HUNTER Muay Thai Singleton fighter Brad Young will have his first fight this Saturday night at Gosford’s Leagues Club in the amateur super heavy weight division.
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The 26-year-old has been training for seven months now and is one of many new athletes learning under former professional Muay Thai fighter David Long at the Hunter Muay Thai Singleton gym.
“I started it to get some fitness and do something different and now I’m addicted to it,” Brad said.
His coach said that training has ramped up in the months before the fight in order to get Brad ready and he has come a long way.
“He kicks hard and has a good left hook, he also moves pretty quickly for a big boy as well,” David said.
“I reckon he can get a win but anyone who gets in the ring is a winner.”
Brad’s fight is scheduled for three two minute rounds under the International Sport Karate Association modified rules and is the third fight of the night which starts at 6:30pm.
Training at the Glenridding Muay Thai gym is not for the faint hearted with fitness and discipline at the heart of what they do there.
“You need dedication and consistency if you want to succeed at Muay Thai,” David said.
A total of around 40 people, including juniors, train at the backyard gym from 4:30pm Monday to Friday.
A normal session at the gym can go for an hour-and-a-half to two hours and starts off with skipping and tyre jumps, before stretching and then it’s on to bag work where David goes through the technique of punches, kicks, knees and throws with everyone one-on-one.
“Then there’s defence work where I’ll pick them off and put on the Thai pads and take them in the ring and go through defending, a couple times in the week we have sparring sessions before a warm down of stretches and abs work,” David said.
“Sprinting work and runs to the army camp are also a regular part of training.”
David has had the gym running for 18 months now and said it started out small but has grown with the interest in the sport.
“I started to train a couple of guys and hope I can pass on my knowledge and hopefully train up some local champions,” he said.
Find out more about the club on their Facebook page Hunter Muay Thai Singleton Australia.