Cornwall Muay Thai Fighter wins prestigious belt after ferocious five-round contest

A Muay Thai fighter from Falmouth has just won a Stadium Title in Phuket, Thailand, with a unanimous decision after a tough five-round battle. Sam Elsby Hartman, from Falmouth, trains, coaches and fights in the UK from SO8 Muay Thai Gym in Falmouth.

Sam travels and trains as often as he can at the world-famous Sinbi Muay Thai Gym in Phuket, enhancing and improving and fighting for Sinbi in the home of Muay Thai. On Saturday (November 9), Sam took a stadium title fight against another westerner, and fought a ferocious five-round contest of kicks, knees, elbow and punches.

He came away with a unanimous win on points, winning the Sinbi Boxing Stadium Title.

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Ian Davies, owner and head coach at SO8 Muay Thai said: "I’m extremely proud of Sam with his achievements and especially picking up the stadium belt in Thailand. I remember Sam started as a beginner three years ago at So8 and after a few fights he won the south west title, since then he has competed numerous times very successfully in Thailand and in the UK.

"It’s so good to see people walk into my gym expressing an interest in learning Muay Thai and I always say, let’s see where your journey takes you. For Sam, he is living the dream.

"What I like about Sam is his respectful and dedicated attitude to training, he trains so hard and is a friendly and huge inspiration to all his teammates and certainly to new starters. I’m very proud of him and he has a great future in Muay Thai."

Sam said: "I had previously lost fighting for the same title in February so to come back and win it felt amazing. I couldn't have done it without my coaches and team at So8 gym and Sinbi Muay Thai."

Sam will be in Thailand for another three weeks and hopes to fight again before he leaves, when he returns to SO8 to continue his fight career.

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