New Waves in Professional Boxing
United Fight Events, a premium event, showcasing the very best in combat sports. There has been a meteoric rise in martial arts within the last 5 years with the different arts and styles gaining huge attention.
United Fight Events currently showcases Muay Thai and Traditional Boxing and will host its first, much anticipated event, #UNFC1, on October 22nd at Riverside Leisure Centre in front of 1100 supporters.
The main event features Marcel Gaines, who has recently returned from three years of competition at the highest level in Thailand, who will be competing against Leif Taggart, a recent British Kickboxing champion. Other competitors include local up and coming fighters and experienced regional champions which promises to bring an evening of exciting entertainment, fine dining and a technical spectacle unlike anything the South West of England has ever seen.
#UNFC1 promotes a fair and safe platform for fighters to compete at local, national and international levels. It is the first fully regulated organisation for Muay Thai boxing and sits shoulders above many organisations based here it he UK working in the area of white collar boxing. #UNFC1 pioneers change in this industry.
#UNFC1 would like to invite you to its very first, exclusive event on 22 October 2016.
Interview with Marcel M. Gaines
1. Your age, your background
My name is Marcel Martin Gaines I am originally from South Africa and I have recently turned 32. My Muay Thai background started in UK about 14 years ago, I went back to SA and trained extensively for a good few years which is where I built up a pretty good record. From there I went to Thailand and completed the rest of my training with Tiger Muay Tai based in Thailand.
2. What was the reason for going back to South Africa when you did?
Well I was young and dumb at the time and thought education was for mugs, all I wanted to do was see the world and get on with my life, after having travelled through the UK and through Scotland all the way down to Plymouth over about a two and a half year period I finally realised what education was for and why it was important! So i hopped on a plane back to SA to get myself an education but also I missed my family, my country and finally the heat! I was fed up of being cold!
3. How did you begin your amazing career in Muay Thai?
With head trainer in Muay Thai Dave Wilkins, at a gym called ‘Wild Kicks’. When I ended up in Plymouth I was on a construction site, I thought it was quite cool, something new which I hadn’t done before, a good laugh. It turned out that everyone on this conduction site on Albert road, in stoke was a martial artist - it was amazing! I was told about this martial art - Muay Thai and that the South West champion was upstairs at the time. I had to find out what this was all about. At first I had though they might just be taking the piss out of me - being the only South African on the site and all that. I raced round the site harassing every plasterer there to finally be pointed to the right guy. He explained Muay Thai to me and where it came from and I though that attacking someone with your knees and elbows seemed like an evil genius to me - like a light bulb moment – really nasty but could be really effective, but then again a part of me was still calling bullshit on this whole idea!
My professional fighting career started in South Africa but there were a lot of issues with the league, too many politics and too many cowards running around. By the end of my time in South Africa, just before I was about to retire I was suggesting fighting guys way above my weight category, 10-15kgs above just to get me into the ring. But it never really happened, as there were always cancellations and other ‘political’ issues. There is the lack of honour code in South Africa, which the Asians hold is missing, so the shame of running from a fight doesn’t exist.
4. Tell us something we don’t already know about the art of Muay Thai?
You're never going to get rich from Muay Thai, there is a lot of guys who have these dreams of glory but as you move up and on, you realise that Muay Thai is not about that. It is about hard work, the training you put in. In Thailand - you feel like you're going to die everyday. The second you fall down to your knee, they will beat you to the point where you think you're going to die, all you can do is stand up and take your beating and keep pushing through. My mum always said “you have to be a special type of stupid to do Muay Thai!”
5. What are the pressures of working in the business you do?
Well the obvious pressures are that there’s going to be a guy standing across the other side of the ring from me who has been training for years to kill me specifically and he’s pretty good at it apparently! I have had a lot of serious injuries over the years I’ve seen broken ribs, snapped shins, broken jaws and two guys died last year. So obviously there’s a few risks involved but for me mostly its that guy standing opposite me in the ring.
The fans! I love their support and I am whole heartedly grateful for all the support from them and was initially so surprised that I had any supporters at all but the more people watching the more pressure I feel to do well for them.
Now that I have a baby on the way I have new pressures of money and stuff to think about! I am not used to having stuff! My life has changed in a big way, also with training it is different here. I haven’t really trained in the past two years, my training partners now are different and my reflexes are not as sharp as they used to be.
