Buakaw vs. Petrosyan: Eternal Champions

Let me set the scene.

2007: K-1 is one of the biggest combat sports promotions on the planet. In this year alone they will stage 33 events in fifteen different nations.

In May of ‘07 the K-1 show has rolled into Stockholm, and the Swedes are very excited. And for good reason, as kickboxing’s pound-for-pound number one is on the bill.

Buakaw Por Pramuk has not lost for over two years since a debatable decision to Andy Souwer in the final of the 2005 K-1 MAX tournament. Buakaw promptly goes on a 15-fight tear (14-0-1, six by stoppage) which includes a who’s who of fighters: Jean-Charles Skarbowsky, Mike Zambidis, Muay Thai legend Jomhod, Yoshihiro Sato, Ole Laursen, as well as old foe Andy Souwer, winning the 2006 K-1 World MAX Grand-Prix, the first fighter to win it twice.

Buakaw is a transcendent superstar in a sport that is still niche in much of the world. In his native Thailand, he’s a national hero. In Japan, he’s feted by hardcore combat sports fans, and well known in a country that actually sees kickboxing near the top of the pile as far as sporting competition goes. As far as Europe, he is feared for his brutal kicks and tenacious all-round game.

Not only will Europe get to see Buakaw in action, K-1 has a fun fight planned for the Swedish faithful: a rematch with Aussie fan favourite John Wayne Parr. But Parr suffers an injury sparring with the always dangerous Nathan ‘Carnage’ Corbett.

Not wanting to take Buakaw off the card, K-1 scramble around for a replacement. Respected Italian—via Armenia—Giorgio Petrosyan gets the call. With a 25-1-1 record, Petrosyan has already fought in both full Thai rules and kickboxing, and looks to be a decent replacement to fight Buakaw, without upsetting the apple cart of K-1’s biggest star.

What would follow was a close and controversial bout that kickboxing fans still talk about to this day: One legendary reign being interrupted by a young fighter who would go on to make his own legend.

Kickboxing fans didn’t know it at the time, but with John Wayne Parr getting injured, K-1 accidentally went and made a super fight.

Pre-Fight

So K-1 wouldn’t have given Buakaw a complete blow out of an opponent, but how good was Petrosyan at this time? Certainly with YouTube nowadays it is easy to type a name into the search bar and easily access an archive of footage for pretty much any fighter, but at this point it was still in its infancy, or at least the amount of fights on there nowadays were not in 2007.

Petrosyan was not an unknown commodity though: he had already fought in Thailand, he had fought extensively on the European scene, and perhaps most importantly he had appeared on a K-1 card in Italy the month before he jetted off to Sweden to face Buakaw.

Being aware of all this today but not a big kickboxing fan at the time (although my friends and I had been watching events on Eurosport for years, we were not well acquainted with all the different fighters barring the heavyweights and Buakaw and Masato really) I felt I needed perspective from someone who was deep into the kickboxing scene at the time.

Luckily for me, we have one on staff, Hamady Diagne. And it turns out he had first hand experience of what Petrosyan would bring to the table:

In May 2007, Buakaw was most likely the number one kickboxer in the world, pound for pound. He also probably was the biggest star of the sport.

Yet when they announced Petrosyan was replacing JWP to face him, there was a few people in the (now defunct) K-1 Fans Forum to believe that—even though he most likely wouldn't win—Giorgio would be a much tougher fight than people expected. At the time, ‘The Doctor’ faced a who's who of European talent, and beat everyone very convincingly, including two of my teammates (Cédric Muller and Mohamed Bourkhis). I saw him fight live a couple of times and I was very impressed.

Buakaw was seen as the logical huge favourite, and I myself believed he would be to much at the time for the young up and coming prodigy, but I suspected Buakaw would have to turn up the heat and not take him lightly. Not many people were aware of the talent Giorgio possessed, because there wasn't that many of his fights available at the time.

Petrosyan then, was a dark horse.

