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#151 Chatchai Sasakul #5 - Developing Feeling in Hands (Muay Thai & Boxing)

Added 2024-11-20 06:32:37 +0000 UTC

Perhaps the most popular Kru in the entire Library, his teachings can change your Muay Thai (or boxing). It's been more than 3 years since we've had him in the MTL, it was time for the next layer of knowledge - the rest of his sessions linked at bottom.

Chatchai's father started him in Muay Thai at the age of 4. Chatchai had a substantial 100+ fight Muay Thai career, under the name Neungtoranee Petchyindee fighting many of the top names of the Golden Age (Hippy, Rambaa, Karuhat, Napadej, Boonlai, etc), until he transitioned into boxing in the late 80s; first as an top amateur (85 fights), he then later became the WBC World Flyweight Boxing Champion as a professional (68 fights, 63-4-1: his boxrec). He then became one of the best teachers in the world, twice winning Coach of the Year, due to his ability to convey technique and the importance of "feeling" for efficacy, economy of movement, and delivering power and accuracy. One of my favorite things about Chatchai's teaching, in that we have a few session in the Library that are "Boxing for Muay Thai," is that nothing he teaches or emphasizes requires any kind of translation of adjustment to work in Boxing vs Muay Thai. It is identical and equally effective in both. What is truly wonderful about his instruction is that he is adept at making very small changes, very technical things like angle changes, or weight shifts, that can have huge impact on your striking (and defense)...but, because he emphasizes feeling, building the right feeling, you are never lost in abstract technical attention.

Learn with me from the best boxing coach in Thailand, a man with over 250 Muay Thai and Boxing fights.

At the bottom of this post you'll also see sessions linked with other great Boxers of Muay Thai: Weerapol, Samson, Kongtoranee, Lakhin, etc.

What to Look Out For, read these notes to get more out of the session:

1) Sitting Down, Legs Carry the Strikes: in previous entries, Chatchai teaches his weight transfer. He is constantly using it, so it is present in this session, but he doesn't instruct it as carefully as it's something I've already keyed into. So, go back and watch his earliest sessions if you need this broken down, but here in this session the bowing of the knees and "sitting down" on the legs to carry strikes is really clear.

2) Alignment: just as you need a car to be in good alignment to get it to operate at top speed, power, and efficiency, so too do you need your body in alignment to carry out all the mechanics of proper technique. Chatchai is making adjustments to my personal misalignments, but the way he looks at and checks for the issues allows you to see where yours might be located. Your core should always be dead center (head, torso, pelvis) and the legs carry you around. The rotation of the torso and the legs transfering weight is what creates all the power and accuracy.

3) "Feeling, Feeling": this is Chatchai's tagline. Everything should be felt, not only intellectually understood. By feeling your way through movements, not only can you self-diagnose, but you can become much more efficient, deliberate, and consistant by feeling you rway through movement, rather than thinking your way. It's also a much more pleasant experience. Feelings have no judgment, only thoughts judge. I use a lot of associative examples for what something feels like for me, but the important part is not that the association is the same, it's that the feeling is the same and delivers the effect that you're after. So, if tucking my elbows feels like holding a tray, but to you tucking your elbows feels like being lassoed at the waist, go with whatever the association is, so long as the feeling delivers the effect.

4) Gallop: footwork in both Muay Thai and Boxing is paramount to movement and being able to throw weapons both safely and with the correct timing. Chatchai uses a "gallop" that is very similar to Yodkhunpon's "gallop," which you can see in his various entries into the Muay Thai Library. It's fast, it cuts off the ring, and it takes out the "air bubbles," that make you post and pause wihtout intending to.

5) "Dtor": this is the thai word for continuity and countering. Basically, it's being able to keep moving without interruption. The weight transfer, proper alignment, keeping the torso twisting and the legs carrying you around is how you can continually move and throw strikes. Most of what we're working on in this session is what allows for continuity and consistency.

6) Elbows Tucked: a lot of the feeling we're working on here is keeping elbows from flaring, which makes all your strikes be from the limb, rather than from the core as they should be. My associative feeling is like holding a tray, as that causes my elbows to stay tucked. But keeping the arms in (well, the elbows in) is what allows for minimum effort, maximum power, and correct trajectory.

Other MTL Sessions Referenced, if you are taking notes and want to study deeper:

#104 Yodkhunpon Sittraipum 4 - The Art of Shadowboxing (64 min) watch it here

#130 Sagat Petchyindee #5 - The Coil and the Uppercut (70 min) watch it here

#75 Lakhin Wasantasit - Boxing & Muay Thai Organized Destruction (76 min) watch it here

Photos from Chatchai's Career:

Chatchai as a Muay Thai fighter, Neungtoranee Petchyindee. He says his head was shaved as punishment for sneaking out of the gym (something young men sometimes do).

