Karuhat Sor Supawan 3: Switching to Southpaw & Open Side Attack (144 min) (Patreon)

I’ve been training periodically with Karuhat for almost a year now, with a few of our sessions in the Library already. That’s, all-told, still just really a handful of sessions, but I love everything he teaches me, I learn a lot, and he ignites something in me that nobody else does. His style and methods just speak to something in me in a way that is incredibly unique. It just so happens that he also is regarded in the minds of many Thais as possibly “the” great Muay Thai stylist of the Golden Age. I’d been working on a few things since our last session as this video opens up, mostly trying to be more fluid and using his “sway” to hide movements in relaxation (found in this session) from my Standard position. He stood there watching me, as he does, and was thinking to himself with this half smile on his face… as he does. In that span of maybe 15 minutes of shadowboxing before our session, Karuhat came up with this idea to switch my stance to southpaw. You can see the progression of thought that led to this, in real time, in the first 10-15 minutes of this video. This is kind of incredible because it is both spontaneous and well-conceived, and it will eventually lead to the much more advanced work found in the 2nd half of this video, an example of evolved fighting.

Put simply, in this first session he installed a limited game plan from a Southpaw core: jab, teep, defend as you come in and then grab with your natural power side for greater control in the clinch. He’s cornered for me in several fights now and has first-hand experience watching me struggle with the same things against different opponents. And this is his solution: put your power side in the front. It’s like having a shield in the front hand and a sword in the back hand. Simple, pretty clear how to use each, and completely intended to allow you to close in, as I’m a clinch fighter. Also as part of this core he gave me two options for dealing with a standard fighter’s right kick (to your open side): cross-block with the lead leg, or switch stance and catch the kick, suddenly putting your power side opposite to their newly created open side. This open side tracking is a fundamental. Part of what I love so much about Karuhat’s style, what makes me just so excited to watch him fight, is that he’s one of the most renowned Femeu style (technical)  fighters of all time, but he’s not a backwards fighter. He’s Muay Femeu style but with a Muay Khao (advancing, knee fighter) heart, always pressing forward and eating up space. After the session makes up the second half of this video (our most recent session filmed last week), he divulged that he used to be a Muay Khao fighter and only transitioned to the style that made him so famous after he’d already entered into Lumpinee, probably in his mid-teens. Which, aside from being an awesome insight into his style, also means that deliberate changes - probably much like what he’s doing with me - were installed in order to adjust his style and turn him into Karuhat. I want to be Karuhat, so this is like receiving a portion of the blueprint.

In this first half of the video we’re mostly working on closing distance with jab, teep and then grabbing for the clinch or launching a powerful rear-side attack. I was amazed at how quickly I felt more-or-less comfortable in my non-natural stance and how easily my left kicks and knees flow out of that position. It’s from how you stand with your naturally dominant leg forward, as the standing leg. My left kick has always been stronger than my right, for this reason, but from my Orthodox stance it’s not as immediately accessible, so from Southpaw stance it’s just itching to go.

In the second half of this video the session is from 3 months after the initial introduction of going Southpaw. I’ve been working on it in my own training (I see Karuhat maybe once a month), in shadow, on the bag, on the pads with Pi Nu, in sparring and clinch, as well as flashing it (like, experimenting a bit) in fights. I do believe that Karuhat’s idea was for me to just, all in one swoop, start doing everything from that stance. But my own trainer, Pi Nu, while helping me with it by doing all pads with me from a Southpaw stance, was very hesitant to have me use it in fights until I’m much more comfortable and capable from that stance. Out of respect to him I’ve avoided using it very much in fights, but I think I need to do so in order to really grasp this whole process that Karuhat has put me into.

In the second half, our most recent session, I’ve lost a significant amount of the jab and teep forward movement that was the core of the change before. That’s not only because I was absent-minded, it’s also in response to the fact that we’ve worked together a few times in those 3 months and he also introduced a switching of stance (a single step back into the other stance in order to attack the open side) and had me focusing on moving backwards deliberately and measured, rather than kind of “backpedaling.” So in this session I’m using more angles and a bit of an “in/out” that came out of other adjustments, but needs to be adjusted again to really fit with this style he’s trying to form me into. Truly though, the Southpaw core needs to be reinstalled as a foundation to the switching stance he is developing.

Along with the single-step-back switch stance and moving backwards deliberately, Karuhat revealed this profound core of Muay Thai that I’d never realized before. It’s a small thing, seemingly obvious, but it’s a massive difference between how I believe many Thais fight and how - generalizing here - everyone else fights: attacking the open side and linking timing to weight transfer in your opponent. Watch almost any non-Thai Muay Thai fighter and you can see some amazing combinations and strikes, but the targets can be all over the place dictated by modes of pre-planned or memorized combinations; it can look as if they are attacking a squared pistol target silhouette. Watch Thai fighters (specifically in this case Karuhat, who uses switching of stance) and they’re always targeting the open side. It’s the difference between shooting at someone covered in armor and shooting at the gaps in the armor. The “open side” is basically the belly-button, so it moves depending on stance, but also can change with knees or caught kicks. I do believe that the difference between the open and closed sides is also found in Thai scoring, in an unconscious way. A kick landed to the closed side is not seen as effective as one landed to the open side.  

In this last session Karuhat worked with me for a significant amount of time on timing strikes to the open side (and identifying the open side) and then additionally looking for the opponent’s transfer of weight when moving. - You can watch this bonus session with Karuhat which covers some of the in-between time between these two bookend sessions -  So, for example, if they’re on the defense and bouncing their front leg, you wait for the moment the leg touches the ground to fire your strike. If they switch stance, you time your attack for the peak moment of vulnerability between their positions. When Karuhat does this to demonstrate, he’s so fast it feels like he’s hitting me before I realize what I’m doing. It’s paralyzing. And it made me realize I’ve trained with tons of Thai men who are great at this and that’s the reason I feel like I can never even move against them. It’s a simple strategy and one that you want to be the best at. Ultimately it’s about developing a different way of seeing your opponent. Open side and weight transfers are constant signals for weaknesses, as as you develop as a fighter you come to learn how to dictate and therefore anticipate these elements. 

Part I: watch for the use of jab and teep, low power but timing and pressure, to close distance and cut off the ring for setting up powerful shots or the clinch. When your opponent is defending from those jabs and teeps, take advantage of their position when blocking to hit the open side. Switching stance on caught kicks to deliver open side attacks, or you can cross-block the rear kick.

Part II: cutting off the ring; tracking open side; learning to identify openings from defensive positions and attacking them (leg kicks, hooks, teeps); forcing defensive positions with fakes; switching stance to deliver open side attacks; timing with weight transfer of your opponent. Note: as a Southpaw versus Standard fighter here Karuhat likes to circle in the opposite direction of most lefty vs righty advice, which derives from boxing. Instead of trying to get your lead foot outside your opponent’s lead foot putting your power hand on the centerline, you drift left trying to draw that rear kick which can be then caught in a switch of stance, giving them your closed side and suddenly exposing your opponent’s open side to your own rear kick. I imagine this is used tactically in a case by case or even shifting basis, sometimes circling right, sometimes circling left.

TIP BOX: if you are inspired by what you see and want to show added appreciation you can send gratuity directly to Karuhat. Just message $5 or more via PayPal to the address sylvie@8limbs.us, please in the "add a note" section specify "for Karuhat". I will transfer the funds.

KRU FUND: additionally, 5% of all Patreon pledges go into my Kru Fund, and is directed back to the Krus and ex-fighters who have helped make this documentary Library possible: http://8limbs.us/muay-thai-thailand/starting-the-kru-fund