by James Schofield - @JSchoftraining

Thai boxing promoters and fighters alike are suffering economically after the huge earthquake and tsunami that soaked Japan have left much of Asia in disarray, as fights and promotions are cancelled. These fears have been heightened further by an earthquake striking the Myanmar / Thailand border in the early hours of yesterday that measured 6.2 on the Richter Scale, followed today by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hitting Northern Thailand.

A sometimes overlooked factor of this terrible disaster is the economic effect on surrounding countries – Japan is the most economically developed country in the world and resultantly, tourism, trade, and the economy of the old ‘Tiger economies’ of Asia have been affected. For a country as poor as Thailand, this has serious consequences on their national sport, Muay Thai.

There are many Muay Thai promotions in Japan and Australia, with top Thai camps often sending their talent along. Pramuk Rojanatan, owner of the world famous Por Pramuk boxing camp located to the South East of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, said all of his fighters bouts on April 24th in Japan had been cancelled, losing wages of 100k baht, around £2000.

Por Pramuk superstar Buakaw is scheduled to fight in a Thai Fight tournament in Japan in August but fears it may be cancelled. Buakaw has been a star attraction in Japan since he won the K-1 title in 2004; paving the way for other Nak Muay’s to compete in Japan.

Buakaw, who reportedly earns around a million baht (£20,000) per fight, will fight in a charity event on Sunday to help raise money for Japan. Por Pramuk gym is famous for the fighters it has produced including numerous Lumpinee Stadium Champions such as Chokdee and Pornsawan and current WBC Light Flyweight Champion Saichon and Kompayak.

Boxing promoters in Thailand have noted fewer Japanese tourists coming to Lumpini recently and many are worried that if the trend doesn’t reverse they may have to find new income streams. “Without Japan, I may have to quit the boxing business in a few years,” Niwat said. “We can’t make decent money from organising fights in Thailand.”

Our wishes are with everyone in Asia affected in anyway by these tragedies.