boutChangpuek and Rick Roufus, Las Vegas 1988

ช้างเผือก พบ ริค รูฟัส · changphueak phop rik rufat

He was knocked down in the first, had his jaw broken, and won in the fourth by kicking one leg.

superwebdeveloper · CC BY 2.0

American kickboxing, no kicks below the waist

What it is

A non-title fight in Las Vegas between Changpuek Kiatsongrit, a 70kg Thai who could not get matched at home, and Rick Roufus, the K.I.C.K. world champion.

The long version

Changpuek was born in a village thirty kilometres from Prakhonchai in Buriram, one of seven children, first fight at fourteen, and made his Rajadamnern debut weighing 49 kilos. By his late twenties he weighed 70, which in Thailand meant there was nobody to fight, so he went abroad.

American kickboxing at the time had a rule against kicking below the waist, and Roufus had never had to deal with a leg kick in competition. Changpuek was put down in the first round and his jaw was broken. He kept kicking the same leg. The fight was stopped in the fourth.

Inference — one evening did more to explain muay thai to the United States than a decade of demonstrations, because it was not a demonstration. It was a Thai man losing every exchange he was supposed to lose and winning anyway with the one weapon the other code had legislated away.

Connected to

• The round kick The weapon.
• Buakaw Banchamek The next crossing.
• Every gym on the map What followed abroad.

Named here by

• Buakaw Banchamek The earlier crossing.

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