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Muay Thai's Circle of Death
Page 2- Training in Thailand
"I went there with no contacts. I walked the street carrying a big black bag. I didn’t know where I was. At this time, I couldn’t speak Thai. I tried to ask people where to go to study Muay Thai," Villalobos recalls. "One place turned me away. But I was determined and kept going and going." Eventually Villalobos found a Muay Thai camp that allowed him stay and to train. From there he made friends and established contacts. He found the Thai people warm and accepting. Villalobos quickly proved himself to be a serious student and a trustworthy person. Not only was he allowed to train in one camp, he was accepted at many camps across the country.
For over 12 months he traveled and trained and fought his way across Thailand. When he returned to his home in Atlanta, Georgia (USA), he was a changed man. In a little over a year’s time he had studied at 45 different Thai Boxing camps and filled his head with the details, techniques, and spirit of Muay Thai. Today, the walls of Pedro Solana Villalobos’s Muay Thai studio in Atlanta (USA) are covered with 45 framed pictures of Villalobos at 45 different Thai Boxing camps." Muay Thai styles differ across the country," he says. The differences, however, do not alter the spirit of the art or the connection that is felt between all Thai boxers across Thailand and indeed around the world.
Muay Thai creates a powerful, some say spiritual connection between fighters. This is because of the sacred traditions of Muay Thai and from the bonding that takes place when young fighters live, and train, and fight together in a brotherhood tighter and more intense than most Westerners can comprehend. When Villalobos returned to the United States his confusion and frustration had vanished. No longer does he question how and why Thai Boxing should be taught or fought. He knows. The routines and methods that he teaches his fighters in Atlanta are totally authentic.
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