All of Wichannoi Porntawee's Fights With Notes

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Wichannoi Porntawee is a fighter like no other in the history of Thailand's Muay Thai. While many in Anglophone Muay Thai conversations had hardly heard of him legends after legends put him at the top of their picks for the greatest Muay Thai fighters in history. He fought with a very boxing based, combination heavy foundation at close range, but had a highly developed style for controlling all ranges, often facing powerful fighters much bigger than himself. He was nicknamed The Immortal Yodmuay (legendary nakmuay), and Dieselinoi, himself a GOAT candidate called him "my teacher in the ring", Wichannoi the man who stopped Dieselnoi's 20+ fight win streak and meteoric rise to stardom, with back to back wins against the much taller fighter. Watching his fights one night, one after the other, all 11 which exist was an extraordinary experience, I think the most intense and education video watching experience I've had in my study of the art and sport. Below are my watching notes and each of the fights in chronological order. 

You can find Wichannoi's complete record on Wikipedia thanks to the great work Muay Thai wikipedia has been doing giving us all a foothold in history. 

This is a very good breakdown of the weapons and tendencies of Wichannoi by Ryan. It's excellence but I don't share all of his conclusions. Its well worth the time even though the illustrative gifs no longer exist.

A summary of his style objectives:

Some of what follows stems from my philosophy that fighting is a struggle over time and space, and less really a question of technical striking which is usually overemphasized when discussing the aims of a fighter. For me fighters are usually trying to get to the right space and at the right tempo where they hold superiority, and conversely preventing their opponent from doing the same. It's more of a temporal-cartographic concept of fighting.

This is just what I see from a close watch of all 11 of Wichannoi's fights. It's not necessarily correct, just a sharing of what I saw and noted. Wichannoi's primary objective in a fight is to get to a sweet spot, which is pretty deep in the pocket. Ideally he wants to stand there with his hands at ready, in a state of measuring. Normally a Muay Maat fighter would be punching their way into the pocket to get to this spot, but he's very different. He wants to stand there and measure, and the means by which he does this with lots of low kicks, and mid- kicks at punching range. He does this to stabilize the striking zone, and its really extraordinary to see it unfold. And, when he gets there like in the first Naraongnoi fight, he can be devastating. Of course his opponent isn't going to cooperate most of the time, so a lot of the early portions of fights are feel out rounds where he often starts working on the legs from distance, with quick timed slapping kicks (you find this lineage of Muay Maat in Golden Age fighters like Takrowlek or Thongchai but in those cases hands and kicks are more joined together), Rambaa also deploys some of this outside fighting. These are all small bodied Muay Maat fighters. He also deploys beautiful use of body jabs (highly unusual) and at times lots of boxing jab work to the head. But in Wichannoi's case the fight has an arc and he is using all these weapons to into a calm pocket - he actually wants to get to his sweetspot in a state of survey. Once he gets there he is using low kicks largely to freeze his opponent so he can survey, he hands waiting. In many of these preserved fights though he is fighting much larger fighters, and he can't really get to the spot. Against the giant Muangsurin he absolutely could not get there at all, and as soon as he was close enough he was smashed. Against Padejsuek, again too much power and size in front of him. He ended up having to manufacture a lead with backwards jabbing, just to control Padejsuek enough to get to some state of equilibrium. He wants that equilibrium up close, he believes he can win it. And...he wants that tempo climbing up when he gets there (the lack of this tempoing was a fatal error in his 3rd fight vs Narongnoi). What is so beautiful about these fights is that a fair amount of them represent opponents that prevented him from achieving that sweetspot, but in that failing you can see all the diverse skills he used to try and get there, all the ways he tried to solve the problem. And you learn a lot about other Silver Age fighters who are very adept at denying what a fighter wants to do. It is said of today's Muay Thai that nobody "solves" anything anymore. They have their specialty and they can either impose it or not. There is very little shifting of approaches. These fights contain so much solving and counter solving, especially from round to round, they are an education in themselves. 

