A few years ago Christi was one of the most exciting young female Muay Thai fighters in the UK and one whom I and many others always had a special regard for. Now, she has returned!! 

 Increasingly I find that the title I originally chose for these columns, Muay Thai in UK, doesn’t match the subjects, even now we’ve dropped the ‘UK’ part. This time I stay within the UK, but venture into kickboxing, with a nice success story for one of Billionmore’s favourite Hall of Famers.

 A year ago I wrote about Iron Challenge 2 and the power of television. On April 28^th I returned to Athens to see Billionmore’s favourite fighter, Maria Pantazi, compete in Iron Challenge 3. No apologies for writing about Maria again. Not only is she a dynamic and very popular fighter with a wonderful personality, but we are close enough to her to get the inside track on what life is like for a successful kickboxer.

 What is a small gym? STEWART MURDOCH of North Ayrshire Muay Thai always refers to his gym as a small club taking on the big boys, but how small is a gym that can turn out 12 fighters, from juniors to A class, and bring in an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 600?

Pete Spensley had a vision – or, to be less dramatic, an ambitious plan: to run a regular series of dual events, each of 30 junior Muay Thai matches during the day, followed by an adult show in the evening, with fighters from the full Celtic fringe competing with the English for Celtic Challenge Championships, plus a few British championship fights sanctioned by the WRSA.

BKK Promotions’ All Female Muay Thai Show at Plymouth Guildhall featured three title fights, including one of Billionmore’s favourite fighters, Christi Campbell, drawing with the classy and stylish Sally McCarthy of Sukhothai Bournemouth for a Southern Area Junior title.

The appropriately named The Final Fight was the stage on which Billionmore Hall of Famer SCOTT ‘TITLETAKER’ ALLAN made the third and final defence of his WKA World Bantamweight Title in what was his last amateur kickboxing bout! Billionmore’s newest reporter and fellow Hall of Famer DEAN FORD was there to witness a fantastic night of kickboxing action!

Reading the axkickboxing website after a major Muay Thai tournament is always fascinating. Posts come in of congratulations, often from rival gyms and even defeated opponents, evidence of the healthy sportsmanship of Muay Thai. But where there are disputes they soon become surprisingly bitter and abusive – there must be history between the guys in question, you feel.

On Sunday 28^th June I went to Heywood Civic Centre for Born to Fight, an afternoon bill of B and C class fights promoted by GFC Muay Thai, a particularly enjoyable afternoon’s boxing for at least three reasons.

Looking back to the first of these columns, I am embarrassed to see that I hoped to do one every two weeks. My record, as of now, is less than one a month, though I hadn’t realised that Billionmore would design the pages so elegantly (which takes longer!). Checking some 18 months of columns, I also find that Yorkshire and Lancashire have occupied rather a lot of my attention, understandable, I suppose, as I live in West Yorkshire and so much good Muay Thai happens either side of the Pennines.

This column began in a mystery and ended in the chance to find out about a wonderful young talent. A few months ago, looking through Mies Stolp’s photographs of a Muay Thai tournament in the small town of Bladel in the Netherlands, I was astonished and delighted to come across a young female boxer whose glamour and evident boxing pedigree far outshone her rather ordinary surroundings. It was immediately obvious that here was someone with an unusual and interesting story – and so it proved.

How does Muay Thai at grass roots level in the UK stack up against the rest of Europe? I decided to compare shows in the UK and the Netherlands, both in December, both featuring mainly young and inexperienced boxers.

Just off York Road near Leeds City Centre, Glenthorpe Crescent is a very ordinary residential street, its most striking building a former cinema, home to Bad Company, one of the most successful Muay Thai gyms in the country, presided over (from the old cinema balcony) by its founder, RICHARD SMITH.

I’m delighted to say that my favourite website has given me the chance to report on Muay Thai in Great Britain. I hope to write a piece every two weeks or so, including reports on Muay Thai shows, interviews with the people who matter and profiles of established stars or enthusiastic beginners – plus any good ideas that you, the readers, give me.