Khaosai Galaxy

Muay Thai career

Khaosai was born as Sura Saenkham (Thai: สุระ แสนคำ) in Phetchabun Province, Thailand. He was a Muay Thai fighter in the early 1980s, and took the professional name Galaxy from a nightclub owned by his manager. Khaosai had tremendous punching power, particularly in his soon-to-be legendary left hand. On the advice of his manager and trainer, he switched to Marquis of Queensbury style and began training as a western style boxer.

In Muay Thai his ring names are Daoden Muangsithep (Thai: ดาวเด่น เมืองศรีเทพ) and Khaosai Wangchomphu. (Thai: เขาทราย วังชมภู)

Boxing style

Lacking the amateur boxing experience common to most Western professional boxers, Khaosai's skills originally were limited, and he relied on toughness and his fearsome punching power to win. His southpaw style was based on closing his opponent and firing his left hand whenever he saw an opening. His right hand was used mainly to judge the distance for his left. All of his knockouts came by his left, which is arguably the hardest single punch in the history of the lower weight classes.

As he gained experience, Khaosai began to develop into a more refined boxer, learning combination punching to complement his deadly left. His favorite punch, a straight left to the midsection, translates roughly as "the left hand that drills intestines." Incredibly strong, he was never out-muscled, while opponents who tried the traditional stick-and-move techniques found he had quick feet and was able to block their movements.

Boxing career

Khaosai began his international style boxing career in December 1980. He won all of his first six fights, which earned him a shot at the Thailand bantamweight (118-pound) title on July 29, 1981 against Sakda Saksuree. He lost on a points decision. It was to be the last fight he would ever lose in the ring.

Khaosai won his next three fights and claimed the Thai bantamweight title in 1982. He won 15 consecutive fights by knockout and climbed in 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 championship on November 21, 1984. Khaosai knocked out Espinal 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 nicknamed Khaosai The Thai Tyson for knockout wins.

Khaosai fought only once outside of Asia, when he defended his title in 1986 against unbeaten (and future WBA bantamweight titleholder) Israel Contreras in Curaçao. He had two title fights in Kōbe, Japan, one in South Korea and one at Bung Karno Stadium, Indonesia. The rest were in Thailand, where he often fought for purses in excess of $100,000 in front of huge crowds. That, plus the fact that few top fighters anywhere were willing to challenge Khaosai, made him relatively unknown in the West.

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 47 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 man 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.

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.

Currently, he opened two Muay Thai gyms in Bangkok and Phuket.

Honors

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