Because Wichannoi is smaller in stature and relies heavily on his hands in combination if he can't get to his sweet spot he often has very few chances to win, especially against the top tier talent he was facing. So the joy is watching him invent solution. He's a bit like a great clinch fighter who has to get to the clinch, the lock, the swim, and if he can't get there he may not win, but instead he's an in-the-pocket equilibrium fighter, who wants to deploy his hands...on his time, under his terms. He's willing to trade, but that's not what he wants to do. He wants to stand there and look, up close, while whacking you with his lower body, and then get the ball rolling with his hands. And once its rolling, to keep it rolling hard. So many of his fights are filled with compromises with this, but that is where we get to see his extraordinary skill and improvisation. For me, once I realized the goal of it all, then all the pathways to that goal suddenly stood out. Everything he's doing from the outside isn't really to win the fight, and he's very skilled there. It's to prepare the ground for where he wants to be. Sometimes he can only be there for a second, like when he knocks out Pudpadnoi in their first match, sometimes its almost an entire round like with Narongnoi. 

Fights I'd say to watch as Don't Miss are that first Narongnoi fight, the fight vs Padejsuek which is a fight of incredible compromise and recalibration. His fight vs Sirimongkol is beautiful because he's facing a bigger boxer who is slick and long, and just refuses his spot. They are all actually really good at teaching the use of tempoing, of spatial goal setting, of combining level change and use of angle taking. He's just really a profound fighter who was regularly struggling vs size disparities.

 

The Fights and Notes

The notes that follow below are varied. Some of them were just personal notations so that I can recall later what were essential characteristics or turning points in a fight, so that I can recall them more easily. And some are quite lengthy moment to moment perceptions, where my understanding of Wichannoi is really expanding. The watch started out as mostly the attempt to recall a particular fight that I enjoyed, but became a full blown fight after fight watch attempting to assess and record just what was so special/unique about Wichannoi. What was he about? 

 

vs Pudpadnoi Worawut 1st of 3 (1971-12-17) - southpaw, win
a very femeu fight vs one of the great femeu fighters in history. Lots of quick low kicks and pivots, lots of positioning. Then in the 4th Wichannoi uncorks a quick 2 punch combo that lays Pudpadnoi out. The only time Wichannoi would beat Pudpadnoi in their 3 match ups.
the fight:

 

Huasai Sitthiboonlert (139 lbs, 1973-06-22) - orthodox, win
fight waaay up, you can see the visible size difference. Early Wichannoi is just picking at the legs. Huasai look like a ponderous boxer with power. Huasai starts bringing the fight to him, a deep pivot out by Huasai puts him against the ropes. Wichannoi measures and puts him out with a powerful right hand just as Huasai opens up to punch, and even rips an elbow or a tight hook, just missing the falling Huasai. Huasai looks done laying their motionless, and then suddenly springs up energetically to life. Wichannoi pressures and pounces, never snuffing his punches, always liquid in range, landing combinations and putting Huasai down again. He's up again on the count the giant who cannot be killed. Wichannoi catches him on a dive out next, landing a hook and declared the winner with 3 knockdowns in the round. Does several summersaults in celebration.

 

vs Sirimonkol Looksiripat 2nd of 2 (134 lbs vs 136 lbs, 1973-10-26) - southpaw, loss
giving up two pounds vs a the future FOTY (1973), a legend of the sport. Early on big weapons are out. Sirimongkok is openside southpaw kick blasting and throwing his straight, Wichannoi knocks him down (no count) with a right straight of his own. Sirimongkol's big kick and boxing keep Wichannoi waiting, and he even rips a kickout trip on Wichannoi. He has more weapons with force. Against the added size Wichannoi can't intimidate with his own power. 3rd round Wichannoi has decided to chop the lead leg down, a favorite against southpaw. Quick inside and outside kicks. Sirimongkok adjust, keeping things long, and teeping with his lead leg to avoid it being excessively targeted. Wichannoi heats up his boxing combinations closing the space, but Sirimongkol has boxing himself, and keeps it long with jabs, slipping Wichannoi's best punches, jabbing and pivoting out. He also answers Wichannoi's tough leg kicks with powerful leg kicks of his own, giving him game to game. 4th round you can just feel that Wichannoi wants to land powerful hand combinations, and he's holding them in wait, only throwing them occasionally. Sirimongkol is still keeping it long with his boxing and a few openside kicks, its mostly about distance. He's also added a left knee in space this round, which is a weapon tailored to beat a boxer. Sirimongkol uses his size and maybe even strength advantage to just deal back Wichannoi whatever he offers, even winning at trading punches. Again, game on game. Wichannoi just can't get to his sweetspot with his hands, and even when he does Sirimongkol just fights him out of it. 5th round Wichannoi is just determined to get to his spot and stay there. He pressures and buckles Sirimongkol some with low kicks. Sirimongkol is doing everything to get him off his spot. Jabbing out, trading low kick for low kick, Wichannoi is staying where he needs and is waiting for his big punch to land. The battle of distance and Wichannoi finally planting his flag is what this fight is about. Sirimongkol finally grabs him to stall it out, but after the break Wichannoi lands a painful low kick and a heavy cross. Sirimongkol grabs to stall, but then shoves off. Wichannoi wades in with pseudo clinch, and then kicks out Sirimongkol's ankle dropping him to the ground. Wichannoi is bringing his legendary toughness, he feels he has a window late. He's trying to kill that leg, staying in. Sirimonkol's deep boxing pivots to the left save him. Wichannoi started too late, and in the end Sirimongkol's size and boxing was enough.

