YOUSSEF BOUGHANEM (BELGIUM)
Interview of YOUSSEF BOUGHANEM by Serge TREFEU (2012)
Serge TREFEU: Hello Youssef, at first thank you for this interview, how are you?
YOUSSEF BOUGHANEM: Well thank you
How you discovered the boxing and you began in which discipline?
I began with the Boxing, made in my district at the beginning I played football then I have make of the Boxing, then I discovered the Kick Boxing with Aziz Khattou who opened a gym in a school, I attended lesson to him. Then later I went to the Thai Boxing…
In what place you increased?
I grew in Belgium to Etterbeek near Brussels
In what gym you began the Thai Boxing?
It was in Friend’s club Gym in Brussels where there was great champions for Basha Valon (Europe Champion) and Mohamed Rahhaoui (World Champion)…
You were how old?
12 years
It was very early, today you have what age?
I have 22 years old
Your first fights you have them make in Belgium?
Yes in Belgium and in Holland also, it belonged towards the Dutch border, to Turnhout in Belgium, to Breda in Holland and in Maastricht in Holland a lot…
How much you have make of fight in Belgium?
I have make approximately 40 amateur fights
You left very young in Thailand, to what age you came in Thailand?
I came towards the end of my 17 years in Thailand
You went to which camp?
I was directly in the camp Jocky Gym in Bangkok, it was in 2007, I came in this camp further to the advice of the great champions who had come in this camp Danny Bill, Stéphane Nikiéma, Jean-Charles Skarbowsky, boxers who make dream!
How long you stayed in Jocky Gym?
One and a half month and I learnt a lot with Pipa, a very big trainer who really showed me the good bases of the Thai Boxing…
You have make the other camps after Jocky Gym?
Yes I moved a lot, I was in Kietkowit, in Sor Weetapun then in camp Muangsima where I stayed on 1 and a half year and in Kietpetch Gym during one year…
And today you are in which camp?
Now I am on Pattaya and I turn between three different schools of boxing, to Pattaya in Sitpolek Gym, in Stéphane Nikiéma’s camp which became my friend, and I returned to Kietpetch to Bangkok to prepare my fights on Bangkok…
Your first fights in Thailand you made them where?
To Koh Samui in the stadium Petch Buncha then in the stadium of Koh Phangnan and later to Nakhon Si Thammarat, to Surat Thani, to Hat Yai’s stadium in the South, I fought to Pattani also, once in a quite small party, I fought a lot in the South. Later I fought on Pattaya then in the end on Bangkok…
You often fought?
Yes enormously, my record it is 8 fights in 1 month!
You were only boxing, too even because 8 fights in month it is really a lot, you were surrounded to manage your fights?
There made that’s right the problem, it is that I was alone, I thought only of boxing, I had nobody for me manager, and it is not only to fight that counts, is needed a team, an infrastructure, and afterward by 2009 I met Alexandre Romain, French installed in Thailand which knows well Muay Thai, and with him I a little better structured my career, he found me fights and openly it was the most beautiful and the most exciting of my fights…
How much fight you have make in Thailand?
I have make 62 fights in Thailand, 25 alone at the beginning and with Alex I have of to make about 37, because after Alex made me fight in China and almost everywhere. I have make a lot of Tournament also, tournaments of 3 fights, I have make 9 Tournaments with 9 finals, 3 tournaments in China to Zhengzou, whom I gained, there were a lot of east fighters, high levels, boys as Egon Racz (World Champion) and Chinese, in Thailand I have make a tournament Toyota where I lost in points in final against Prakayseng Sit Or (Thailand Champion), I have make several tournaments for Pattaya whom I gained, the tournament Thai Fight where I lost in final against Fabio Pinca (World champion, Europe Champion, Thai Fight Champion)…
In Thailand you have make 62 fights for how much victory?
I have only about twenty defeats…
You have many victories by KO?
Yes because I often began my fights directly with lows kicks, and at small level at the beginning that went well, it destroyed the supports of my opponents…
In what stadium you fought in Bangkok?
In the TV7 against Thepsutin Phumpanmoung (N°1 Lumpinee), I lost on wound in the last round, I fought Chokchai Sor Kingstar in Radja which I beat, I fought in the stadium of Omnoi against Dernchonlek Sor Niyom (N°1 Radja), I have make draw against him, I fought twice in the TV 11 also…
What are the thai known fighters that you faced so far?
