The End of the Line – Is this the last we have seen of Buakaw?

After many days of speculation as to his whereabouts, the ever popular Buakaw Por Pramuk has finally surfaced. A few days ago reports stated that Buakaw had been missing from his camp, allegedly the result of a fall out with his management over the release of his stength & conditioning coach. Other rumors about Buakaw’s disappearance tried to allude to the idea that he had either been kidnapped due to his celebrity in Thailand or that he had run off with a woman. Also there was talk of him being spotted at a nightlcub in Phuket, something which has recently been confirmed as being false.

To clarify the ordeal, Buakaw appeared last night on Thai TV and gave an interview concerning his situation. Needless to say, Buakaw has confirmed that he had a disagreement with his camp. Initially, the rumor as to the reason for the disagreement was that it was either due to the camp owing him money or that it was due to the release of his conditioning coach. Buakaw neither confirmed nor denied those claims in the interview. He did say however that a rift had been growing between him and his management for some time. Buakaw also indicated that he thought of retiring in as early as 2009 and that he was tired of being verbally abused and mistreated by his management at Por Pramuk. Apparently there has been some talk of trying to reach an agreement but no progress has been made as of yet in that regard. The popular Thai fighter also said that right now his plans are to rest and take care of himself as reports have loomed that he had sustained a couple of injuries and did not have a chance to recover from them before being scheduled to fight again.

So is this the end of the line for Buakaw? It really is tough to say as the Thai Fight champion did not outright say he was finished with fighting. But with the amount of punishment most fighters in Thailand sustain by the time they are in their late 20′s, it wouldn’t be surprising if Buakaw decides to hang up his gloves. He has done a lot for the sport and has without a doubt carried his country’s proud tradition on his shoulders with honor. Hopefully we do get to see Buakaw in the ring again…and maybe he will no longer be at Por Pramuk, but if the allegations of ill treatment are true, then I truly do hope that he finds another camp that is a bit more appreciative of his talents. If he does decide to hang them up, then I can’t do anything else but wish him the best.

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Below is the video of the interview Buakaw recently gave to ThaiTV. It is obviously in Thai, but if you have a Thai friend or want to try and expand your horizons by learning a little Thai, then I’m sure you can figure out what he is saying, although I think we did a good job of explaining it above. Ha!