AIM HIGH…KICK HIGH

Thursday, 11 October 2007

“Filipinos have so much talent and they are excellent boxers. If they wish to try Muay Thai and put their spirit or soul into this sport the result will be an awesome human being who prays to God for true strength and understanding in life.” Daniel C. Docto aka “Doc” made the above inspiring remark on his ultimate desire in advocating Thailand’s famous sport called “Muay Thai” to his fellow countrymen. His undying enthusiasm to attract more Filipinos in setting off on “the safest and yet the toughest fighting sport in the world” evolves from his incomparable dedication to test the triad of his own physical-mind-spirit limit. A physical trial obstructed by endless pain, surgical injuries and unusual level of trainings that even defy age vitality…a mind game of conquering fear and then educing humility, peace and power… a war of spiritual rebirth through stable and reflective meditation of prayer and emotion. These are the essential challenges that a true Muay Thai boxer undergoes throughout the span of his self-determination. The fruits of his labor are not made of gold and money but of improved self –worth and self-esteem. Still at the age of 44, Daniel is unstoppable. He has the undying passion for “full contact” sports. From teenage to the prime of his life, he endured playing American football, boxing, martial arts and even underwent military training. And he never ceased. After his knee surgery from playing football, he got back to shape in three years and feverishly went into the ring to do a real Muay Thai fight on May 2007 in Thailand. Remarkably, even having grandchildren does not hold him back on his aim in serving his last fight at the age of 50. Doc who is a Filipino-American proves that there is so much more left to be done on his mission to reach out to the poor and orphans who are into Muay Thai boxing. He is now based in the Southern part of Thailand and has recently started his “Muay Thai Missions” by providing free English lessons to young boxers, and helping poor families of those who are involved in this non-lucrative sport. More of his unswerving testimonials in his high aim to promote a sport which he describes as part of his “radical sacrificial living” are dealt below. Q: Please give us more information about your family and personal background. DOC: I was born in Concord California, USA. I’ve got one younger sister. During my childhood, I was a spoiled brat and fat boy. Then I played football for seven years and started to fight in boxing just like my Filipino uncles. I also tried martial arts. I held AA and Engineering certificate. Then I worked at a structural steel business industry as a welder, draftsman, project manager and estimator for 15 years. I owned the first Muay Thai School in North California for 12 years. And now, I am a “missionary” in Thailand. I am living with my wife in the Southern part of Thailand. We’ve got three kids and four grand kids. Q: What and/or who inspired you to become a Muay Thai boxer? DOC: In the end I was inspired by God. I know that God has put inside each one of us a desire to sacrifice ourselves in a physical way that is motivated by our spirit and soul. I am a crazy full contact person. I like doing things that put everything on the line. Football was my first taste, then boxing and martial arts, army training, jumping out of air planes, working at San Quentin CA State prison on Death Row and now a long love Muay Thai. Q: How long have you been training as a Muay Thai boxer? DOC: I started to get into Muay Thai in 1990. I trained under Kru Vut Kamnark who was a college champion from the North East Thailand. He lived in the USA for 19 years and educated the State of CA, USA on Muay Thai. I have trained all over Thailand mainly in Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Pattaya, Ao Nang, Krabi and the best known trainers are Sityotong and Fairtex. Q: What were the amateur and professional fights you participated in? DOC: Actually, I had 10 full contact martial arts fights. I was a school champion in 1982. In 1993, I was a Nor-Cal Kickboxing champion and my last fight of the six kickboxing fights was in 1996. I did not fight that much because I had knee problems. I had replacement surgery in 2003 so it was a miracle for me to fight in Thailand in May 3, 2007. Q: What is your unforgettable Muay Thai boxing experience? DOC: My 3 May 2007 fight in Thailand. The realization that true Thai boxers pray at least 12 times before fighting and the miracle that I could fight in Thailand at the age of 44 even after the knee surgery. I felt strong enough to get back into the ring and I was ready to fight with full Muay Thai rules and to do it here in Thailand. To say the least this was truly a once in a lifetime come back and experience. I was scheduled to fight a big Thai fighter who had less skill but taller and heavier than me. But he cancelled the fight due to sickness. Then they had a Japanese fighter to step up to the fight and for some reason he could not do it too. So on the day before my fight, they found a Holland fighter. He is 6’ 2” tall and weighed 193 pounds. I am 5’ 8” tall at 177 pounds. He was younger and had more recent ring experiences but many thought he was a great match; so, they asked if I wanted to still fight and I said “YES.” I worked hard to get into the ring. I conditioned myself to focus that this fight was against my self. The Holland fighter actually looked like I could knock him out. Looks can be deceiving, then the fight began and I found out that this guy was “brain dead”… he could take all punches and some said he was on drugs because he was tough. My opponent tried to do a spinning back fist on me, so I did two in return and my left forearm hit his head… temple, and I saw his eyes “rock and roll.” I had never hit some one so hard in my life; in fact, my arm felt like broken and the guy just shook it off and smiled at me! Right after that smile, I did a perfect right cross and I saw his jaw almost twist off and again he shook it off. I knew I was in trouble. I hit and kicked him very hard and in fact my fist and leg…shin bone really hurt, and the crowd went crazy because he could take all I could give. I quickly realized that I could not knock this guy out but I still tried and that was where I went wrong! I should have just started to move, box more and not go for the knock out. Real Muay Thai fighters do not try to go for a knockout. They just try to relax and deliver a strike as hard as possible and if a knockout is the result then it will just happen naturally. He started to knee me and in the fourth round. He pulled my head down and kneed me in the forehead and I got a cut and started to bleed. The fight was stopped in the fourth round and my cut was 9 stitches. I could have continued to fight but I did not want my 9 to turn into 29 