In news that will come as a surprise to absolutely no-one it was officially confirmed today that the bare knuckle fight between Buakaw Banchamek and Saenchai PKSaenchaigym would not, in face, be happening. The two were supposed to be facing off at BKFC 4 on March 18th.
The event was originally supposed to be taking place ‘in the Middle East’ but subsequently got moved to the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall. Buakaw and Saenchai are firm friends and were pictured playing football together a few days after the fight was announced.
But it appeared Buakaw and Saenchai were willing to put their friendship, as well as what looked to be a significant size difference, aside in order to make the match happen. But the fight has now been indefinitely postponed.
Business as usual
The organizers cited a news story which was published on January 27th as the reason behind the postponement. It concerned legal action which was being taken to prevent ONE Championship using the term ‘Muay Thai’.
Since then ONE Championship has promoted six different cards in Bangkok featuring Muay Thai without any issue and it appears to be business as usual for the Singapore headquartered promotion. But BKFC has decided to call off the bout that was supposed to headline its event later this month.
Buakaw and Saenchai are two of the biggest names in Muay Thai at the moment, although both are coming towards the end of their careers. There was a lot of cynicism when the match was announced because people know they are friends but the latter assured fans it would be a real fight.
A few days after the fight was announced Saenchai shared a video of him and Buakaw messing about while playing football together on the same team:
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No animosity
While the two men might have agreed to fight there was clearly no animosity between them. In fact many were speculating that the bout would turn out to be a glorified sparring match.
It looks like we will never find out as the fight has been postponed indefinitely. For Muay Thai fans with long memories it is something of a dream match but the prospect of Buakaw fighting Saenchai looks a distant one.