Buakaw was the ‘White Lotus’, and you can read about his ascension to the top of the kickboxing mountain here at The Fight Site, in this excellent run-down of his K-1 MAX tournament win in 2004 from the aforementioned Hamady Diagne.

Since 2004 Buakaw had been on a tear, with a record of 18-2-1, avenging both losses and making up for a disappointing second-place finish in the 2005 MAX tournament to win the 2006 tournament.

Interviewed by Swedish media about his training for the Petrosyan fight (footage below) Buakaw had this to say:

“It has to do with excitement. Its about training until you drop, if you want to be as strong as possible.

I have to beat my opponents. In the ring, one has to show no mercy. If I don’t punch or kick him, he is going to beat me. Up in that ring you must really fight to win.

I can also be nervous. Everyone that steps into that ring knows(or feels) uneasiness and fear. But when you stand in that ring you have to fight.”

Pretty standard fighter talk. But Buakaw didn’t specifically talk about Petrosyan, so perhaps for him it was just another fight.

I wouldn’t be for Petrosyan. Not only taking a step up in competition against the most internationally renowned kickboxer of all time, there was added intrigue in that Petrosyan’s only loss had come to a stablemate of Buakaw’s, Nonthanan Por Pramuk.

Asked about this over the years, Petrosyan has blamed the Thai promoters for somehow giving him stomach cramps (the excuse being that he was given a contaminated drink of some sort) but whatever the circumstances a points loss to a Thai in Bangkok is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s commonplace.

International Kickboxer Magazine in 2013 featured Petrosyan and detailed the circumstances of this loss:

“[The promoters] gave me something to drink which made me unable to fight.”

Petrosyan had been training in Thailand and was offered a bout, which he accepted with his usual unflappable calm. He weighed in at seventy kilograms, two kilograms under the agreed weight, and was required to drink another two litres of water to reach the agreed limit. As a result, he came down with stomach cramps that made it extremely difficult to fight. He went through with it, however, and lost on points. His opponent retired immediately after, scuttling the possibility of a rematch.

“A scandalous fight; the only loss on my record,” he says.

Petrosyan would get a chance to banish all memories of this loss. A win over Buakaw would see him ranked among the very best in the world. No one—not even him—would have to care about a loss to a relatively nondescript Thai after this fight.

The Fight

Adding to the confusion over fan perception of this fight over the years, is the rule-set—and therefore the scoring criteria—that it was contested under.

Contested for Buakaw’s WMC title (World Muay Thai Council) meant that clinching was allowed, kicks and knees would score more than punches, and trips and throws were also part of the scoring criteria. Thai round scoring—later rounds meaning more to the overall scoring of the bout—does not appear to be part of the WMC criteria.

Yet as Buakaw was well known as a kickboxer under K-1 rules—and Petrosyan would become to be known as arguably the greatest kickboxer of all time—this may contribute to polarised opinion over the result, as fans may view the fight through the lens of it being a K-1 bout. When, really, the only thing K-1 about it is that it took place on a K-1 card.

I asked two of The Fight Site’s foremost analysts, Hamady ‘Baba’ Diagne and Ryan Wagner, to re-score the fight round-by-round.

Round One

Baba: Buakaw won this round, controlling the ring, making Petrosyan miss and pay. Landed a nice high kick. Petro does score with some nice counters and displayed his accuracy.

Ryan: Clear Buakaw round - he landed powerful kicks throughout. Petrosyan landed a few clean punches, but didn't have as much impact or as consistent a workrate

Round Two

Baba: Clear Buakaw round. Controlled the action, was more aggressive, landed fairly often but also threw Petro from the clinch.

Ryan: Clear Buakaw round - Petro's kicks are mostly being blocked or countered, while Buakaw is getting through hard with his, landing strong knees in exchanges, and keeping the work upstairs close

Round Three

Baba: Closer round but still Buakaw’s round. Lands more often, controls the clinch.