Numbeechai Nakatornparkview.wich was a champion of the Radja when I faced him, I fought him when I was 18 years old, I won against him, Sittisak Por Sirichai who fights in the TV7, I lost in points against him, he had madman’s middles, Chokchai Sor Kingstar (victory), Yodnapa Changtalley (Radja Champion) (victory), Petmai Petjaopraya (N°1 Omnoi in 2009) (victory), Lohngern Pitakkruchaidaen (victory), Big Ben Kesagym (Radja Champion, World Champion WBC, Thailand Champion) (victory), Thepsutin Phumpanmoung (N°1 Lumpinee in 2012) (defeat), Prakayseng Sit Or (Thailand Champion) (defeat), Mangkornyok Sityodtong (victory), Buakaw Por Pramuk (K1 Max Champion, Thai Fight Champion) (defeat), Dernchonlek Sor Niyom (N°1 Radja in 2012) (draw), Suriya Sor Ploenchit (Lumpinee Champion) (defeat) and my last fight it was against Diesellek Topkingboxing (Radja Champion, World champion WPMF), I lost by KO against him, it is my first lose by KO in 100 fights…
And against European champions?
French Fabio Pinca (World Champion, Europe Champion, Thai Fight Champion ), I lost in points against him, Dutch Anthony David Kane (World Champion WAKO), I beat him in points, English Stephen Meikle (World Champion ISKA), I beat him in points, Dutch Robin Van Roosmalen (It’s Show Time Champion) whom I beat twice…
When you met Buakaw, you did not have time to express your boxing because you hurt you in the 1st round, that gets better this wound today?
Yes against Buakaw I have my wound which returned regrettably, it is the wound that I had two years ago against Thepsutin. Made me had been made this wound two weeks before the fight against Thepsutin, it was for the training, I was crossed by top a boxing ring which was high, when I fell my shoulder to be torn, my shoulder it is slightly dislocated, I continued to train all the same, and I could not cancel the fight against Thepsutin, it was a fight in the TV7 in fight N°3, a fight in the TV7 you do not can refuse this opportunity, thus I have him make, and here is the fate made that the fight it is like that ended…
You have of to stop the boxing hanging how long after this wound?
There were several periods, has a moment I stopped three months then I returned, I was careless to make him, because wounds it is to be very seriously taken, I understood that afterward, I am make operated, I have make a reeducation, I have make good things, at the moment there that gets better, and there I arrive at the end of my reeducation, I am practically 100 %, the healing touches its end…
What was so far the hardest fighter whom you faced?
I think that it is against Petmai Petjaopraya, a fighter of the very strong Radja, he opened me twice below the eye and once on the skull, it was very strong with the elbows, I have of the drawn in my resources to beat him, I beat him by stop of the referee in fourth rounds but it was hard…
Your best wishes of boxing?
It is my victory against Mangkornyok Sityodtong where I became a champion of Pattaya. Mangkornyok it was the boxer who was me everybody KO with his High Kicks, and I arrived, I have make a bet, and I beat him, it is in this fight that I knew Alex moreover, it is a beautiful memory!
When you fights, you make bets also?
Yes it manages at me to put my bonus because the base of the boxing in Thailand they are bets…
How you learnt to bet in Thailand because it is difficult for a foreigner to master the complex system of Thai bets in Muay Thai?
Yes but thanks to Alexandre Romain, French installed in Thailand for 30 years, he explained me the functioning because Alex knows very well the Thai Boxing and bets, then as I learnt to speak indeed about the thai, I had so a lot of explanation by thais friends…
When you fights you take into account the atmosphere to bind in bets, you manage to concentrate on your fight and at the same time to listen to the punters?
Yes because made there is a quotation which is to give, and it is simple or you are down or you are above, and you can meet, find you with regard to the atmosphere, to the shouts, when that shouts ” Hi “, you are late, when that shout ” Oé “, you are early, I look at thais in which direction they put the hands, namgnoen (the blue boxer) or sii deang (the red boxer), I see if it is rather me or my opponent, I look at the quotations, if it plays it to 3 against 1, 10 against 1, there are moments when the referee stop the clinch, you can glance on bets, you can listen to your corner which speaks to you, there are lots of small thing like that, it is a system of calculator, you put a middle that makes 2 points, we put back to you a middle your points are to cancel, that make 0-0, you put a low kick, we put back to you a low kick, 0-0, so, I calculate all that…
You really manage to calculate your points from the beginning to the end of your fight?
Yes but you look in most of the fights, thais boxers they have two teachings, or they learn to count by them even or we count for them in their corner, it is what I observed in 5 years, since I am in Thailand. I consider I even my points but I also listen to my circle because sometimes you are in highlight in the fight, you are in trance, it goes fast, middle, put back middle, middle, there it is more difficult to count points. But there are also fights, it arrives, where the arbitrators do not listen to the punters, sometimes the arbitrators by ego, they follow their judgment, and some make a mistake. There is also which are corruptible, they receive a sum of money to give a winner, it is the Thailand…
It managed at you to have had litigious decisions on your fights, the impression to have been “stolen” on a fight?
