Biography and career
Early career
Born as Sombat Banchamek Thailand, Buakaw started his fighting career at the age of eight in his home province of Surin in the northeastern Thailand. He moved to Chachoengsao when he was 15 and trained with the Por. Pramuk Gym.[5] His first fight name was Damtamin Kiat-anan.
Buakaw has collected several belts to his name 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 in the lightweight division. In December 2002, Buakaw won the Toyota Marathon 140 lb. tournament at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, beating the highly regarded Satoshi Kobayashi of Japan in the finals.
K-1
In July 2004, Buakaw became the K-1 MAX World champion beating John Wayne Parr, Takayuki Kohiruimaki and previous champion Masato in the finals.[6] In 2005, he nearly repeated his run for tournament champion but lost the extra round in a controversial decision to Dutch shoot-boxer Andy Souwer in the finals.[7] 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 such title twice.[8]
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 him a unanimous decision victory.[9]
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.[10]
Although Buakaw was a 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 because he was displeased with the K-1 official’s biased decision. 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.
Thai Fight
In 2011, Buakaw had seven fights; four of which ended by way of stoppage. In the semi-finals of the 2011 Thai Fight 70 kg Tournament, he won by KO in the 3rd round via elbow against Mickael Piscitello. On December 18, 2011, he fought Frank Giorgi for the 2011 Thai Fight 70 kg Tournament Title and won by unanimous decision.
In the same year, Buakaw was signed as a sponsored fighter by Yokkao founder, Phillip Villa.[12] He led the Muay Thai Combat Fan Expo to showcase the sport in Rimini, Italy with Saenchai, Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee, Dzhabar Askerov and many others.[13]
Leaving Por. Pramuk, retirement and comeback
Buakaw, December 2012
On January 21, 2012, Buakaw headlined Yokkao Extreme 2012 in Milan Italy in front of 12,000 attendees. He defeated Dzhabar Askerov by points in the main event.[14]
On March 1, 2012, he was notably absent from his training camp.[15][16] On March 12, he appeared on a Thai TV talk show to apologize to the fans and explain his disappearance, stating that he had recurring problems in Por. Pramuk Gym since 2009 and felt insulted by the behavior of the management there.[17] He had been scheduled to visit Japan with the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for an exhibition match but it was canceled in favor of another fight. As a result of the complication, he decided to part ways with the gym. He said “I can stand tough training, but not poor treatment. It is about the mind, not the body.”[18]
On March 17, 2012, Buakaw’s sponsor Yokkao Boxing announced that he would return to training. It was at this time that they began referring to him as Buakaw Banchamek.[19] He had resumed training at the “newly-built” Banchamek gym (named after him),[2] as of March 22, 2012. He was scheduled to fight Mickael Cornubet[20] at ThaiFight on April 17, 2012.[2]
On March 30, 2012, Buakaw was prevented from fighting at Thai Fight in April 2012, until he filed a complaint with the Sports Authority of Thailand proving his claims of unfair treatment by Por. Pramuk.[21] 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.”[20]
Buakaw’s first fight after leaving Por Pramuk Gym was a success. He knocked out Rustem Zaripov at 2:45 of the 2nd round with accurate punches. On May 31, 2012, Buakaw told the press that he wanted to end the dispute between him and Por. P
