Chatchai Paiseetong

Early career

Sannithep Puprasong started his Muay Thai career at 9–10 years old.^[1] Before adopting the ring name of Chatchai Paiseetong, he fought as Ja-Ae Lookchukkacher and trained under his father Kiatmala Sitpraedum. He would later transfer to the Sityodtong/Payakaroon gym where he would become a teammate of Samart Payakaroon and trained under Kru Yodtong Senanan. He would then adopt the ring name of Chatchai Sityodtong in honor of his new camp, but he would later be more popularly known as Chatchai Paiseetong.^[2]

Fighting style

Chatchai was an orthodox Muay Femur stylist meaning that he would move backwards in order to make his opponents come forward into his unpredictable strikes or so he could defend and counter. The boxing style equivalent to Chatchai's is the rope-a-dope style. While Chatchai had a well-rounded skillset,^[3] he was specifically renowned for his ability to throw head kicks from both legs resulting in KO victories or knockdowns against elite fighters like Mathee Jadeepitak or Hansek Prasanthinpanomrung. Chatchai would be praised by Thai audiences as one of the most skilled Muay Femur fighters of the golden era of Muay Thai.

Chatchai was often compared to his teammate and cornerman Samart Payakaroon for his elegance and technical proficiency in the ring.^[4] His nickname "Samart 2" was given to him by the Thai media as a result of his expertise with his defensive style.

Elite career and later years

By 1992, he was fighting near or at bantamweight (118 lbs),^[5] his ideal weight class, for the Onesongchai promotion. However, Onesongchai later forced their top bantamweight fighters to move up to junior featherweight (122 lbs) as the bantamweight division was filled by other promotions.^[6] While Chatchai did not belong in junior featherweight, the weight change gave him the opportunity to win the Lumpinee junior featherweight title twice against the elite Wangchannoi Sor.Palangchai and Boonlai Sor.Thanikul. At 19-years-old, Chatchai reached the peak of his Muay Thai career in 1993 after he finished the year with a record of 7 wins in 10 bouts including the aforementioned title fights. For this performance he was given the Sports Authority of Thailand Fighter of the Year award,^[7] the second most prestigious award in the sport of Muay Thai.^[8] Chatchai's prime was short as he struggled to maintain his ideal weight as well as having too small of a frame for the heavier weight classes when he further moved up in weight soon afterward.^[3]

Chatchai would KO Mathee Jadeepitak with his signature head kick at 123 lbs, which also marked the last time in his career that he would fight in or near junior featherweight. Afterward, Chatchai was matched up against another elite Muay Femur fighter Therdkiat Sitthepitak at featherweight (126 lbs), 8 lbs or 2 weight classes above his ideal weight.^[9]

As Chatchai began to decline, he continued getting matchups that required him to fight up to junior lightweight (130 lbs), 12 lbs or 3 weight classes above his true weight.^[3][10] On some occasions, he would be matched up against fighters who still outweighed him by a weight class such as in his fight against Rambojiew Por.Thubtim. Despite this, he was still able to defeat several yodmuay (elite fighters) during his decline such as but not limited to Lamnamoon Sor.Sumalee, Prabsuek Sitsantad (Prabsuek Sitnarong), Den Muangsurin, and drew against Therdkiat in their rematch and defeated him again in 1995.

Last fight and death

On February 1, 2002, Chatchai fought the Belarusian Alexei Pekarchyk. After the bout he grew disoriented and fainted, thus he was transported to the hospital where his death from heart failure was pronounced at 1:30 AM the next day. He was 28 years old.^[11] He was cremated and his relatives placed his ashes in the Chukkacher Temple in his hometown of Bueng subdistrict of Sriracha in Chonburi province.^[1]