Pacquiao and Chatchai remain good friends. Chatchai travels as a guest to watch Pacquiao fight, sometimes.

Neungtoranee (Chatchai) and Boonlai.

Sam A (Fighter of the Year), Chatchai (Trainer of the Year), and Kompayak (World Champion of the Year), 2011 Neungtoranee (Chatchai, with gloves on ).

Preparing to fight Somdet Sit Or. (Rambaa)

Promo for Neungtoranee vs Somdet (Rambaa).

Muay Siam article highlighting many of Chatchai's achievements: WBC World Champion, he produced an album with Kaensak and Somjit (Olympic Gold Medalist), he's a top level Snooker player, and has been happily married to his wife since he was Champion.

Young Pacquiao won by round 7 KO to take Chatchai's 115 lb WBC title, 1998.

Chatchai vs Pacquiao

Photos from the session (you can see a full album of these photographs here)

all photographed at his Thai Payak Gym in Lam Luk Ka.

If you enjoyed this session, here are others on a similar theme in the MTL:

#109 Chatchai Sasakul 3 - Developing Rhythm & Precision (1 hr, 46 min) watch it here

The best boxing coach in Thailand, former WBC World Champions Chatchai Sasakul, teaches the importance of rhythm and precision. Chatchai's instruction brings western boxing technique to Thailand's Muay Thai, as he was also a Golden Age stadium fighter.

#64 Chatchai Sasakul 2 - Elements of Boxing (72 min) watch it here

Chatchai is not only a former WBC world champion, he also is the recipient of Thailand's Coach of the Year. He is one of the great striking coaches in the world, and in this session he breaks down all the basics from the footwork on up. Nobody has a more beautiful and potent hands foundation. Watch and learn from a master.

#14 Chatchai Sasakul 1 - Perfecting Hands (106 min) watch it here

Former WBC world boxing champion at Flyweight, and winner of Best Coach of the Year in Thailand, Chatchai in this nearly 2 hours of video makes micro adjustment after micro adjustment, honing in pristine technique in the basic strikes of boxing, for use in Muay Thai. It's all about weight transfer.

Bonus Session 5: Chatchai Sasakul Southpaw Hands | 52 min - watch it here

Chatchai's stance and striking system is not only ideal for boxing - he was the WBC Flyweight World Champion in 1997 - it instills a basic weight transfer balance that can dramatically improve your Muay Thai. Watch it being installed on me for the first time from the Southpaw stance.

#140 Weerapol Sahaprom - Symmetry and Power in Boxing & Muay Thai (1 hr, 40 min) watch it here or podcast here

The absolute legend Weerapol shares the principles behind his amazing career. 3 times he was the Rajadamern Champion in the Golden Age, and then he went onto become a WBC and WBA World Boxing Champion. 15 years of Muay Thai, 15 years as a boxer. Discover the beauty and power of his style, one of the best Thai fighters in history.

#75 Lakhin Wasantasit - Boxing & Muay Thai Organized Destruction (76 min) watch it here

Lakhin was a beast, to stand in front of him was to invite disaster. Perhaps no fighter of the Golden Age was more feared for his hands. In this session he shows just what made him so intimidating, and how he developed a style predicated on inflicting maximum damage.

#115 Eagle Den Junlaphan 2 - Boxing Within Muay Thai (66 min) watch it here

WBC World Champion Den Junlaphan teaches boxing for Muay Thai, all the in-fighting and pocket postures and techniques that can make a more complete pressure fighter. This is his second session in the Library. Footwork, keeping your head in, developing continuity, all important for boxing, can translate to Muay Thai as well.

#74 Samson Isaan 2 - Muay Khao & Western Boxing Excellence (59 min) watch it here

In 1991 there was no fighter more of a force than Samson Isaan, who took Fighter of the Year then. His relentless style combining Muay Maat punching aggression with Knee Fighting pressure and clinch made him a wrecking ball. In this session discover what made this little fighter so impossible to handle.

#37 Kongtoranee Payakaroon - Power In The Hands (89 min) watch it here

5x Lumpinee Champion, 2x Fighter of the Year, Kongtoranee teaches the fundamental grounding of strikes that made him one of the most feared heavy-handed fighters in Thailand. Such economy of movement expresses the true beauty in his style, quite different than - but no less admirable - that of his young brother Samart.

#148 Anantasak Panyuthapum | Boxing, Elbows and The Feet (80 min) watch it here

One of the great elbow and great hands fighters of Muay Thai's Golden Era has been the boxing coach of the Thai National Boxing team for years. We learn from him the foundations of how boxing & elbow attacks go together in Thailand's Muay Thai, and his secrets to his dynamic, aggressive fighting style.

If you are new to the Library, these are sessions you'll want to see, each worthy of multiple study watches...