Little Kickboxer Packs a Big Wallop

If the stubby kickboxer with the ring name “Alien” were just a bit taller and heavier, he could have been a contender.

At 4 feet 8 inches, Thanakorn Somthorn is shorter than wiry 11-year-olds who skip rope alongside him at training camp in the tropical countryside of central Thailand.

But Thanakorn, 20, is punching and kicking his way to renown as the smallest man in kickboxing, or muay thai, Thailand’s most popular spectator sport, in which kung fu-style barefoot kicks accompany gloved punches.

With a growing fan following, TV networks carry broadcasts of many of Thanakorn’s fights.

Thanakorn, widely known by the nickname “Lakhai,” has won 61 of 97 fights, 30 by knockout. He has tied twice. Of 34 defeats, only two have been by knockout.

His most comfortable weight is 102 pounds; any heavier and he slows down. This has kept him out of organized championships, where the lowest weight division is the 105-pound straw weight.

Lakhai has the broad, muscled chest of a much taller man, but squat legs that leave him vertically challenged. He is billed as the world’s shortest boxer.

“I think I could have been a champion if I’d been a bit taller,” Lakhai says. “As it is, I just want to be well known.”

He routinely stands toe-to-toe with opponents 8 to 12 inches taller, taking punches, barefoot kicks, knees and elbows to his close-cropped head before counterattacking with surprising shoulder-high left kicks and uppercuts.

“I’ve never fought anyone smaller than me,” Lakhai says before a sparring session at a boxing ring in a clearing in a jackfruit and banana orchard. “I don’t think there is anyone.”

Lakhai was given the ring name “Alien” by his promoters because of his unusual physique. He wears a black pointed hat with winking red lights into the ring, meant to give him the look of a Martian.

“He’s so short that everyone laughs,” says his manager, Panachurpet Krisanaracha, a former police colonel. “But if his opponents laugh at him, he gets angry. He’s a smart boxer, and his left kick is very strong.”

Lakhai started boxing professionally at age 12, two years after he quit school. By law, professional muay thai fighters are supposed to be 15 years or older, but it’s not unusual for boys as young as 7 to start fighting for a little money.

Panachurpet recruited Lakhai two years ago to work as a second at the Sor Panachurpet training camp, which he set up on a farm in central Rayong province. But he soon recognized the small fighter’s ambition in the ring himself.

At first, promoters were reluctant to give Lakhai any fights because of his size. His head is level with the top rope in the ring.

His break came during a controversial bout 18 months ago when he came from behind to clinch a points victory over a much taller opponent. The crowd went wild--principally because they lost money on the fight. Illegal gambling is rife at bouts.

A noted boxing promoter who heard about the ruckus staged a rematch at Bangkok’s Lumpini stadium. Lakhai won again.

Lakhai can earn a respectable $1,110 for a win, with 50% of the purse going to his manager. Top fighters earn $2,220 to $4,440.

In careers that could span 300 to 400 fights, most kickboxers quit by age 28. Lakhai’s career is likely to be shorter.

His handlers say that since he takes a lot of punishment to overcome his physical disadvantages--such as the eight-stitch cut caused by a knee blow to his head--he should retire within two years.

Lakhai says he will fight until his body can’t take it anymore. Then he’d like to be a movie star, perhaps in comedy.