 

 

vs Saensak Muangsurin 3rd of 3 (1974-08-22) - southpaw, loss
Fighting way up vs the 140 lb Lumpinee champion. This fight is a difficult and indeed dangerous fight stylistically. Saensak's known for just sitting on his huge left hand. He has tremendous power. Wichannoi likes to encroach with kicks, eventually stand in and keep his right hand there loaded with power...but he almost always throws his right in combinations. To sit in the pocket though, while Saensak who is two weight classes bigger trains his .44 magnam at him is just asking for pain, and Wichannoi starts this fight tentatively at distance, holding his right glove like a trainers mitt. It's purely devoided to defense. There is some hand fighting as Saensak's .44 is pointed at Wichannoi's smaller caliber with a kick, Saensak crashes in with a straight and its a lot. Wichannoi shifts at the angles, pings at the legs, but its very unclear what he can do. That big left is staring at him. He lands an off-rhythm staight, no combination, and it does nothing. In the 2nd round Saensak realizes that he has control over both range and power and fights passively, backing up, just letting his left wait for Wichannoi to come in. He has to come in, there is no way else to win this fight. Wichannoi starts bouncing around to bring rhythm, this is kind of one of his triggers, and Saensak follows him in it, bringing more life to his own feet. Saensak has long, slow openside kicks that land because Wichannoi is seriously worried about that left. His lead growing. 3rd round Wichannoi has turned the knuckles of his right hand a little bit more forward, its no longer just a trainer's mitt. He's creeping in as he likes to do, usually he wants to plant that flag and punish with lowkicks, but Saensak is beast and even his misses are frightening. Wichannoi tries with lead hand to hand pressure with then his right, or a short body kick. Somehow he needs to get to his spot, he's standing in. Saensak throws an absolutely blazingly fast 2-5-2 combination where the first 2 isn't even a complete punch. It's just a jesture which opens up the guard, the 5 and the next 2 knocking Wichannoi out. wow. Saensak doesn't throw a lot of combinations but this one is just incredibly fast and accurate, and it delivers the left hand bomb. Because Wichannoi is so wary of that left hand that 2 to start just opens him up. He walked into the exact buzzsaw he feared, but some craft with it. They fought 3x, Wichannoi had beaten him 2 years before (I can't imagine how). 
Saensak: King's Fighter of the Year in 1973, WBC World Boxing Champion

 

vs Pudpadnoi 3rd of 3 (1976-05-27) - southpaw, loss
the fight starts out with a bit of range-finding but it becomes clear that the range that Wichannoi is looking for his Muay Maat punching range. He's pressuring, differently than in fight 1. Lots of powerful (rather than flicking) lowkicks early. Round 4 Wichannoi's power kicking game is turned up. Not only kicks to the legs but also to the open side, always measuring for a big right hand. Pudpadnoi is just slippery enough and lands two big kicks with his famous left leg, but Wichannoi had him flinching on low kicks too. He couldn't land his right though. In the 5th Wichannoi still kicking but you can feel he wants to land his heavy hands, the fight is staked on it. He is waiting, but the Golden Leg of Pudpadnoi holds the fort. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