stitches, and I wanted this to be the first of many fights to come. My goal is to do my last fight at the age of 50 which will be an amazing event. Every one said it was a good fight. One judge said if I would have moved and boxed I would have won, and my coach said I had a big heart to fight this guy. One interesting thing about Thailand is that they have doctors in the ringside who have done thousands of stitches and they do it right after the fight! So, I went to a little operating room and he used no drugs in my wound … he just stitched me up right there … Muay Thai!! Q: Why encourage Filipinos to get involve in this sport? Martial arts is cool, and street fighting is illegal but most will agree that Muay Thai is the safest and yet the toughest FIGHT Sport in the world. I believe this is so because when the shin bone, the knee bone, and the elbow bone are the primary weapons; then, PAIN is a sure result. Muay Thai is also the safest way to raise the levels of PAIN and FEAR to make major changes in your heart and character. To me, fighting in a divine and pure way is only found in Muay Thai. Q: Are there any Muay Thai boxing tips you wish to share? LESSON 1: If you want to be a fighter then you must schedule a FIGHT. When you schedule a FIGHT you don’t miss workouts, your focus gets serious, you will not step up a level in training, and when you get tired you will not push yourself beyond your feelings to a new level of fitness. When you are going to FIGHT, you choose not to go out with the guys to drink, you choose to eat right, you quit anything like smoking, drinking too much coffee, taking in drugs, and among others that will stop you from becoming the best you can be, you choose to get some sleep plus you are already tired, and you make a DECISION to get “combat ready” … why? … because you are going to fight!! LESSON 2: Be honest about your training schedule and then just do It!! The point is to schedule an honest training routine. It should be done FOUR weeks before your FIGHT and take the TWO days off before your fight. Many try to train right up to the day of their fight; your body needs a time to catch up and to heal before fighting. LESSON 3: You will have an INJURY somewhere when you go into your fight and you must be determined that you can put up with the pain just enough to give your best at the time of the fight. You should accept the fact that you will have some type of injury. Be honest about whether or not you can fight with this injury, and make a decision to do what you can to avoid sickness and pursue “Divine Health.” LESSON 4: You will have to fully prepare yourself mentally, spiritually and emotionally. You must have a fight PLAN. Keep it simple; have only three to five fight moves or combinations that you will try to do in your FIGHT, and again keep it simple. The second preparation is about PRIDE. Being honest about your personal FEARS and to just HUMBLE yourself and accept what ever might happen. For me this is a missing discipline in America. For some reason the spiritual discipline in America and in Martial Arts is fading away. We focus so much on the physical training that very few even talk about mental, spiritual and emotional training. This part of a fighter’s preparation is very important and only those who exercise this area of life will truly WIN. PRAYER is a big part of Muay Thai. Thai fighters pray outside the ring, at the steps of the ring, at the ropes of the ring, at every corner of the ring, at the sides of the ring, and in the middle of the ring with their coaches before fighting. Some pray for their opponents and others pray at the beginning of each round. LESSON 5: You must get your team ready to fully support you. This was the BIG lesson I just learned in my fight in Thailand. You will have to fully prepare your TEAM – corner people and main coach. Many fighters are not as successful as they could be because they train and fight as a one man show. You need at least ONE person to be in your corner who knows you and who can call out techniques for you to do when you can not see them. You must practice sparring with one of your coaches so that you’ll learn to HEAR his voice while in combat. My other last fight was in 1996. I forgot how important this was and in my PRIDE I thought I would be alright. I was wrong and I needed my corner coach who was my wife Zina but she was at the announcers’ table announcing instead of coaching me. During the fourth round, Zina called to me from the announcers’ table to have fun and to do the “Superman Punch” … well I heard her and everyone was amazed that I did it and the punch almost resulted to a knockout!! Q: What is your plan in the future? DOC: God willing I will fight again and hopefully someone my size!! I hope I don’t get more and more ugly scares on my face … but again we only live once on Earth so I want to have as much experiences as possible. And this year I have started “Muay Thai Missions.” I want to use Muay Thai to strengthen young men in Thailand and that is easy since it is Thailand’s national sport but I want to reach out to all who love Muay Thai and ask them to give back something to Thailand by helping me teach English to the Thai boxers and to reach out to the poor, orphans and widows who are involved in Muay Thai. Jesus said if you want to live life to the full then you must sacrifice your life to Him … that is my now and future plan--amen. Q: Do you have any few words to the Filipino community in Thailand? And perhaps to SIAMPINOY? To me the biggest thing that SIAMPINOY or the Filipino community in Thailand and the Filipinos in the world is doing … is UNITY. UNITY is a big desire of God. UNITY with Him and with each other makes the world the best place it can be. To me the best thing that SIAMPINOY is doing is creating a place for UNITY. The only reason Thailand is so strong is because its people have great UNITY and that UNITY is inspired by the King. If Filipinos would make it a priority to be ONE with each other in GOD then there is nothing that can stop them. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in life is that a man needs other people in his life if he wants to live life to the full. A strong and powerful man has at least three other people in his life who know him INTIMATELY… who knows his personal business and who are accountable partners in this crazy world, and they can move mountains if they are committed to “Divine UNITY.” I believe that a major problem with America is “DIS-Unity”. In my own Filipino family, they came to America as ONE. Unfortunately, greed and the materialistic lifestyle of the USA broke them apart but now due to OLD age and their awareness of death have brought them back to God and His UNITY. This is all for now…make your purpose in life to keep “Divine UNITY” and you will live life to the full- amen. Jimmy Lee Recommend this article...