“Fight of the Year” John Wayne Parr Vs Yodsanklai
“As they do it a third time, it will once again be the skill of Yodsanklai Vs the desire of John Wayne Parr.”
By Steven Wright
International Superstar John Wayne Parr, who was known the world over for fighting in Japan’s K-1 Max organization, and was fresh off a fight of the year win over Bruce “Preacher” Macfie for the title of the best in Australia, was slated to fight who at the time was an unknown 20 year old Thai named Yodsanklai Fairtex.
I say unknown because though he was a Lumpinee Champion, he was moving up in weight and to that point was nothing more than a Thai name on a foreign card.
I had grown weary on the promotions who brought undersized Thai fighters out of Thailand to show the strength of their home grown rosters, but all of that changed with a second round high kick heard round the world.
It wasn’t long into the first round that I realized the difference in this Thai fighter as opposed to others. Yodsanklai had the best head movement that I have ever seen in a Thai fighter.
He wasn’t just avoiding shots and circling, like a Koaklai for example. He was slipping, staying in striking range, and countering big. Adding to this strange Thai fighter was his hands.
He was throwing crisp bombs that were landing right on the mark, which complimented his power left high and body kick game perfect.
It is not common to see a lot of Thai fighters with big hands as the scoring system in Thailand rewards the strikes with the hands the least, so if you don’t get a KO you will get out scored by a kicker.
Yet Yodsanklai had it all, and in the second round, he set up a perfect left high kick, by striking the same left body kick for the duration of the round.
Then he put his right knee high to sell a shot to the body again, and went high with the left catching John Wayne across the neck.
He came on strong with big left straights and right hooks, but it was at the end of the round and JWP was able to escape the round.
Yodsanklai would continue to be an enigma as to JWP, who continued to rush after the Thai with six punch combinations and high kicks, but the Thai was to slick, only catching one of the six and tying up when Parr came in.
After five rounds the decision went to Yodsanklai and a star was born.
The fighters would go down two paths. Yodsanklai would go on to be considered the best 70kgs fighter not fighting in the K-1 Max division.
He had gotten one opportunity in which he easily defeated Kamel El Amrani the Super League Champion, scoring a knockdown in the third and taking a unanimous decision.
He went on to win fights over other international opponents in Europe and his legend grew with every fight. He became known as the man Max was to afraid to bring in, as everyone wanted to see him fight the big names, in particular, fellow Thai superstar Buakaw Por. Pramuk.
John Wayne Parr would go down a different path, as he would enter the worse slump of his career. He went on to challenge for another WBC title at a higher weight, and came up short against England’s Steven Wakeling.
He then went on to loss to Thai’s Oomsin Sitkuanam and Wanlop Sitpholek. Including Yodsanklai he had dropped four straight, before turning it around against top Australian competition.
Our two Muaythai rivals would meet for a second time, when the World Muaythai Council sanctioned the reality show Contender Asia, which was made of Muaythai fighters instead of boxers.
It was a hit and the show was well received internationally and brought great ratings in the East Asian markets. The two stars of the show would be Yodsanklai, who ran thru all of his opponents in the tournament, and John Wayne Parr, who was sort of the father figure in the house and his very presence represented the best of Muaythai in and out the ring.
In the second battle, there was more of the same Yodsanklai dominance. In the opening two rounds, John Wayne came out and tried to establish more work rate, closing the distance and throwing punches in bunches.
However it was the big fist of the Yodsanklai that told the story, as he scored a knockdown in each of the first two rounds. Both times JWP was able to get to his feet and return to the fight, but heading into the last round, he needed a KO to win it.
In a moment of great action Parr started to land some significant shots and got the Thai going backwards, before Yodsanklai landed a big right hand and followed it with killer shots, the final bell keeping John Wayne from going down again.
October 17, 2010 will be the third meeting of these men. However for the first time, John Wayne Parr comes in with more momentum. No longer cutting 10 plus kgs before the fight, John has looked good in his last few fights.
He showed Australia that he is still the top fighter at his weight class by beating new kid on the block Eli Madigan. He then beat Dmitry Valent for another world title, went to a draw with Eugene Ekkelboom, and took a big win off Thai Lamsongkram heading into the showdown with Yodsanklai.
Yodsanklai is still a dominate fighter, but the work ethic and killer instinct doesn’t seem to be as high as it was, before the big Contender Asia finale win.
The big fight with Buakaw eluded him and he resigned to facing solid, but not well known competition.
He has started a habit of coming out strong in the opening rounds and then coasting for the last one or two. Though he has notched wins over Marco Pique and Khalid Bourdif, he slowed in the later portions of both fights.
Even more of note his power looked like it failed him against Takaaki Nakamura, as he dominated the fight, but could not fell Takaaki no matter how much he hit him.
Even though he beat Vuyisile Colossa three times, only getting credit for two, he slowed again down the stretch, allowing a bias judging panel to reward a unanimous decision to a fighter who was dropped in the fight and bullied for the first three rounds.
As they do it a third time, it will once again be the skill of Yodsanklai Vs the desire of John Wayne Parr.
Nothing shows John Wayne Parr’s desire to beat Yodsanklai more than the fact that he has yet to come close to beating him, but feels all the more to take the fight and believes he can.
He has half of the formula already.
He has to outwork Yodsanklai enough to take at least one of the three early rounds, than make sure he puts the pressure on thick when the fight comes to an end.
The second half is he can’t take the big shots. Yodsanklai is a 10-8 round waiting to happen to anyone who gets hit flush on a regular occasion, so the best formula is to use head movement, throw flurries, then get out, as opposed to moving forward.
If John Wayne can do that for his home country he can pull off the upset.
For Yodsanklai more of the same. He must land the big shots, use his head movement, and hit hard to the body. In all of his fights I have yet to see a fighter change how Yodsanklai fights.
He is always the bully, whether he is going forward or backwards, he lands the more significant shots.
If he is to do it a third time, he might want to put the gas on when he gets John Wayne Parr hurt.
As for what the final result will actually be, you will just have to tune in with the rest of the world October 17th. WMM ©
About Powerplay :: In 2005 Joe Nader founded Powerplay and since has created a loyal following in one of Australia’s most successful operations combining both Gym and fight sports Promotions. Joe Nader is a former Australian and South Pacific Cruiser Weight Champion.
Joe has trained with the best including the late great Dana Goodson and World Champions such as Stan ‘The Man’ Longinidis and Sam Greco. With his experience and knowledge of the fight game, Joe decided to put all his hard earned years into action developing the concept of Powerplay Promotions which has seen the likes of Mike Zambidis, Dzhabar Askerov, Virgil Kalakoda, Ali Gunyar, Lamsongkram to mention but a few. www.powerplaygym.com