Ryan: Much closer round, Petro had more offensive success and was able to limit Buakaw's offense much more. Buakaws power kicks were still the most significant work of the round, 10-9 Buakaw

Round Four

Baba: Petro won this round for me. Defends everything and finds counters. Buakaw looking frustrated.

Ryan: Buakaw by a hair. Petro is starting to control the fight and Buakaw's slowing down, but there's still not a lot of significant work from Petro. He was consistently counter kicking this round, but without much impact. Buakaw still landing big kicks, albeit at a lesser rate, and sneaking them in behind Petro's check. Buakaw lands the only remotely legal (and scoreable) clinch takedown and controls the few clich exchanges.

Round Five

Baba: Petro again for me. Buakaw tired, Petro the aggressor. Giorgio lands the better strikes, Buakaw still getting the better of the clinch game.

Ryan: Petro puts some heat on Buakaw early, but Buakaw largely controls the rest of the round with footwork, conter-kicks, and reactive clinch entries. 10-9 Petro for impact and workrate

Final Scores: Baba 48-47 Buakaw / Ryan 49-46 Buakaw

Ryan expounded further on his thoughts on the fight and scoring criteria:

As weird as Thai scoring is, international Muay Thai scoring can often end up just as weird, largely as a result of inconsistency. Even if Thai scoring is somewhat inscrutable, it's at least fairly consistent with standards across the board, but the diversity of organizations, rule sets, and scoring criteria in international Muay Thai makes it less standardized. This fight was held under the K-1 banner, and if I remember correctly used a modified Muay Thai rule set that allowed clinch but not elbows, which makes scoring even more of a question. I don't know what criteria the judges were using, and given the uncertainty of scoring criteria across many kickboxing/Muay Thai promotions, especially for mixed rules fights, we're unlikely to get a great answer.

If we score it as a traditional Muay Thai fight, Buakaw won wide and it isn't even a contest. He was landing the higher scoring work with clean kicks and knees to the body, while Petrosyan's work consisted mainly of lower-scoring punches. Petrosyan's late aggression would have been seen as an admission that he'd lost the fight, and needed to make something big happen to have a hope of winning, while Buakaw dancing off in the fifth round, countering Petrosyan's aggression with kicks, and clinching to keep him off would have been seen as putting a stamp on his dominance.

I gave Petrosyan the benefit of the doubt by scoring it as I would a kickboxing fight (with the addition of scoring clinch throws), leaving aside any narrative elements of Thai scoring and only evaluating quality and quantity of strikes. I still don't see a way Petrosyan could’ve won this fight, let alone earn a draw. Buakaw consistently landed the cleaner strikes throughout, far outworking Petrosyan to the body and legs and keeping the work upstairs close, while also controlling the clinch exchanges and scoring trips. My view is that Buakaw won clearly and the decision was a robbery.

This writer wants to remain diplomatic in order to tell the story neutrally as a historian should, looking at the evidence and restricting opinion only in terms of evaluating the sources plainly. Given the scoring system in place, it is hard to disagree with Ryan and Baba, and it has always rankled me that the bout was scored a draw. It annoys me less nowadays, purely because I am less of a Muay Thai fanatic than I was in 2009-2013, and have come to appreciate Petrosyan’s game more and more as the years have passed.

The fact I still consider Buakaw to have got the better of the fight then, says a lot.

Post-Fight and Legacy

I have seen boxing’s future. Its name is K-1. — Mats Olsson, Expressen

Expressen, Swedish newspaper, 20th May, 2007

The post-fight report in the Swedish press shows that the K-1 show made a generally good impression, with the reporter won over by kickboxing’s charms.

Mats Olsson, writing for Expressen:

‘I have liked boxing since I was a kid and some of the highlights of my job as a sports chronicler were watching Mike Tyson’s many heavyweight matches in Las Vegas.