Yes but when I say a “stolen” match, I do not say it to the Westerner, I say it more with the Asian vision, here in Thailand, about the way it bets you cannot be normally “stolen”, and when you are stolen you know him, and everybody know him, and there was a lot of match which I have make where I am make “stolen”. But boxing in Thailand it is complicated, it is necessary to sign a contract with a promoter, you have to give him 50 % of your purse, well, you have to choose, it is either the glory or the money, you cannot have both at the same time, and I I chose the money because I have a family, I fight to eat, for my family, I have a child, I have to feed my family…
You are as the Thai boxers, you make this hard job that is the Thai Boxing to be able to meet the needs of your family?
Yes but whatever we think of it, there are many Thai which fights for the glory, that is they go to Petchyindee (Promoter N°1 of Lumpinee) or to Por Pramuk (Lumpinee Promoter), and they sign a contract where they have to give 50 % even sometimes 80 % of their bonus, and here is they have the glory, they are Champion of Lumpinee, they are Champion of K1 Max, here is…
They have the glory, the fame, but not the money that they would deserve?
Exactly, they have the glory, they are formed from A to Z, it is normal in Asia, it is a normal mentality, it is the system which you have to follow. After if you don’t this system, for example, Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee, who is alone, who manage alone, who does not follow the system, he is a champion of absolutely nothing, and nevertheless it is a great champion…
It is rare the fighters as Sudsakorn who manages to make his career alone in Thailand?
Yes it is very rare, but there is more and more, you see him with Buakaw Por Pramuk who decided now of on alone manager, there is more and more which open eyes. We are crossed for a period when the thais which lived 1000 years behind, today they live in a globalization where all the world wants its independence, and even at the level of the politics and of the monarchy in Thailand it became very complicated with regard to that, people are more for their independence than for the people, they escape the “doctrine”, they are more for them even, and in the boxing it is the phenomenon which sees itself more and more this change, because in Thailand, the “boss” it is the “boss”, the “oldest” lad, it is the “oldest “, ” the richest”, it is the “richest”, it is him who commands, it is like that…
The Thai fighters fights more and more often abroad, they thus have can be also a bigger open-mindedness than before?
Yes and it is necessary to say also that there is a ” shock of the cultures ” with the foreigners, the European which come more and more in Thailand, maintaining for several years…
Since how long you are installed in Thailand?
For five years…
You interests you in the Thai culture, what you like most in Thailand?
I am interested in the culture because I am in the system but it is the Thai Boxing that I prefer most in Thailand!
You have already fought in the King’s Birthday and the Queen’s Birthday?
Yes, it is dates important for Thai, they are magnificent memories in the career of a boxer!
You have a small brother who also fights in Thailand, he trains where?
Yes his name is Yassine Boughanem, he made 60 fights and he trains with me…
What is what there are fighters who influenced you in your boxing when you began your career?
Yes but me it was by period at the moment I was in love with the magic technique of Danny Bill, later I liked the fights of Stéphane Nikiéma, after I like Rob Kaman, after moment it was Ramon Dekkers, I had flash also on Dida, lads who had things in more than the others, that it always fascinated me!
And for the fighters thai?
The legends Samart Payakaroon, Diesel Noy, the artist Samsan Issan and I liked the technique of Olé Kiatwonway, he had dodge of the bust and put back, it was the madness, for me the most exciting boxers it is the ones who controls the art of the dodge, the blocking and the put back, it is for me the fights the most beautiful to see, thais they call that it ” Tit o tit ” (To you to me), it is when you stay in front of the opponent and when each alternately they give knocks, as the fight of Buakaw against Mickaël Piscitello, it was of the never seen for Thai, an European which makes one ” Tit o tit ” against Buakaw, and that nobody noticed it, in Europe everybody said ” Piscitello it is made burst by Buakaw ” but which made that in France with the same technique, nobody, with the front kick by blocking, the poke, put back in uppercut, it is of the passion, it is the madness to fight like that!
You like fight like that too?
I I have another boxing, I am a boxer ” Muay khao ” (strong in knees), I like the clinch, I was like that formed but after I like all boxes, I am a professional boxer, I lived of the boxing, but I am also an enthusiast…
You touch of good purse today in Thailand?
Yes I am touch a very good purse
You are going to have the opportunity to fight again for Thai Fight?
