Buakaw: An amazing fighter!

When started creating this blog, I thought it would be great to start with a tribute ti this amazing athlete who has faced many troubled lately and was forced to retire from muay thai and kickboxing. However this amazing fighter has won plenty fights and has become famous on the world of martial arts!

Buakaw was born in Surin, Thailand and started thai boxing at the age of eight in his home province of Surin in the northeastern Thailand. He moved to Chachoengsao when he was 15, and since then he has been with the Por. Pramuk Gym. His first fight name was Damtamin Kiat-anan.
Buakaw has collected several belts to his name since fighting in Bangkok. The Omnoi Stadium featherweight title was his first belt, after that he would go on to take the featherweight champion of Thailand title. Buakaw then proceeded to win another Omnoi Stadium title belt, this time at in lightweight division. In December 2002, Buakaw won the Toyota Marathon 140 lb. tournament at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, beating the highly regarded Kobayashi of Japan in the final.

In July 2004 Buakaw became the K-1 MAX World champion beating John Wayne Parr, Takayuki Kohiruimaki and previous champion Masato in the finals. In 2005 he nearly repeated his run for tournament champion, but lost the extra round decision to Dutch shoot-boxer, Andy Souwer in the finals. In the 2006 K-1 MAX World Grand Prix, Buakaw again faced Andy Souwer in the finals, but this time defeated Souwer by TKO with a flurry of punches, thereby winning his second K-1 World MAX title and becoming the first man to win that title twice.
Buakaw lost to Masato by unanimous decision at the K-1 World MAX 2007 quarterfinals. Despite Buakaw being able to land vicious leg kicks throughout the match, Masato scored a knockdown in the first round and continued to land numerous punch combinations throughout the fight which earned Masato a unanimous decision victory.
In 2010, Buakaw co-starred in the martial arts movie Yamada: The Samurai of Ayothaya based on the life of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in Thailand at the beginning of the 17th century and became the governor of the Nakhon Si Thammarat province in southern Thailand.
Even though being the semi finalist of the K-1 World MAX 2009 Final Buakaw did not compete in the K-1 World MAX 2010 in Seoul World Championship Tournament Final 16. Instead he entered the Shoot Boxing World Tournament 2010 along with the former three time tournament champion Andy Souwer. However Toby Imada defeated Souwer in the semi finals to face Buakaw in the final. Buakaw defeated Imada via TKO in the second round to become the new 2010 Shoot Boxing S-Cup World champion.

Since March 1, 2012, he was missing away from his training camp. On March 12, he appeared on a Thai TV talk show and apologized to the fans. He stated that he has had chronic problems in Por. Pramuk Gym since 2009 and felt that he was insulted by the behavior of the key figure there, that was why he disappeared. He had been scheduled to visit Japan with the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for an exhibition match but it was canceled with another fight. As a result of the contemplation, he decided to part ways with the gym. He said "I can stand tough training, but not poor treatment. It is about mind, not the body,".
On March 17, 2012, Buakaw's sponsor Yokkao Boxing announced on Twitter that he would return to training. At this time they are referring to him as Buakaw Banchamek. He had resumed training at a the "newly-built" Banchamek gym (named after him), as of March 22, 2012. He is scheduled to fight Mickael Cornubet at ThaiFight on April 17, 2012.^[
As of March 30, 2012 he was prevented from fighting at Thai Fight in April 2012, until he files a complaint with Sports Authority of Thailand, and later is proven right about his claims of being "unfairly treated" by Por. Pramuk. On April 4 he said that his fight name for the fight later that month, would be "Buakaw", and that he "may not use the name of the boxing camp Por. Pramuk".
His first fight after leaving Por Pramuk Gym was a success. He knocked out Rustem Zaripov at 2:45 of the 2nd round with very accurate punches. As of May 31, 2012 Buakaw told the press that he wanted to end the dispute between him and Por Pramuk Gym; therefore he decided to retire.^[ Buakaw has been seen in jiujitsu, judo and wrestling classes. Showing signs of a possible MMA career. This would allow Buakaw to fight without breaching his contract with the Por. Parmuk boxing camp.