vs Narongnoi Kiatbundit 1st of 6 (130 lbs, defending Raja title, 1976-02-12) - orthodox, win
Narongnoi is a very accomplished fighter of the era, twice Raja champion and robustly built. It starts out with a bit of a lowkick battle, mostly flicking kicks from both fighters. Wichannoi uses this game to establish a speed advantage and finds himself tempoing up and pressing the pocket some because he's feeling so good about it. Even uncorks a couple of heavy hand combinations, this is his element. Too fast for his opponent, but he's setting up power. Third round you can feel from Wichannoi's bounce that he's feeling it. Quick kicks with his lead leg, but he's loading his right as he likes to do. It's like a gun on a turret. There's a dual mid-clinch battle and Narongnoi comes out of it wanting to fight Wichannoi out of his spot. He's too comfortable. He definitely gets Wichannoi out of the pocket and a little stalled. He elects to take a distance and start tempoing up his quck low kicks so he can establish his rhythm again. These are fast, shin bone, flicky kicks that he specializes in. He wants to get the bounce going again. He's having trouble with the distance though and gets a little frustrated, rushes in which a combo and get clocked by Narongnoi's right square on the raw. It stuns him and he almost gets in trouble with Narongnoi's pressure that follows. He survives the round. To start to walk in, but when he does this he likes to stand in and not punch yet. Low kick first, stand in, don't leave. Then once he's planted his flag, punches in accurate combinations come. What follows is iconic Wichannoi. He walks in and stays in switching between low kicks, mid kicks and punches, but not bouncing out. Sometimes the punches come in flurries. Narongnoi no slouch with his hands tries to punch him out of the pocket, he just refuses to leave. He starts ripping uppercuts. Then wild overhands, and upper cuts. Then he starts measure-pinning with his left hand and rocking rights, one after another. Narongnoi shows incredible toughness eating punch after punch. Wichannoi will not let him out and on pivot is on him. Nothing rushed, but not calm either. By the end of the round both men are exhausted and Narongnoi's left eye seems to be closing from all those right hands. The 5th round starts with Wichannoi twice pointing to Narongnoi's left eye. It's closed, the fight should be stopped. The round which is edited for time is beautiful. Wichannoi is teeping and using long guard and bramble guard, Narongnoi is attacking...but Wichannoi is refusing to hit that eye. The accuracy is something else. He still needs his right hand to keep Narongnoi off, but he either hits the top of the head, or on the jaw, or sometimes the guard. He refuses to go after the eye. Very cool to see. 

 

vs Jocky Sitkanpai (1976-08-18) - orthodox, win
a marvelous 3rd round of boxing up a Muay Khao dern fighter, using lots of jab and pivot, jabs to the body to just piece him up with his hands. Jocky adjusts and derns leading with his teep in the 4th round, trying to bring his clinch back online, and this seems to work, ending Wichannoi's boxing. But Wichannoi already has a substantial lead at that point. Wichannoi coasts to a win vs a renown knee fighter. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OxxQLX2NQM << watch here

 

vs Jitti Muangkhonkaen 1st of 2 (1976-09-27) - southpaw, loss
after very light feeling around by both fighters, in the 3rd Jitti legally (?) trips Wichannoi in the clinch, and even seems to apologize. It wakes up the fight. Wichannoi starts to crowd him and come with combination hands...though the round stalls out in a waiting game. It looks like Wichannoi is just holding his hands at ready. Looks like there may be another hooking trip in the 4th but Wichannoi is stymied. He's just waiting to land a heavy combo, he throws a couple but Jitti's size and southpaw distance seems to hold him at bay. With the lead Jitti gets on his horse and pivots away. Movement, teeps and clinch tie-ups hold Wichannoi off. The entire fight Wichannoi looks like a dog with a bark in his mouth that never got it out.

 

