At what age did you begin Thai boxing?
I first started Thai boxing at the age of four, as I lived next door to the camp in Pakkanong run by Arjarn Samai and would go there with my father and watch the fighters training but it was not really until I was 6 or 7 years old that I really started to train.
When the fighters would leave for their run, I would sneak in and train and Arjarn Samai would teach me to stand, to punch and to kick and then when the fighters returned I would have to leave as I was too small.
Which Thai boxing camps did you belong or train at during your fight career?
Because of the city that I lived in Houy Kwang I trained mainly with Arjarn Samai and at a number of other camps including Singpravacs, Sorpsayathai and Jitsophsa
Who were your trainers?
Arjarn Samai, Arjarn Sming and Arjarn Suvannarocs.
When did you come to America?
In the June or July of 1967.
How did you get started teaching Thai boxing?
In April 1968 I started to teach at a Shotokan karate studio, I used to jog on the beach and do some shadow boxing, and the teacher of the school saw me and asked me if I wanted to teach at his school. Initially I trained his students and then people would come just for the Thai Boxing. Then in 1972 I started to teach Thai boxing first at Chaffey College at the same time teaching at the YMCA and at Clairemont College and Cal State
Was there a lot of resentment from the other martial arts teachers?
Initially there was a lot of resentment and jealously from other instructors. They didn’t know about how about Thai boxing was that resulted in many challenges to fights.
Did you ever get challenged to fights?
Yes from about 1968 – 1980 when Thai Boxing started to get better known about in America, I received many challenges, but the people didn’t know just how dangerous the Thai boxing techniques were and so the challenges were easily beaten.
When did you first open your own school?
I opened my first school in Alta Loma, California that was really small. Then in Norco and Corona California and then a much larger one in Pomona, California, which had a jogging track and 20 heavy bags.
When did you start the Thai boxing association of America?
Officially in 1980, but it had been running unofficially since about 1974.
When did your connection with Dan Inosanto start?
Guru Dan and myself knew of each other since about 1968, but it was not until 1977 that Guru Dan started to train with me as a student, I should also like to say at this point that Guru Dan has helped me the most in this country and also the world to publicize myself and Thai Boxing.
Was it through you that Guru Dan became associated with the art of Krabi Krabong and the Buddiah Sawan?
Chai: yes, I took Dan to Thailand where I introduced him to my uncle who was a General in the military, and then later to meet Por Kru Samai. It was he who asked me to help promote Krabi Krabong in the United States, but I explained that all my time was committed to trying to promote Thai Boxing, but that I would get my student Dan to promote the Krabi Krabong. However now since the death of Arjarn Samai there have been disagreements about the Krabi Krabong, but it is my hope that Arjarn Tony Moore will help to resolve and heal these disagreements as he more than anyone has helped so much to promote not just Krabi Krabong in Europe but all of the Thai arts. I was actually there when Tony received his diploma and I signed the back of his certificate.
Do you think that your very close relationship with the JKD Association means that not as much emphasis is put on the Thai Boxing as there would be from a purely Muay Thai School?
I should like to point out that there is too much politics in JKD. Everyone knows that Dan is my student, but since 1970 when Bruce Lee died it has been Dan Inosanto who has made JKD into what it is today, and once again he has helped me so very much as my student, my brother, and my friend.
With regard to teaching Thai Boxing as JKD, I don’t teach JKD. I am a Thai Boxer and I only teach Thai Boxing. Thai Boxing is not JKD. Grappling is not JKD. Guru Dan is a great martial artist and has brought a lot of these arts to people’s attention but JKD is only really a framework to which Thai Boxing is added just as with Grappling, Savate or Wing Chun.
Do you have your own school in Thailand?
No. I live here in America since 1968 and so there is no point in having a camp in Thailand, when I’m in Thailand I get lots of other camps coming to see me asking advice or for help, with their boxing.
Do you send fighters or teams to compete in Thailand?
Yes I was the first person to send a US team there in 1982, but at that time there was a lot of resentment and jealousy from people saying that I should send Americans to Thailand to train, but now people realize that I was doing the right thing and that has actually helped to promote and publicize Thai boxing where otherwise it wouldn’t have happened
What do you think about all the other Thai boxing organizations springing up in the America and are there any plans to amalgamate them all together?