Yes I had met Burneung on April 17th but as I took KO against Diesellek Topkingboxing who is at present N° 1 of Lumpinee in 154 lbs, I have to wait because it is necessary 30 days of distances, thus the fight was cancelled. But I shall be in October for the tournament in 70 kg there…
It is your first lose by KO, you dominated the fight against Diesellek?
Yes on 100 fights it is my first lose by KO, I dominated the fight, I was 3 against 1 in the quotation, I have make a just sequence of movements to calm him but I lower too much my guard, my right hand was too low, and he sent me High Kick, here is it is the boxing…
You risk to meet again Fabio Pinca in the tournament of Thai Fight?
Fabio is in 67 kg and I am in 70 kg, and I believe that he is now in a tournament Golden Glory in K1 rules, I risk of met in 70 kg, Buakaw, Cosmo, Watson…
Buakaw you would like to take your revenge in front of him?
Yes of course!
What are for you the strongest Thai boxers in your category at present?
There is Aikpracha who is the champion of the Lumpinee, he is hard and solid, then there are Khem, Sudsakorn, Buakaw then after behind you have Saiyok, Diesellek, Dernchonlek…
There is an opponent in particular that you would like to meet?
I would like to make a revenge against Diesellek Topkingboxing, when you win by KO in Thailand it has no same impact as in Europe, it is less liked here than in Europe, in Thailand they prefer to win with the honor of five rounds…
Your next fight it is for when?
In 30 days, I am obliged to wait 30 days because it is the commission of the sports that obliges me to respect this rule. I do not know against whom I am going to fight, maybe the revenge against Diesellek, it is in discussion to make her for the TV7, it is the first one because now Thai do not want more that “farangs” (foreign) fights in the TV7, they want henceforth whether it is the Thai heritage the fights in the TV7, that it stays in Thais…
What is what you would like you could compete for a fight for a belt of a big stadium as Lumpinee or Radja?
I know how arrived there, it is simple, but I do not think of it because I did not choose this way there, today I have a woman and a child, it is not any more me who manage my dreams, it is more my life, thus today to sign with a promoter and to give him more than 50 % of my purse to be lucky to have a belt it is difficult for me because I would have to put aside my family, in now more the Thai promoters when they want 50 % on your purse, they also want him on your fights in Europe, all around the world, well, I prefer to be free, thus I prefer to challenge all the European, the foreigners, if a foreigner think that he can beat me, here is we make a million baht dumpan, In Thailand in Lumpinee, here is there is no cheating, whoever in 70 kg, Dutch, French, any nationality, I am ready to face him…
The challenge is thrown, a dumpan one million bahts (25 000 euro) to face Youssef Boughanem in Lumpinee, thus notice to all the foreign fighters?
Yes the challenge is thrown, those who have 1 million bahts to be put, I wait…
You want to add some thing?
Thanks to you Serge to be moved to you in my home to interview me, long life in your site and in the promotion of the Thai Boxing which you make, I give a big hello to all those who will read to me, I greet Alexandre Romain, Chun Kietpetch, Stéphane Nikiéma, Sitpolek, all those who help me closely or remotely in the boxing, thanks to my family, thank my brother Choco, Nabil, Selim, Mimi, P touille, Hadj, Choukri and to my friends
Thank for this interview, good restoring and chookdee for your next fights!
Thanks to you
Youssef Boughanem is a real phenomenon of boxing rings, this young fighter has Muay thai in the blood, he fights as thais, his control of Muay Thai is completed and the big challenges do not frighten him. He does not hesitate to face, to them, the best Thai fighters of moment. Youssef has of to stop temporarily his lightning ascent because of a bad wound. Indeed, he fought far too much with not enough time of recovery, and it was often with very powerful, very hard techniques of clinch that damaged and weakened his right shoulder. But today Boughanem returned to sound better level and trains even more hard than before. Challenges are going to be many for this boy wonder, first of all a revenge in front of rough Diesellek and in June, in France, he will face terrible Aikpracha Meenayotin current Champion of Lumpinee in 147 lbs, a fight which will certainly make lift the crowd. Youssef Boughanem still promises us of big moments of boxing, it is unmistakably the future Star of boxing rings!
YOUSSEF BOUGHANEM
Weight : 70 Kg
Height : 1m78
Number of fight : 102
Professionnal : 62. 41 Wins. 20 Losses. 1 Draw.
Amateur : 40. 37 Wins. 2 Losses. 1 Draw.
Title : Belgium Champion. Pattaya Champion. Winner Tournament 1-King. Winner Tournament Men Pyramid WMA.
Team : Kietpetch Gym