The Muay Thai Legends: Somrak Khamsing

 Fighting Name: Somrak Sor Khamsing / Somrak Tor Thepsuthin

Born: 16 January 1973

Started Muay Thai: 1979

Ended Muay Thai: active

Titles:

Boxe:

• Gold Medal (Featherweight) at Atlanta’s Olympic Games 1996 (Western Boxing)

Curiosity:

Somrak was born in Khon Kaen, North-East Thailand.

He has a younger brother: Somrot Khamsing, who was also a high level boxer and a actual Thai Navy General and also coach of the Royal Thai Navy Boxing Club.

Somrak has always been considered as a Muay Thai and boxing phenom. Since he was child, he used to go fight from village to village winning every fight and so people started to call him “Bet Hunter”.

Even if he was a Muay Thai phenom, Somrak never won a Lumpinee or Rajadamnern Stadium Title, even though he was ranked 1st in Lumpinee and Raja. The “apparent” reason was that he was too good because he used to win every fight, so big gamblers lost interest on him, and the Big Promoters won’t let him fight with the big stadiums champs, but this is what evrybody knows.

Bangkok’s Muay Thai experts eventually say that in a hot and quiet Bangkok’s day, Somrak, just few hours before the fight, was told that he was going to fight only with fists and so only Boxing (‘Muay Sakorn’ in Thai).

The story says that Somrak didn’t actually know what he had to do and he only knew he could use just punches.

At last that day he won the fight and all the next boxing fights.

At the age of 19, he was convened in the Thai National Olympic Team to fight at the 1992 Barcelona’s Olympic games and in the next edition that was held in 1996 in Atlanta (US) he won the Featherweight Gold Medal.

Once he got back from the Olympic games, the King of Thailand H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the Thai Government and Sponsors gave him the great amount of 1 Million US Dollars.

Today Somrak is over 40, and in the last years he fought twice another Muay Thai Legend (similar age as Somrak):  Jomhod Kiatadisak. The first match was fought in a full Lumpinee Stadium (October 2012) and Jomhod won the fight on points; the second match was fought in a full Rajadamnern Stadium (Febraury 2013) and this time Somrak won the fight on points.

Somrak, like his friend and MT Legend Samart Payakaroon, is also a country singer and actor. He acted in International movies as well as Thai movies .

The Italian fighter Christian Daghio of Pattaya Kombat Group faced Somrak in 2004.

Highlights:

Historic Fights:

Photo-Gallery: