Everyday Life in Southeast Asia

15 The Fall of Thai Rocky

15 The Fall of Thai Rocky Pattana Kitiarsa Thai-style boxing (muai Thai) is perhaps Thailand’s most popular national pastime and its best-known international sport. Thais are immensely proud of their boxing tradition. In the past, boxing skills formed a core part of military training known as the art of bare-hand weaponry (phahuyuth; see Bua 1989 and Khet 2007). Many legendary Thai boxing warriors employed these arts of fighting and physical prowess to defeat their foreign opponents and were accorded national hero status (Vail 1998). In modern times, boxing has become a professional spectacle sport, an internationally renowned martial art form, and a prizefighting competition for the gambling and tourist industries . I use the term “Thai-style boxing” (muai Thai) to distinguish it from the international style of boxing (muai sakon). Muai Thai is sometimes known in the martial arts community as “kick-boxing,” but many practitioners and specialists do not agree with this Western generic branding, arguing instead that muai Thai is perhaps the only true full-contact form of boxing. In muai Thai, most parts of the body can be used as sophisticated weapons with devastating impact; its methods include kicking, kneeing, punching, and elbowing. Although the world has recognized the bloodiness and distinctiveness of Thai boxing (Panya and Pitisuk 1988; Rebac 1989), few are informed about the complexities of the tough life of young men who practice this full-contact sport. Nor are many fully aware of the everyday masculine cultural forces and social institutions that have reinvented it, sustained it, and elevated it from a Southeast Asian local setting to the global market of popular culture. I offer Thai boxing culture as an example of how masculine aspects of everyday life are practiced through a cultural model that regards human prizefighters as “hunting dogs” (maa lai neua; Pattana 2003; 2005). Thai boxing culture is highly gendered and embedded in the masculine domain of power relations. Robert Connell reminds us that “masculinity is not just an idea in the head, or a personal identity. It is also extended in the world, merged in organized social relations” (1995:29). Everyday life is far from be- 196 / Pattana Kitiarsa ing a cultural space of smooth and homogeneous meanings; it is important to complicate the domain of everyday life as a gendered and problematic lived experience. Boxing culture in Thailand is a site for contesting masculinity . It has inspired generations of poor, young boys to become breadwinners for themselves and their families, as well as to compete fiercely, in their short-lived careers, to attain male honors available only to “a few good men.” I cite a real-life tale of a muai Thai champion, who was once affectionately known to the media and fans as Mahahin (the Invulnerable Rocky), to illustrate how this form of everyday life serves as a space of masculine ideological practices in contemporary Southeast Asia. In his prime, Mahahin won championships in four different weight categories at Lumphini Stadium . He was twice bestowed the Boxer of the Year Award by the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT), in 1999 and 2001, and was also the title holder of the 115-pound Junior Bantamweight organized by the World Muai Thai Council . These feats were accomplished by a native of a poor upcountry village from Nakhon Ratchasima, some 275 kilometers northeast of Bangkok.1 introducing the thai rocky In mid-2008, the Thai Rocky was an aging former boxing champion. However , he is the Thai version of Rocky Balboa, the Hollywood-enshrined American hyper-masculine fictional boxing hero portrayed by Sylvester Stallone. Like his American counterpart, the Thai Rocky’s heart is said to be made of rock and steel. He withstands all pain when he fights his opponents in the ring; he is a proud, enduring fighter. If we apply the Thai cultural metaphor that compares prizefighters to hunting dogs, he started as a novice hunter who eagerly climbed up the professional ladder while tirelessly sharpening his match-fighting skills. His active career spanned over two decades, an unusually long time for most boxers in Thailand. But at thirty-six, he is a spent body beyond his prime, at the dead end of his career. He is now a toothless and useless hunting dog. Thai Rocky’s lucky boxing name (chue chok muai) is Thongchai To Silachai . The name Silachai is adopted from the name of his boxing gymnasium or camp. It is an old tradition in Thai popular performing arts, such as boxing...