In conjunction with the video these are my thoughts on the fight and what I was thinking whilst inside the ring.
Round 1:
Bell goes and we meet in the middle. I was expecting my size to intimidate my opponent but looking in his eyes he could not have cared less. He looked really happy like he knew a joke I wasn't in on. Turns out the joke is, he had no intention of letting me warm up or go through a feeling out process. He wanted to win quickly and with flare. He wanted to knock me out with a head kick and had absolute confidence he could do it. He backs off to the ropes and baits me to come inside not preserving my reach advantage. Switch and left head kick, then again and again.
I blocked all three but the second really connected through my guard and had me stunned as I saw the third coming I knew I had to hit him with some powerful strikes and impose my will. Maybe it's ego but I wanted him to respect my power and not feel like he could intimidate me with flare moves that I wasn't used to from sparring. After blocking the third kick I moved forward with strikes. He covered up well but I just threw hard against his guard. I knew nothing would connect but I wanted to shake him up. He took the strikes, backed up and threw another head kick followed by a left hand which connected with my chin straight through my guard. Had me seeing stars. I tried to hide it as I backed out of range and I don't think he realised he had hurt me.
We both regained composure and worked outside against the ropes. Little exchanges but nothing making it through. He tried to bait me in and threw a spinning back elbow. Again more flare moves and showmanship trying to get me to make mistakes rather than just chopping the tree down with leg kicks.
He was very confident he could find an opening for the big finish. That came across in everything he did, the way he moved was so confident. Not setting things up, no combinations. Not earning the big strike just had faith if he threw enough I'd make a mistake.
Cardio was not an issue. The start stop pace of the fight meant I wasn't even short on breath. By pressuring him against the ropes I was able to step out and relax after flurries rather than punch myself out. End of round 1 I felt good, felt confident. Felt like as long as I defended the big night ending moves I was going to be able to find my chance with punches to repay the favour.
Round 2:
Again I walked forward and pressured him back. Watching the video I really don't use my jab enough. I should have been peppering his guard but instead I let him watch what I'm doing, giving him too much time to plan and execute his own counter strikes. I pressure forward land a body kick and we clinch, landed a poor knee but he didn't want any of the clinch with me and just shut it down waiting for the referee to separate us. In the short time we clinched I tried to make distance to elbow but he kept his head buried against my chest so my offensive options were very limited.
The fake teep had stopped working as I wasn't throwing any kicks. My back injury was still a big concern in the back of my head and I was scared to commit to a body or head kick with big hip movement as I knew there was a chance my back would give out and I'd be done. So I started throwing more teeps and low kicks to get him thinking. The lack of twisting in my lower back meant these felt like a safer option. He responded with a teep which I caught and swept easily as he was too busy thinking about defending my punches.
Once back up, a punch combination made him cover up but he bent over off the centre line exposing a clear run for the left uppercut. Although only a short strike there was power behind it as I had loaded it with bad intentions after the straight right off his guard. This left connected without slowing off his defence and earned me my first knockdown and an 8 count.
My opponent now with blood coming from his mouth started to threaten with elbow strikes. The range was all wrong but looking back now I think he was trying to earn some more recovery time and was using these strikes to scare back a guy who was utilising a lot of boxing but not too much Muay Thai and as a result was probably intimidated by elbows. I attempted a high kick from outside elbow range, it felt awful and slow and left me exposed to counters. My back was just too stiff to rotate properly.
As I pressured forward he lands a nice straight right and a strong teep which I try to shake off and walk through. He steps in and closes the distance which I didn't expect. By stepping in he was able to grab over my hands and land a strong right elbow that slid over my left upper arm and connected with my left cheek bone. It was a big shot. Didn't make me dizzy but immediately made my face swell and had me worried I was cut. I tried to repay the favour but I couldn't utilise the right range and just elbowed shoulder and thin air.
Back in the red corner (my corner) I could now for the first time hear corner instruction and they wanted body shots. I blocked a kick and threw a powerful right into his stomach which again knocked him down. Saved by the bell. Which I gotta say I was happy about. With 2 knock downs I knew I could put him away but I wanted to end things with a cleaner more technical strike. Something to be proud of.
During the round break the advice from my corner.
"He doesn't like the body shots, keep working them and when he kicks throw the left hand don't just let him kick you."
Round 3:
My opponent comes out with a much more forward pressuring style. Unlike previous rounds he isn't backing up to the ropes and watching. Instead he is trying to initiate his own strikes and get inside past my range. He still throws the left high kick but all the power has gone. I can afford to check and counter where before I was struggling to process anything offensive after blocking the leg. Countering the kick I earn some strong body shots. But this leaves my head exposed as I throw too many of the same thing. He counters with some hooks to my head but they fall short nothing landing. But I could see the aggression across his blood stained snarl, the body shots were hurting him and the punches aimed for my head seemed to come from lashing out. Almost a last ditch effort for the highlight reel ending he had hoped for in the early stages of round 1.
As I back out of range he loads another high kick and I throw a stiff left jab which connects with his chin. His head whips back and he falls to the canvas knocked out. I don't believe knocked unconscious. I just think it was a clean strike that had him spinning and he took the out offered. Makes sense. He was probably fighting again a week later. He'd tried for the big win and I'd beaten him down with enough strong strikes that he wanted out.
3 knock downs within 2 fight minutes, it was over.
My first reaction.
Relief and disappointment.
Relief the fight was over and I had won.
Disappointment the nail in is coffin had not been a more definitive power strike. I wanted to believe I had knocked someone out. But instead I had to talk myself into the narrative that I had beaten him rather than he had taken the pay day and just quit when he got tired. The Thailand fight game is a hard thing to read. Don't think I'll ever shake the demons that he opted out. Watching the slow motions of the 3 knock downs does help. I suspect it's my own self doubt coming through rather than an unbiased appraisal of the fight.
Perhaps I'll leave that to whoever watches the fight video and reads this blog.
Let me know.
Did he dive? Had I done enough? Was the fight ending punch a fight ending punch? Was his starfish pose pantomime?
Like your analysis and think it was spot on. I dont think he was faking. It was a clean strike and stopped him in his tracks. Lucky (for him) you hadn't thrown a haymaker otherwise his jaw would have been on the other side of the canvas. Don't be too hard on yourself mate.. To go up against someone with 100+ fights under their belt and dominate them (which is what you did!) is nothing to be ashamed off!
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