Khaosai Galaxy

Khaosai Galaxy เขาทราย แกแล็คซี่
Born	Sura Saenkham May 15, 1959 (1959-05-15) (age 50) Phetchabun, Thailand
Other names	The Thai Tyson
Nationality	Thailand
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight	115 lb (52 kg; 8.2 st)
Style	Muay Thai, Boxing
Stance	Southpaw
Fighting out of	Bangkok, Thailand
Years active	1980–1991
Boxing record
Total	50
Wins	49
By knockout	43
Losses	1
By knockout	0
Other information
Notable relatives	Kaokor Galaxy, twin brother
Boxing record from Boxrec

Khaosai Galaxy (Thai: เขาทราย แกแล็คซี่, born, May 15, 1959) is a former professional Thai super flyweight boxer and Muaythai kickboxer. Khaosai defended his WBA world title 19 times in seven years (1984-1991), winning 16 of his title fights by knockouts. A member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame he is widely considered as one of the greatest boxing champions of all time. He is listed #19 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.

Muay Thai career

A native of Phetchabun, Thailand, Sura Saenkham was a Muay Thai fighter in the early 1980s. He took the name of Galaxy from the name of nightclub that his manager owned. It became apparent then that Khaosai had immense punching power particularly in his soon-to-be legendary left hand. On the advice of his manager and trainer he switched to Western boxing and began the task of transforming into a boxer.

Boxing style

Due to his lack of the amateur boxing experience that served as a foundation for most Western professional boxers, Khaosai's boxing skills were limited and he relied on toughness and his fearsome punching power to carry him to victory. His southpaw style was based on getting close to his opponent and firing his left hand when in range. His right hand was used to measure the distance to his opponent in preparation for a left punch. His left hand is responsible for all his knockouts and is arguably the hardest single punch amongst the history of the lower weight classes. As he accumulated more experience, however, he began to develop into a more refined puncher, obtaining other skills such as combination punching to complement his deadly left. His favorite punch, a straight left to the mid section, in Thai roughly translates to "the left hand that drills intestines." Incredibly strong, he was never out-muscled, and opponents who tried to employ the traditional stick-and-move techniques found that he had quick feet and was able to quickly block their movement.

Boxing career

In December, 1980, he turned his attentions to orthodox boxing and promptly won his first six fights. That earned him a shot at the Thailand bantamweight (118-pound) title on July 29, 1981 against Sakda Saksuree. Khaosai lost the match by point-based decision.

He won his next three fights and claimed the Thai bantamweight title early in 1982. After taking his only loss, Khaosai won 15 consecutive fights by knockout and shot up the world rankings to become super flyweight (115-pound) WBA world champion Jiro Watanabe's mandatory challenger by the summer of 1984.

When Watanabe failed to defend his title against Khaosai, the WBA stripped him and matched Khaosai against undefeated Eusebio Espinal for the vacant title on November 21, 1984. Khaosai knocked him out in the sixth round, beginning the longest title reign in his division's history.

Khaosai defended his WBA title 19 times over the next seven years, winning 16 of his title fights by knockouts. In the mid-1980s, when world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was in his prime and scoring knockouts over everyone, boxing fans tagged Khaosai with his nickname The Thai Tyson for his own propensity for knockout wins.

Khaosai fought only once outside the Orient, when he defended against unbeaten (and future WBA bantamweight titleholder) Israel Contreras in Curaçao in 1986. He had two fights in Japan, both with the same man, one in Korea and one in Indonesia. The rest of his fights were in his native Thailand, where he often fought for purses in excess of $100,000 in front of huge crowds. That, and that few top fighters were willing to challenge Khaosai anywhere, made him relatively unknown except to boxing aficionados.

Retirement

He fought for the last time on December 21, 1991 in Bangkok, beating Armando Castro over 12 rounds. A few weeks later, he announced his retirement with a record of 49 wins against only one defeat, and never attempted a comeback.

Life After Boxing

Not long after his retirement to the boxing profession, Khaosai approached and took part in Thai entertainment industry , firstly, releasing his single of a song "Khob Khun Krub", meaning "thank you", then taking part in tv series and movies, particularly of a comedy type. In 2005, while he was taking part in a film making, he was punched in face by a drunk who was his boxing fan but wishing to obtain Khaosai's shirt for collection but was denied. The incident went on the first page of the next day paper with a photo of Khaosai standing next to the drunk guy both smiling while Khaosai having a bandage in his face.

In 2006, he starred in a music video for a song by fellow boxer Somluck Kamsing. Khaosai portrayed a shy man being approached by a young woman.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)

In 1988, his twin brother, fighting under the name Kaokor Galaxy, captured the WBA bantamweight title, making the Saenkham brothers the only twins to ever be world boxing champions.

Honors

He was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999 and remains a well known Boxer throughout Thailand.

References

• Professional boxing record for Khaosai Galaxy from Boxrec