PREVIOUSLY IN AMATEUR I’m travelling in northern Thailand
to learn Thai boxing before stepping up to the challenge
of fighting for the first time on this ring. If I don’t want to get my face smashed in,
I don’t have a choice. What’s the jungle? Where is it? ONE SPORT, ONE COUNTRY AMATEUR 4 DAYS BEFORE THE FIGHT Right… I arrive in the jungle
and I meet Thai tribes and it’s touching. Ah local soap. These smiles make me feel good. They live in complete autonomy with their own traditions
and their own culture. I’m looking for… I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s because I’m happy. We’re almost there. I can see a flag. It was a really complicated arrival. I couldn’t have made a worse impression. I took ages to find my shorts. He asked me if I had gloves and of course I didn’t.
He asked me to strap my hands,
I told him I wasn’t able to. The worst first impression I could have made. Alban’s training is too short. In fact I should teach him how to kick for… for at least a month before he can actually fight. Then he would be able to fight,
but only against someone who would have never fought before either. Otherwise he’ll get hurt
because the other one will be stronger. It was horrible. It was horrible. I’m going to get smashed. He looked at me and thought “Who’s that clown?” It's as though with Mister Bee
we had worked on the basics and now we’re on the technique. With the basics I'm ready for the ring but if I don’t have the technique,
I'm going to get smashed. I feel like I have to start all over again. I don’t know if it's the atmosphere
or all the walking or the fact that I’m on my own, but there is a force here,
a power that makes me feel tiny.
I feel pressured by time because
I’m fighting in 4 days for fuck’s sake. I feel completely useless… If I can’t do it, I know my way back… It's frustrating. I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated. 3 DAYS BEFORE THE FIGHT Right so it’s 02:15 am, I had a short night. I took ages to go to sleep. So I must’ve slept 2 hours. Now we’re up and we’re supposed to go to a market. It’s raining really hard outside,
so I’ll try to equip myself well. My coach gets up every morning
7 days a week at 2:30 in the morning to go to the market
and get all the commodities he needs. Then he goes to the surrounding villages
and sells them to all the people who can’t move. He just honked to warn the whole village
that the street market is ready. Walking in the jungle is like training. And that’s what my coach endures every day.
I really don’t know how he does it. I started at the age of 13. At that time, girls used to like boys
who fought on the ring. That’s why I wanted to learn and become good at it. Whenever a boy stepped onto a ring,
the girl went wild. The important thing during the fight is that you use the art of Thai boxing properly. There might be spirits in the place. You have to pray them,
so you don’t get hurt or break something. Nared teaches me "Wai Kru", it’s the dance before a fight, the dance that every boxer does on the ring. This dance is important because it’s a dance that allows you
to focus on yourself before the fight, to think of your parents,
to think of all those who can give you strength.
You go to every corner of the ring
to try and receive strength. (I’ll never manage this) And I think I really need it. His body isn’t ready for fighting
because is still too weak. When he kicks or get kicked he gets hurt. He said it was going to be complicated for me and that my only chance of winning
was to defend myself. If his opponent kicks him, will he be able to protect himself
quickly enough? Protecting yourself is very important. I’d heard Aimé Jacquet say
that the best defence was a good offence. Apparently, if I do that,
I’ll get smashed so uh… Since I'm fast enough,
I might learn to run instead. I admit I’m feeling the fact
that I woke up at 2:30 a.m. He explains,
in a very calm and pedagogical manner, how you can break a jaw, break a nose, break a forehead. It’s really violent. And I realise
it’s a real fight that’s waiting for me, not just someone kind-hearted in front,
but someone who will want to smash my face in.
And I honestly wonder
how I’m going to get out of this… Mum, he came to train with me for boxing,
so he’s come to meet you. Say hello. 48 hours before the fight
and the only thing I wanted was to go to bed. But Nared insisted I come with him
and I didn’t expect him to open up to me so much. It’s Lan Da Khoe, a ceremony of the Lahu people. Shall we dance? It’s to chase ghosts and demons away. 2 DAYS BEFORE THE FIGHT Strange as it may seem, I slept very well. The evening with Nared touched me a lot. I realised that the fight isn’t only about me. I will also be representing my coaches
on the ring, so I am determined again,
disappointing them is out of the question. There’s a real difference
in Mister Bee’s and Nared’s methods. Mister Bee is all about “Get in there”
and “If you have heart, you’ll be a good fighter”, whereas with Nared it’s more like “No, to be a good fighter,
you have to know the technique inside out”.
We repeat each move over and over again and I have to repeat it and repeat it again, step by step until it is perfect. 4 HOURS BEFORE THE FIGHT
Here we are. In a few hours I’ll be stepping on the ring
and I still don’t know if I’m ready. IN THE NEXT EPISODE.