vs Narongnoi Kiatbundit 3rd of 6 (132 lbs, 1977-06-02)
Round 2 Wichannoi defiant swiping with lowkicks and stiff bodied, Narongnoi equally in the space, strong. A few heavy strike by both but its basically just both claiming ground. 3rd round, muscular jousting. Neither fighter giving ground, but also fairly still. Wichannoi tries to break the ice with some aggressive combos, reversing his usual strategy of chopping through to stand in the pocket and distract. This seems like a contest of wills. Wichannoi has beaten Narongnoi the two times he's fought him so far, so perhaps he's confident that he can just stand in on him. Round 4 Wichannoi puts his head into a foreward lean, which is the sign that he's coming to plant that flag, he gets rocked a little though by an uppercut in combination. Wichannoi seems undecided on what he wants to do to claim this space. He tries some of his jab and lead teep stuff, Narongnoi answers back and shifts angles. Wichannoi tries to enter with a lead rear uppercut, usually unexpected, but nothing is having effect. He has the distance he usually wants, but not really pre-preped by all his chopping kicks. He looks like he just wants to go hands to hands, and Narongnoi is countering him and defending in space. Some lead stiff arm defense is working to stymie Wichannoi, tying up Wichannoi when his hands start rocking, lead openside kicks to add points. Wichannoi is used to having to fight to get where he's being allowed, and he's not having the success he usually has when he gets there. Narongnoi has adjusted to what Wichannoi does. Allow him that close range, defend at that range, counter strike and score a little. One of the consequences of this strategy is that Wichannoi has become very still. He's at his best when he has a high tempo about him. 5th round Wichannoi's coming, a higher tick. He's changed to lead hooks and lead kicks to intiate. The hooks are in answer to the long lead stiff arm that Narongnoi has been deploying. After a mid-clinch battle Wichannoi brings the lead hooks again, Narongnoi counter with teeps and deep pivots, he's defending a lead. Wichannoi then changes to body jabs, so interesting how he does this in 5th rounds. The body jabs become head jabs, he's all lead side. A lead hook, and upper cut rattles Narongnoi. Jab, jab the jab keeps landing. He's got his cherished metrynome back, but its too late. Narongnoi outfoxed him by getting him to become so still in the 4th round, giving him the ground that he usually has to fight for.

 

vs Wichit Lukbangplasoi 2nd of 2 (135 lbs, 1977-09-23) - southpaw, win
Wichit the 1974 Lumpinee Champion 135 lbs
Fighting up again, a weight class up. You can tell when Wichannoi is comfortable against an opponent, he starts pressing close right away. It's usually a combination of the feeling of his speed and not fearing his opponent's power. He's hand jousting lead hand to lead and chopping through the pocke with kicks, not jumping out. Round 3 he's starting out close. He wants to be in the pocket, but not punching yet. Kicks, teeps, everything in punching range. He wants to normalize that range for when his hands go. He's right where he wants to be. He gets closer and closer kicking to normalize, his consciousness going into his hands though. He doesn't care about his kicks...he's waiting for his hands to open up. His hands start opening and the larger Wichit grabs him in the clinch to nullify. More stalking. More proximity. More lowkicks to distract. He finally buckles him with a lowkick unexpectedly, rushes Wichit as he backs away and chops him to the ground. The 4th round Wichit is aggressive, he can't afford to sit back and be chopped at. He's firing big left kicks into the openside. Wichannoi has a high tempo though, he's amped and ripping combinations, but because Wichit is no longer fading back, Wichannoi is no longer the master of range, deciding when any strike should happen. He's been forced a little off rhythm by the newly aggresive bigger opponent. They fall into some boxing, and Wichannoi has the speed and accuracy advantage, plus he's got low kicks to throw in. His tempo is high. Wichit tries to bounce himself into a higher tempo, catch on. Wichannoi is left with his stinging lowkicks at range as Wichit throws hands at range. The round ends with neither fighter being where they want to be, each off tempo. Wichannoi starts the 5th round with his head bent low, he's focusing on the lower body. Jabs to the body, teeps to the body, some boxing movement. He's attacking under that lead hand from the southpaw, it must have been bothering him. An interesting adjustment for a final round. Wichit tries to countery by clinch grabbing and knees in space to mixed results, an interesting counter to the body attacks. Wichannoi starts boxing in combinations and continues to teep the liver, fighting off the clinch and knees, adjustment on the adjustment. Combinations, deep pivots, teeps, its really a beautiful round of fighting stylistics by Wichannoi, establishing the space and tempo he wants, not letting Wichit's size dictate. A very nice victory.

