Karuhat Interview | Had His First Fight at 16, Went Onto Become a Legend [turn on English Subtitles] (Patreon)

[turn on English Subtitles, above] - This interview happened impromptu as we were just casually chatting to Karuhat in our livingroom and I asked him about how old he was when he first fought (I knew how old he was when he started in Muay Thai already) and was absolutely shocked by the answer and following story. So we set up the camera and mics and started talking about it. We knew Karuhat was surprisingly old already when he started, by Western ideas of Thai fighters. We all think the best fighters started kicking pads while barely in grade school, but many of the Golden Age fighters were in their teens. Karuhat, it turns out, fought before he ever trained. And he was late 15 or 16 already (albeit could easily be mistaken for younger by his size) and basically launched his path toward Yodmuay on a whim. He was just playing football (soccer) and was pulled into a fight matchup.  

So I say this to you: the paths to being a fighter are many. There is no rule that you have to start in diapers and have hundreds of fights by the time you're 25. I saw Muay Thai for the first time at 24 years old. I am not an early starter and I found this Origin Story of Karuhat really inspiring. Thanks to my patrons we are able to hire a translator for these documentary projects. My gratitude to my supporters for making this kind of work possible, and free to the public, can only be expressed by continuing to Preserve the Legacy. Thank you, thank you.

to turn on English subtitles click "CC"

If you don't know Karuhat yet, there is lots of documentation of his incredible Muay in the Muay Thai Library. Due to our work he may be the most documented Yodmuay in history, just in terms of commentary hours of his instruction. You can find links to all of his sessions and even an intensive here on the Roundtable: All of Karuhat. 

For more of my patron supported interviews with legends click on the "Legends Speak" tag at the bottom of this post, or just here Legends Speak 

If you are new to him, do check out this great Muay Thai Scholar footwork edit of Karuhat's incredible style. When Saenchai came onto the scene they nicknamed him Little Karuhat. Nobody before or since has had his feeling for controlling the fight space. 

watch it on YouTube here 

Some photos of Karuhat by Kevin over time:

more photos at muaynoir.com, and here is Kevin's photo essay on Karuhat's style.

More Interviews, Preserving The Legacy

The late Sirimongkol was someone we were able to interview before he passed, unexpectedly, in his early 70s; he was one of the great fighters of the Silver Age. He too started fighting somewhat later in his youth, with a tragic story attached to it. We were very lucky to have met Sirimongkol when we did and had the chance to film with him and get to know him a little. In the case of Karuhat and others, we hope to have the time to draw out their stories and knowledge, to get to know them and understand them as fighters and as men. Heroes are expressed in volumes and epics, when we're lucky enough to let it unfold like that. The origins of these men and their Muay matter so much to a shared history. Mostly we just see them in highlights and a few fights, maybe some statistics or biographical tidbits make it to English. In the words of Dan Gable, "More is more." That's what we want. 

watch and read about that interview here 

For more of my patron supported interviews with legends click on the "Legends Speak" tag at the bottom of this post, or just here Legends Speak. Sadly we've already lost three of the legends we've talked with, Namkabuan, Wichannoi and Sirimongkol. So much of Muay Thai is in oral history.