Chai: I don’t have any problem with any other organization, but I don’t like the politics in the Thai Boxing. The organization makes no difference. Thai instructors either new or old should be good and stick together to promote Thai Boxing, and by promoting Thai Boxing I don’t mean putting on fights, that doesn’t promote Thai Boxing, that is a business. It is only when people teach that they are promoting Thai Boxing. I wish that regardless of which organization or association people belonged to, that fighter could actually fight so having the best people from whereever group they came without the politics or the jealously.
You have said in previous interviews that it only takes 6 months to produce a Thai fighter, but your grading or apprentice system requires a minimum of 5 years study, why the difference?
Its basically down to time and commitment, if someone trained with me every couple of days they could be turned into a good Thai fighter within 6 months. The reason that our apprentice system is so much longer has a lot to do with the size of the USA. As my students from other states have to travel to seminars in order to get to spend any level of time with me, and even five or six seminars a year it would take someone who is very committed to their training at least five years using this type of system to gain enough technical knowledge to be considered able to be a teacher. A prime example of this is Chris Malgeri from here in Michigan, who has been training with me for almost ten years, as well as under the guidance of sifu David Hatch and though very good is still only now able to advance to the next level.
Does your association hold US championships?
Yes we do
You now travel worldwide giving seminars almost every week, is this in order to make your association more global?
The main reason for traveling and doing seminars is basically to promote the art of Muay Thai. If because of my reputation that helps to get the message out so much the better, and if people need help in setting up their own associations or organizations, then I try and help as much as I can.
Do you have any instructors in the U.K. yet?
Yes. Several including Arjarn Nick Hewitson
Do you have any other Thai instructors with whom you work alongside to help maintain your association’s technical standards?
Chai: if peoples interest in Thai Boxing is great enough and travel to Thailand to learn or refine particular skills then I send them to various camps to get the best instruction. You cannot limit yourself to just one particular camp, so if people are interested in kicking I send them to the Fairtex Camp to train with Apidaet Sit-Hilan, or if interested in the knee I send them to train at Diesel Noi’s Camp. If they want to punch Samart Payak-Arun or elbow Daenchai Yondaragit, to clinch Adun Sristorn and Sirimongkon Luksiripat.
Do you have a successor in mind, if anything should happen to you?
Yes my oldest son Chai Junior I have three son’s but he seems to have the greatest interest, though he has had a couple of fights, he is more focused currently on grappling in which he won two gold’s and is currently training with the Machindo’s and my other two sons Christopher and Alexander are both still quite young and interested in other things.
Having achieved so much is there any thing you would like to do?
I would eventually like to retire as all the traveling takes a toll on your body. I have now been teaching Thai Boxing for thirty five years and in any other job would have retired by now and it would be nice to do the same with regard to all the seminars. I know a lot of people think that I’m only continuing because of the money but this is so wrong, as I often do seminars for free at schools where they only have a few students. It is more important to me, to promote Thai Boxing , when I first started back in 1968 I didn’t charge anyone for the first seven years, I would do demonstrations and seminars all over America for free and was only able to do so because I was being sent money to live by my father and Arjarn Samai.
Do you still work with the Dallas cowboys as a conditioning coach?
No but I do still keep in contact with a lot of the players
Are there any plans to write another book or republish your first one, as Thai boxing books are now very popular, and any chance of you writing a book on Krabi Krabong?
Chai: I get about a hundred requests every week from people asking me to write another book on Thai Boxing. The other book I wrote a long time ago and have learnt much since then particularly about teaching, so yes eventually I will but only when I feel I can put everything that I have learnt into it. As for Krabi Krabong I know how to do it and have the certificates to prove it , but there are other people much more skilled in that art who would be better at writing a book on it than myself.
Do you feel that week long instructor’s courses run by groups like Fairtex are a good or a bad thing for Thai boxing in general?
Chai: it is good that people want to learn , and the Fairtex Camp is a great place to do it as they have many fighters with lots of experience and good instructors. But it is only a good thing if the people doing these courses go having already having experience in Thai Boxing, using it as refresher or to broaden their skills. If they are just paying their money to receive a certificate then it would not be a good thing.