 

 

vs Padejseuk Pisanurachan 3rd of 3 (130 lbs, 1980-03-05) - southpaw, loss
Fighting the 1979 fighter of the year fight a little over a month after Wichannoi had lost to Dieselnoi. Dieselnoi would after this fight avenge his own loss to Padejsuek, so this is the top 3 fighters in a round robin of sorts, but Wichannoi doesn't look to be in his usually rock hard body shape. In round 2 Wichannoi is jabbing, crashing in with his right, but Padejsuek is boxing him off aggressively, not letting him stand where he wants. Round 3 Wichannoi has his tempo up which he likes. His right hand is in the defensive mitt position which means Padejsuek's power was bothering him. Padejsuek is using a boxing jab, movement and a switch lead kick to the openside to counter and keep Wichannoit from coming in. Then Padejsuek starts to attack with hands. He's long and powerful and driving Wichannoi back across the ring. He's an accomplished boxer having won the Raja boxing belt, and his long powerful, lancing style is trouble for Wichannoi who wants to wade in. Wichannoi tries to stand in, that's his style, which means he has to trade, but Padejsuek is a handful, adding in step knees under his hands. Padejsuek is ripping powerful over hands and hooks forcing Wichannoi to give ground with his long bramble guard in protection. Padejsuek has size and he's using it with fast paced hand in succession. Wichannoi has to resort to jabbing him off hard. It's a difficult round. 4th round Wichannoi has moved his right's knuckles forward, his offensive position. He want to stand in and trade if he has to. He's using bramble guard and jab, but he's being beaten back. He tries stiff arming with his lead hand, to no avail. Then he moves to the switch kick to the openside combined with jabs to the body, trying to soften the liver and get under Padejsuek's boxing. Some of those kicks are landing, some of the body shots, including his right, its slowing down Padejsuek. More jabs to the body on retreat, he's got to get to the point where he can stand in, he's still fighting off. He's keeping low, hiding behind his jab, shoots for a mid-clinch and throws Padejsuek to the ground. He's doing his best, making inroads, but he's still in retreat which isn't his game. That throw looks like it took a little wind out of Padejsuek and it allows Wichannoi enough space to start opening up his tool box of hands. Upper cuts come, an overhand, tripple jab and switch kick. His tempo is high where he likes it and for the first time he's in his zone. More body jabs followed by the lead kick to the body, a very cool linkage. He's finally got Padejsuek a little frozen. A jab and cross to the body. Padejsuek feels the moment and lunges forward with hands, driving Wichannoi back, but Wichannoi lands a counter right elbow that lands (but doesn't cut) stunning Padejsuek for a moment, he didn't see or expect that. He backs up for a moment teeping to recover, than attacks again. More fast body jabs in retreat, and that lead kick to the liver on follow. A very sweet front side game from Wichannoi. His high tempo totally has Padejsuek off kilter, its a remarkable reversal from the 3rd round where it just looked like Wichannoi couldn't handle the boxing skills that were coming at him, like he was being outclassed. Man that jab was really working against the longer Padejsuek, put weather on him. 5th round comes and Padejsuek has made an adjustment. He stole Wichannoi's lead kick to the open side and is just spamming it with length. He's using that kick to complicate the pocket and deny that jabbing game. Then he collapses the pocket with double plum grabs and knees that as the taller fighter score very well. He's taking away everything that Wichannoi was doing to him in the 4th. Wichannoi tries to go back to the body and Padejsuek just double plums him and knees (likely how Dieselnoi did in his victory over Wichannoi). He basically has turned into Dieselnoi. Wichannoi is in retreat, tries to turn the body jabs and now a liver teep up. Padejsuek just goes to Dieselnoi like long stabbing knees, throwing elbows on top which was a speciality of his. He feels the lead and retreats, loading his Dieselnoi knees as ready counters if Wichannoi wades in with punches as he has to. It's actually an amazing round, because we basically get to see how Dieselnoi finally beat Wichannoi (a fight which has no video). He come in with a high long guard, Dieselnoi style, and long stabbing knees, and to finish the fight off he double plums with straight knees as if signing Dieselnoi's signature. Padejsuek would lose to Dieselnoi two months later. The adjustments and swings in this fight are incredible. Not that certain strikes changed things, stylistics changed things. Answer to answer. Wichannoi had swung the fight to himself in the 4th, Padejsuek became Dieslenoi to win it in the 5th.

 

 

 

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

As a resource and for context this was Sylvie's interview with Wichannoi with Dieselnoi, an absolutely historic pair of legends that changed the sport, both of them GOATs, part of our Preserve The Legacy project. Wichannoi sadly has since passed. 

 

 

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Also for reference, this is the up to date poll of ex-fighters and legends on who is the Greatest Muay Thai fighter of all time. Wichannoi currently is 3rd on the totaled list, with 8 first place votes, the 2nd highest behind Samart. See the running list here.