My Son’s Muay Thai Fight

My son had a Muay Thai bout tonight. The fight producer is a Hmong company (the Twin Cities has one of the largest Hmong communities in North America) so I got to try some Hmong beer called 651 Tyga Bite Tsov Tom, nominally an American Pale Ale but it tasted more like a Nut Brown Ale. Not bad at all.

My son’s fight was next to last (Co-Main Event). Other fights we’ve been to have had some big guys and occasionally women fighting women, but this card was all about the middle and lower weights, the heaviest being 160-pound class. My son fought in the 140-pound class. His record going into the fight was 6 wins and 6 losses.

Three two-minute rounds might not seem like long, but several fighters were visibly tiring as early as early in the second round. In my son’s fight, he and his opponent were fairly evenly matched and went the full three rounds, but the judges ruled in favor of his opponent.

As a parent, it’s always hard to see him step into the ring. He’s willingly walking into an situation where another man is planning on hitting him. Hard. Hitting my baby.

But my son loves doing this, and my job is to support him. He recently ran a 25K race as part of his training, something that would kill me but that he did with ease. More power to him.

Although still technically an amateur, he’s drifting into semi-pro status. Another fight promoter is tentatively planning on flying him up to Edmonton for a fight in May.