All is not well in the world of Muay Thai in Thailand. The Thai boxers are prone to taking bribes for a fall, and the tremendous increase in foreign fighters means no gambler knows the odds, so bets are off. And the foreign fighters won't take a fall, so the honesty element messes up the system. The Bangkok Post Investigations has the details.
Match-fixing, doping fighters and bribing officials are nothing new in a sport of blood, sweat and dreams that at its lowest point in the 1980s witnessed shootings and grenade attacks at boxing venues, including the country's most famous one, Lumpini stadium.
But the sport that Pak describes as part of Thailand's cultural heritage ("as soon as we can walk we punch or kick a bag") is in danger of being swamped by foreign fighters and promoters who don't necessarily associate muay Thai with betting.
Pak, who runs the Rompo Gym, used to train local fighters, but over the past five years has switched to foreigners. He has about 100 listed fighters, with 35-40 boxers from countries as diverse as Canada, France, Holland, Russia and Slovakia training every day. Pak has unearthed some exceptional foreign talent, including the present World Professional Muaythai Federation (WPMF) heavyweight champion Ramazan "The Punisher" Ramazanov.
While locally muay Thai may be beholden to bookmakers, advertisers, promoters and sponsors, the majority of foreigners are in it for the love of the sport and the legitimate purses they can win in lucrative overseas competitions.
"Some Thai boxers can be still corrupted, which is rare for foreigners," says Pak, who estimates half a billion baht a month is wagered on the sport.
The veteran trainer says there is little betting when two foreigners are in the ring.
"The Thai people like to see them fight. But when two foreigners box in Lumpini stadium, for example, there's very little betting at all because the punters don't know much about their background, boxing form or even fight record. However, when a foreigner fights a Thai they will bet again."
Ramazanov agrees there is corruption in the sport involving "some Thais", but says when it comes to foreigners, "we will fight to win, not to lose. No one has ever come to ask me to lose".
Australian Patrick Cusick, the secretary-general of the World Boxing Council (WBC) Muaythai organisation, says there is only as much corruption in muay Thai as any other sport which has betting.
"In a sport with big betting, like horse racing, there's always some corruption going on," says Mr Cusick, who has been involved with muay Thai for 39 years and has played a key role in promoting the sport overseas.
"I would expect that this would be normal in any sport, but in terms of the quality of fighters that I have came across - and I have spoken to many boxing camps - they train hard and want to win.
"It is not correct to say that Thai boxers are corrupted and foreigners aren't. It is up to an individual. I think that muay Thai is most probably a lot cleaner than is has ever been."RINGSIDE Entering the dilapidated Lumpini stadium on Rama 4 Road is like walking onto a B-grade 1970s movie set. The arena was opened on Dec 8, 1956, and according to regular fight fans, the facilities - or lack there of - haven't changed much since. There's no air-conditioning, with only a few large fans to cool the hot and uncomfortable arena, which was crammed with several thousand people on a recent Friday night when Spectrum visited.
The electronic scoreboard doesn't offer much information on the fight and the English announcements are hard to understand because the sound system is hard to hear. Security is tight. Everyone entering the stadium has to walk through a metal detector, and the strong presence of policemen, military police wearing their distinctive helmets and other security personnel tends to intimidate rather than reassure. But it's a far cry from the stadium's heyday.
"The number of spectators at Lumpini stadium has decreased over the past 30 years from 7,000-8,000 to 2000-2,500 nowadays," Pak says. "People used to come from Chiang Mai, Phuket and other places by bus or by plane down to Bangkok to witness some big matches, but because of technological advances like television and computers they stay at home to see the match and bet at the same time."
Bouts at Lumpini are held on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The ticket prices vary, but usually average 1,000, 1,500 and 2,000 baht for ringside. The majority of the ringside seats are occupied by foreigners, quite a few of them who are in training and here to observe and learn.
Most of the Thais in the crowd are there for one reason only. Legal betting, in designated areas of the arena, is done by hand signals between punters and bookies, with fingers pointing in various directions, much like a busy stock exchange trading floor. Shouts of "20,000! 40,000!" rise above the din. As the matches progress through the five rounds the betting increases. By the fifth round you can hardly hear yourself think as the punters scream to lay off bets.
Some bookmakers talk into two or three mobile phones at the same time as the matches are underway.
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