Imran vs Anuwat. Paris, France.

What a great opportunity for Imran Khan to fight an awesome fighter like Anuwat Kiewsamrit. Sadly, we were only offered this fight TWO WEEKS before, so Imran and Mick had very little time to prepare for what would obviously be a tough fight anyway; Add to this the fact that Mick wouldn’t be in Imran’s corner and the French authorities would not allow elbows – Imran’s preferred weapon of choice, and the fight was never in Imran’s favour.
This was a great fight at the wrong time for Imran. As he’d not been training regularly, Mick was concentrating on getting Thomas into fighting shape ready for his big night at Ratchadamnern Stadium. We got the call from Paul Henessey only two weeks before, Imran jumped at the chance, but it was soon obvious in the gym that he wasn’t very fit. He got to train with Mick twice a day for 12 days (real vomit and tears stuff . . .) until it was time for him to recuperate ready for battle. Imran is not naturally a fit guy, but he is the toughest when it comes to mental will power.
Imran knew he wasn’t at his fittest for this battle, we were hoping and praying that the French would allow the elbow, but thought it was on the cards that they probably would not. Dan Hudson agreed to take Imran to Paris and corner him for the fight as Mick was flying out to Thailand on the day of Imran’s fight.
Imran lost the fight on points but was in extremely high spirits as he knew that Anuwat was at his fittest and STILL couldn’t stop Imran !!! Imran got dropped twice during the fight, but largely due to exhaustion and not Anuwat’s power. Mick spoke to him by phone the day after the fight and Imran was buzzing. He is absolutely certain that he will beat Anuwat in a rematch ! The guy was super fit and powerful, but Imran was the better Thai-Boxer. If he’d had more fuel in the tank and able to use his elbows, Imran feels he can not only beat Anuwat, but stop him in a rematch.
Mick and Jitti Damriram spent time negotiating a rematch in Bangkok. Anan, Anuwat’s Manager from Kiewsamrit, is still considering at the time of writing. Mick’s friend, Jitti, is trying to get a rematch at either Ratchadamnern or Lumpini for Imran. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear from Thailand.