Buakaw loses, Japanese can't tell right from wrong
Buakaw was robbed in the K-1 World Max 2009 Final by judges who were apparently Japanese.
For those who don’t know who Buakaw is or what K-1, kick-boxing or Muay Thai fighting is, suffice it to say that to even be in such a tournament means you are in the vaulted realms of the most talented, hardened, disciplined athletes on the planet. Extraordinary feats of accomplishment are required to make it to that level, years of grueling, painful training and fighting that would cause most world-class football, soccer, and basketball athletes to just plain quit, retire, throw in the towel and fade away.
Even most boxers, including world class boxers, couldn’t make the cut because, quite simply, they haven’t become used to being hit in the legs, stomach, arms and head with what amounts to a baseball bat: a kick, knee or elbow. Most boxers would run from the ring when faced with the ‘8 pointed attack’ (hands, elbows, knees and feet) of Muay Thai (K-1 kickboxing disallows elbows but full Muay Thai rules allow them). Yes, I realize most Muay Thai fighters would lose to boxers if they fought under boxing rules. But no Muay Thai fighter wants to fight under boxings’ boring rules that declare you have to stand there for 12 rounds and suffer permanent brain damage because you can use only use your hands and you must keep strikes above the waist. (Groin strikes are of course disallowed).
The brain damage suffered in boxing is due to the nature of boxing where repeated blows to the head by super-muscled men are the norm. In Muay Thai and kickboxing, it is not easy to stand toe-to-toe and pound each other in the head. Why? Because in trying to get close you are likely to get a kick, knee or elbow. So kickboxers usually keep a distance and deliver most blows to places other than the head. Kickboxers of course suffer broken bones, noses, and many other aches and pains which follow some of them throughout their lives. But I doubt there are nearly the percentage of brain injuries in kickboxing as there are in boxing.
I used to love to watch boxing--until I saw my first kickboxing. After watching virtually no boxing for years, I watched a boxing match the other day and was sickened by the damage to the head I witnessed. Round after round after round of standing toe-to-toe and pounding each other in the head. And the guys doing the pounding were incredibly muscled in the upper body and so the power of those repeated blows was incredible. Yet it was boring and monotonous—so artificial and not approaching what a ‘real’ fight would look like. So how can you even call it fighting? A better name for ‘boxing’ would be Ritualized Blows to the Head. But, in kickboxing, the sheer amount of pain endured far exceeds that of boxing. Boxing is, in a way, a ‘dainty’ sport when you compare it to Muay Thai/kickboxing. Striking the groin in Muay Thai is of course also not allowed, but just about anywhere else is fair game for a knee, elbow, foot or fist. So most or all boxers wouldn’t be able to handle the sheer onslaught of pain from the ‘8 pointed attack’ and most of those muscled boxers would flee the ring rather than endure being kicked, kneed and elbowed by a Muay Thai fighter. I say ‘most’ boxers would flee because the ones who chose to remain in the ring would soon find themselves writhing in agony on the canvas and they literally wouldn’t be able to flee under their own power, but would have to be carried out on a stretcher—not something you are likely to see in boxing, but which is routine in Muay Thai.
Anyway, enter Buakaw, of Thailand. Thailand is home of the original Muay Thai fighters and techniques, and it is where many Western kickboxers travel to learn from the Thais, those small men with a ready smile and gentle nature yet who have unbelievable skills, stamina, and coordination in the fighting ring. And it should be noted that in Thailand in the major Muay Thai stadiums, there are no ring ‘girls’—there are no women walking around in skimpy outfits holding a round number above their head. I find this lack of cheesecake refreshing. Television is already full of cheesecake. Do we really need more tits and ass when what we’ve supposedly come to watch is fighting between men? The Thais smartly dispense with the distraction of ‘girls’ in bikinis.
Anyway, Buakaw is the the crème de la crème of Thai fighters. The previous statement staggers the imagination when you realize the small country of Thailand produces so many world class fighters. To be at the pinnacle of that heritage is truly a feat that equals or surpasses the accomplishments of someone like Michael Jordan. The NBA, home to so much prodigious talent, had one man who stood far above all the rest. In that respect Buakaw is the Michael Jordan of Thailand.
So it was Buakaw who should have fought Petrosyan for the world championship—not Andy Sauer. Buakaw kicked Sauers ass but the decision went Sauer’s way and so it was Andy Sauer who went on to fight (and lose) in the final. I wanted Petrosyan to win the tournament, but not this way. Petrosyan may be the West’s best hope for beating the Thai fighters. His talents are extraordinary. His only fight with Buakaw was years ago when Petrosyan was even more of a youngster than he still is today and the fight was declared a draw after five rounds.
At any rate, we’ll never know if Petrosyan could have beaten Buakaw or if Buakaw could have beaten Petrosyan because the Japanese judges have an insanely unfair eagerness to spare their Japanese fighters the humiliation to losing to Buakaw once again. Little poor Thailand kicking the ass of the mighty Rising Sun. Buakaw from an impoverished family and village training in a ‘gym’ made out of bamboo with no fancy technology—defeating the Japanese juggernaut.
See, the Japanese have a demi-god fighter, too, and his name is Masato. Masato has won the world title 2 times, as has Buakaw, (but Buakaw should have more notches than that as he was robbed before this most recent event.) Masato is retiring this year but he had agreed to one last fight on New Years’ eve—against the winner of this most recent K-1 World Max Championship. And the Japanese judges made sure that it would not be Buakaw facing Masato on New Years’ Eve because the Japanese judges rigged the outcome.
Perhaps even more astounding than the Japanese judges robbing Buakaw of his rightful place in the final match is the fact that apparently not one Japanese fan, out of tens of thousands present, booed the decision. This is in contrast to the Western fans who are now as outraged as I am and are posting their criticisms (boos) all over the internet--and this despite the fact that many of them are not Buakaw fans.
But they’re honest fans who can tell a travesty when they see one and who speak out against the injustice. If that fight had happened in America, with Buakaw losing in that dishonest way to an American fighter favored by the American fans, I promise you a huge percentage of the crowd would have booed the decision even though they were rooting for the American fighter.
In the finals like this, maybe more than booing was in order. Maybe something along the lines of a riot.
Like I said, this isn’t the first time Japanese judges have robbed Buakaw of a decision. The Japanese have a history of trying to keep Buakaw away from the Japanese fighters in the finals because they know Thailand’s Buakaw—one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters of all time—will probably destroy Japan’s hope for a title. So the Japanese can’t use the excuse that the travesty in the 2009 finals is an ‘accident’ or a ‘one-time deal’.
The fact that no Japanese seem to be protesting this outrage may indicate that Japanese are not to be trusted in other arenas of life besides sports. Anyone doing business or politics with the Japanese better take note of how easily they seem to be able to rig the outcome of a contest and how like sheep the common people herd together in docility when a someone is robbed right before their eyes.
Are the Japanese ‘moral’? Do they know the difference between right and wrong? I really want to know: are the Japanese people really like they seemed to be in the Yokahama arena on Oct 26, 2009. Someone please tell me that they have followed the coverage in the Japanese media of this fight and that some Japanese are angry. It would make me feel better about their citizens.
But it wasn’t just Buakaw who was robbed on Oct 26, 2009. The sport of K-1 was robbed, and fans were robbed. And by not protesting, the Japanese people are robbing themselves of any remaining moral currency they may have had.
