Samart Payakaroon
Courtesy of Sry85
When we talk about great Thai's very few fighters are highly regarded than the great Samart Payakaroon a fighter who's boxing record and achievements really do a disservice to his ability.
Born in 1962 in Chachoengsao Province, Samart would, like many Thai boxers, begin his combat career in the sport of Muay Thai, a sport he was introduced to aged 11 by older brother Kongtoranee.
By the end of the 1970's Samart was already competing in major competitions and in 1980 he started to claim titles winning Lumpinee Stadium titles at both 105lbs and 108lbs. The following year he continued to have notable success adding the titles at 115lbs and 126lbs to his collection. As well as the Lumpinee Stadium titles he also claimed the title of “Thailand fighter of the Year” for 1981. With those 4 titles under his belt he was, at the time, the most successful Muay Thai fighter.
Having been thoroughly impressive in his Muay Thai career, of which he had amassed far more than 100 bouts in, it wasn't long before Samart turned his hand to professional boxing and in 1982 he debuted as a boxer.
On his debut Samart was thrown in at the deep end and took on Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh, a former WBC Light Flyweight world champion. Despite the bout being Samart's debut he managed to over come Netrnoi and took a 10 round decision over the former champion. Unfortunately this would be Netrnoi's final bout before passing away just months later.
Born in 1962 in Chachoengsao Province, Samart would, like many Thai boxers, begin his combat career in the sport of Muay Thai, a sport he was introduced to aged 11 by older brother Kongtoranee.
By the end of the 1970's Samart was already competing in major competitions and in 1980 he started to claim titles winning Lumpinee Stadium titles at both 105lbs and 108lbs. The following year he continued to have notable success adding the titles at 115lbs and 126lbs to his collection. As well as the Lumpinee Stadium titles he also claimed the title of “Thailand fighter of the Year” for 1981. With those 4 titles under his belt he was, at the time, the most successful Muay Thai fighter.
Having been thoroughly impressive in his Muay Thai career, of which he had amassed far more than 100 bouts in, it wasn't long before Samart turned his hand to professional boxing and in 1982 he debuted as a boxer.
On his debut Samart was thrown in at the deep end and took on Netrnoi Sor Vorasingh, a former WBC Light Flyweight world champion. Despite the bout being Samart's debut he managed to over come Netrnoi and took a 10 round decision over the former champion. Unfortunately this would be Netrnoi's final bout before passing away just months later.
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Despite having looked very impressive on his professional debut Samart would not return to professional boxing again for over a year.
When Samart did eventually return to boxing in 1984 he went on a tear and defeated 4 opponents in just 7 months, including Neptali Alamag then then OPBF Bantamweight champion. The victory over Alamag came via a 7th round stoppage, which was highly impressive given that it was his first stoppage loss in over 50 bouts, including 2 with South Korean legend Ji-Won Kim. Samart's run of destruction continued through 1985, a year in which he scored 6 more victories to take his record to an impressive 11-0 (6). With his unbeaten record intact and his world ranking high Samart then got the chance to compete for his first world title taking on Mexican legend Lupe Pintor for the WBC Super Bantamweight title. Sadly Pintor had failed in making weight and was stripped of the belt he had won just 5 months earlier however the title was still on the line for Samart who had made the weight. Stepping up to world class Samart would totally dominate Pintor before knocking him out in round 5 to claim the title. As the champion Samart would defend the title just once, defeating former champion Juan Meza via a 12th round TKO. The victory over Meza is best known for one of the most incredible sequences in boxing history with the Thai dropping his hands and avoiding a flurry of shots from Meza, a very hard hitting Mexican, before landing a counter and finishing off the challenger just seconds later. Sadly for Samart he would lose his title in his second defence as he travel to Australia and took on the emerging Jeff Fenech.. Fenech, then 15-0 (12) and a former IBF Bantamweight champion suffered a flash knockdown in the opening round but otherwise dominated Samart from the off and forced a 4th round stoppage of the Thai who suffered his first professional defeat. Following the loss to Fenech it wouldn't be long before Samart returned to the ring and took out Hogan Noguchi and Hector Cortez. Following those stoppages however Samart would take a break from the ring and follow up other interests that he had including music. As a musician Samart would record 3 albums in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The first was “Peedongmembur” (1989) which was followed up the next year by “Arom Dee” (1990) and then “Kun Mai Kun Mike” (1992). After the release of his 3 albums Samart returned to the boxing ring and in 1993 he defeated Rudy Cabiles as he looked to re-establish himself as a boxer. In a little over 8 months Samart had added another 4 victories to his record to move to 21-1 (12) and put himself inline for another world title bout. Unfortunately for Samart he would face the excellent Venezuelan Eloy Rojas, the then WBA Featherweight champion. Rojas, who was several years younger than Samart had been on a tear through Asia defeating Young-Kyun Park in Korea for the title and stopping Seiji Asakawa in Japan in his first defense. That tear continued as he stopped Samart in the 5th round and ended the Thai's boxing career as a result, with a final record of 21-2 (12). Following the loss to Rojas the Thai went on to teach Muay Thai and then later starred in a string of movies including the 2006 martial arts film “Khon fai bin”, known in the US as “Dynamite Warrior”, the apparently brilliant “Muay Thai Chaiya” (2007) and the genuinely hilarious “The Nazrin”, better known as “The Bodyguard”. Although forgotten by many fans in the west, it's fair to say that Samart is a legend in the ring and in the world of entertainment in regards to Asia, especially Thailand. The video below shows Samart knocking out Pintor for the title in 1986, the video is courtesy of wbcpabawba. |
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