Martial Arts Odyssey: Bokator: The Khmer Martial Art (Parts 1 and 2)

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One of the most important episodes of "Martial Arts odyssey": Antonio spent 18 months in Cambodia trying to find even one surviving master of the Cambodian martial art of Bokator.

Watch Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gobc3zSjXZU  

Watch part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBwvwThib5s  

His search eventually lead him to Grand Master San Kim Saen whose story of courage and suffering under the murderous Khmer Rouge regime is an inspirational taleof survival. After the end of the repressive Communist period he risked his life to rebuild the martial art and restore the Khmer heritage.

When Antonio broke the story in Black Belt Magazine it was the first time that Bokator had ever been seen by anyone outside of Cambodia. Antonio went on to study Bokator over the next several years, while coordinating several international documentary film teams and TV shows who helped promote the art throughout the world. Eventually Derek Morris and Antonio Graceffo would be the first foreigners to be awarded the Black Krama. Derek earned his instructor certificate and Black Krama in the entire Bokator system. Antonio earned Black Krama in Bokator fighting.

Khmer people find it important to show the world their art and culture. They also wish to reclaim the name, as Thai martial arts are so much more widely known and practiced in the west.

Antonio asks you to join him on facebook.com send him an email or a friend request.

Antonio Graceffo is the author of five books, available on amazon.com. He is also the host of the web TV show, "Martial Arts Odyssey." To see Antonio Graceffo’s Burma and martial arts videos, check his YouTube channel brooklynmonk1: https://www.youtube.com/user/brooklynmonk1youtube  

His book, "The Monk from Brooklyn" and all of his books are available on Amazon.com

Contact him; [email protected]  

Article written by Antonio Graceffo

Antonio Graceffo PhD China-MBA, works as an economics researcher and university professor in China. He holds a PhD from Shanghai University of Sport Wushu Department where he wrote his dissertation “A Cross Cultural Comparison of Chinese and Western Wrestling” in Chinese. He is the author of 8 books, including Warrior Odyssey and The Monk from Brooklyn. His regular column, Destinations, has been running in Black Belt Magazine since 2009. He has fought professionally as a boxer and MMA fighter as well as fighting as an amateur in boxing, sanda, and wrestling. Having spent over 15 years studying martial arts in Asia, he holds black belts in Cambodian Bokator, Filipino Kuntaw and Cambodian traditional kick boxing. In Malaysia, he was the first non-Malay to be awarded the title of Pahlawan Kalam (warrior of Silat Kalam). Currently, he is pursuing a second PhD in economics at Shanghai University, specializing in US-China Trade, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Trump-China economics. His China economic reports are featured regularly in The Foreign Policy Journal and published in Chinese at The Shanghai Institute of American Studies, a Chinese government think tank.