But traditional boxing, just like old blues and soul, has grown old and out of date, and where hip-hop, rap or crunk are modern musical expressions, K-1 is a gathering place for martial arts as a relatively new expression.’

In the same report, it was noted that Buakaw received the biggest reception of the night. However, despite being won over by kickboxing, Olsson found one cultural aspect of the show a little hard to accept:

(if) there is a threat to these crowds it is the traditional dances that indicate respect, as well that the matches are accompanied by an unbearable fucking whining. It is certainly okay and (is part of) Thai culture but when Buakaw did his dance before the match it felt like watching paint dry.

The Sarama (Muay Thai music) was not to his taste then.

However, Olsson got over that and offered an opinion on the decision. A decision of course, that still provokes debate amongst kickboxing aficionados to this day:

‘Petrosyan was braver, more skillful and better than anyone could have imagined and that it (the result) was a draw felt a little unfair.’

The opposite to how The Fight Site staff felt then.

I also asked Fight Site collaborator and Bloody Elbow kickboxing and Muay Thai scribe Lucas Bourdon to offer his own opinion on the decision. He feels that the draw given on the night was fair:

Yeah, those were the early days of my kickboxing fandom. I'd sort of hear that Petrosyan was a good prospect but I'd never seen him fight and Buakaw was the best in the world so hearing he got a draw was a shock. However, when I got my hands on the fight, I gave it by a shade to Buakaw, but was extremely impressed by Giorgio's performance. I've also flipped flopped on my scoring pretty much any time I've watched the fight in the last 13 years so I've come to feel like the draw is not too bad a result. Anyway you could tell Giorgio was going to be something special and I'll never forgive K-1 judges for depriving us of a rematch in 2009.

That rematch, which fell through as a result of a questionable decision loss for Buakaw against old foe Andy Souwer at K-1 MAX 2009, would’ve made this article an even more compelling two-hander. Imagine, the big final, the rematch, Petrosyan at the peak of his powers (more on that later) against the former two-time K-1 MAX champion.

It doesn’t stop fans wanting to see the rematch thirteen years after their tough draw. A recent rumour that Buakaw was going to sign with Singapore-based combat sports promotion ONE Championship (where Petrosyan also resides) got fans excited again, and I interacted with more than one person on social media who felt we might be getting close.

There would be no argument against a rematch from Petrosyan himself.

International Kickboxer Magazine again:

Petrosyan says now that, if he could fight anyone at all, he would want to rematch Buakaw, even if he had to do so under full Thai rules.

“I would like to fight against Buakaw. It would be my dream fight.”

I’m sure that Petro’s ‘dream fight’ hasn’t changed much in the last seven years. Too late to still be as compelling as it once was, if the rematch were to happen kickboxing fans will probably still be left thinking, ‘what if’? Who would’ve won if they had fought again in their primes? The winner of a Buakaw-Petrosyan rematch in 2009 or 2010 likely goes down unequivocally as the greatest pound-for-pound kickboxer for all time.

For now, their draw stands alone: an excellent fight, and perhaps the rare instance of the first and second best all-time fighters of a sport facing off.

As for the rematch we never got to see in ‘09? Check back tomorrow for a full breakdown of a legendary tournament, as Petrosyan goes from valiant knight to ruler of the kingdom.

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This is the first installment in a series of articles that will make up The Fight Site’s week-long celebration of the great Giorgio Petrosyan. Called—rather inventingly—’Petrosyan Week’—be sure to check back each day—and stay glued to our twitter—to find more aspects of Petro’s career—and his incredible array of skills—covered.

Kyle McLachlan would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this article. First, Hamady Diagne, Ryan Wagner and Lucas Bourdon for agreeing to contribute their thoughts and knowledge. Then, Kevin Strobel for his work producing the cover image for this.

But most importantly I would like to thank Fight Site patron and good friend Aleksander Jacobsen, who kindly translated and transcribed the Swedish primary sources I used in researching and producing this article. This piece honestly wouldn’t have worked as well without his hard work and time.