodi referring to the twins by their hoppers. They hop and skip a lot,” by elbowing him in the face.” Hospital in Bangkok, says. numerical nicknames bestowed says Jamlong Jaipakdee, 49, who Jirasak is an earnest little chap, After conducting tests on 300 on them by older fighters. helps train the boys at a spartan, his solemn mien is in contrast to primary school-aged boxers, “Children their age can easily outdoor boxing camp set up his brother’s more genial disposi- Jiraporn’s team found that many learn all the techniques,” Uthai, between two concrete pylons tion. Jirasak lost a recent fight had markedly lower IQs than 48, adds. “They can also learn to underneath an elevated highway when a knee to his abdomen sent average. And the longer they had take it on the chin in the ring.” by the side of a busy road in cen- him to the floor, where he lay been fighting, the lower their IQ A squat, brawny man, Uthai is tral Bangkok. The brothers train doubling up in pain. “It hurt,” he scores were. Unless they can earn a retired fighter who took it on the alongside fighters twice their age recalls. enough as pro fighters to set chin quite a bit back in the day. His during intense sessions where His brother had his mouth themselves up for life, these mangled boxer’s nose and badly sinewy bodies glisten with sweat bloodied in his own fight. “I didn’t children are likely to have limited scarred eyebrows are testament in the tropical fug. cry,” Pornsak says. Their mother, prospects. to that. “I can see them both going far La-ong Katsriphuak, wasn’t “How can they possibly study “You take a look at a kid, and in this sport,” says Jamlong, a pleased. “I don’t want to see them and find [well-paying] jobs?” you’ll know if he is champion heavily tattooed former profes- get hurt,” La-ong, a street vendor, Jiraporn says. “What will their material. If he is not afraid to wind sional fighter. “They have plenty says. “But they want to fight and I quality of life be with a bruised up looking like me, he is a winner,” of fire in the belly.” support them.” brain and low IQ?” he says with a laugh..