Get hurt by the best for Bt1.2m
Boxers don't often show up on magazine covers (not even Punch), but just check out muay thai champ Baukaw Por Pramuk glowering from the latest edition of Who?
Why? Because, as the accompanying headline screams, he’s Thailand’s best-paid fighter, earning more than Bt1.2 million per match. It sounds implausible, but the numbers inside add up.
Sombat Banchamek started boxing when he was eight and got his ring name after he joined Por Pramuk Gym two years later. He earned Bt300 for his first victory in his home province of Surin, but when he won the 2004 K-1 World Max free-for-all in Japan, his fee for beating people up skyrocketed to Bt1.2 million.
Buakaw is now 30 and tours the world – his Valentine’s Day fight in Italy is just another day in a fully booked year.
He’s as famous in Japan as man’s man Khaosai Galaxi and ladyboy Parinya “Nong Toom” Charoenphol. “I can walk around in Thailand without getting any notice, but in Japan I have to wear a disguise to go shopping!
“The Japanese fans are great,” Buakaw adds. “When I fight they come to the stadium with electronic signboards, Thai flags and all sort of supporter stuff like that. If they see me on the street they come over to say hello and ask to get a picture, and if I say yes, lots of other people flock around. It creates quite a scene!”
Among his admirers are cute singer-actress Kitano Kii and karate king Yuka Kobayashi. You have to wonder if Kobayashi just wants to have a pop at Buakaw to see what happens, but the Thai’s fame extends to having his mug on a Sony PlayStation game.
They also know him there because of his suntan. In fact his earlier ring name was Damtamin Kiat-anan (dam meaning “black”), and the Japanese call him Black Gold. His current Thai nickname is Dam Dotcom.
How he got tagged Buakaw at the Por Pramuk Gym isn’t entirely clear – it means “white lotus”!
