The Young Lions Articles- Rav
| Mixing With The Celebrities By Rav Sidhu: During my time in the martial arts and kickboxing , I’ve had the pleasure in meeting, interviewing and training with some of the celebrities in the kickboxing and martial arts scene from around the world. Being the Kickboxing/Muay Thai collumnist for Fighttimes magazine, made many of these meetings possible. Some of the celebrities I’ve met include: | |
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Kyoshi Sama Bob Jones I first met Bob Jones in 1993 at one of the Duelmaster shows when shootboxing made its debut in Adelaide. I found him to be a very sociable person - very easy to get along with. Being at a fight night rather than a dojo floor made this meeting more casual |
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. Pete "Sugarfoot" Cunningham One of my highlights was interviewing and training with 8 times world kickboxing champion from the United States, Pete "Sugarfoot" Cunningham. Pete trains at the world famous Jet Centre under Benny Urquidez. Pete is such a cool dude to meet, having seen many of his fights on video, having a chance to train with the champ and interview him was fantastic! |
| Pete is also nowadays very much into the hollywood scene and has acted in ‘Rage of Honour’ ‘No Retreat No Surrender’ and more recently played the double to Wesley Snipes in the hollywood blockbuster ‘Blade’. | |
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The Late Master Dana Goodsen Master Dana Goodsen was a close friend of mine. I first met him back in1992 and ever since we’ve kept in touch by phone. He had been to Adelaide on many occasions and more recently in 1998 or 99 when he brought Romolo Pio to fight Danny Verusio for the Australian title. |
| It was a big loss to the kickboxing community to lose such a nice fella when Dana passed away in December 2000. | |
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Stan "The Man" Longinidis An interview with the super heavyweight champion of the world was organised by Dana. What I really admire about Stan is his attitude to the sport. What I mean is he does all his talking in the ring where it counts, and he doesn't bag any opponent even though they may bag him. He is a real gentleman of the sport - no wonder he is regarded as the ambassador of kickboxing in Australia. |
| He has mixed it up with the very best in the world in the superheavyweight devision Stan has also got into the movie business these days. | |
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Krongsek Lek I haven't seen a little guy kick the thaipads as hard as he did! Actually the meeting came as a surprise to me as I was meant to interview someone else but ended up doing a story on him. To actually speak to a Thai who has had over 200 professional fights in Thailand (elbows and all!) Was a huge thrill for me. |
| Now Krongsek has become a good friend of mine and I recently met up with him in Surfers Paradise as he was fighting Shannon Forrester in the main event. | |
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Master Surachai Chai Sirisute Sirisute, it was the first time training with a Thai trainer for me. Some of the stuff he taught us was out of this world! He was a former Thailand champion in his hay day and has now moved to the U.S. He is the president of the Thaiboxing association of USA. |
| A lot of traditional Muay Thai skills and tricks of the trade were shown, he is also a very funny guy | |
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The late Darren "Destroyer" HedgecockI was fortunate to meet Darren when he came down to Adelaide to work Sam "Ponyboy" Soliman’s corner. This was when Soliman fought Sam Harvey in 1993 or 94. If anyone hasn't seen Darren in action, check out a fight video called ‘Battle of the Champions’. |
| Darren fought our very own Anthony Lapia in a spectacular show in Melbourne - a very solid fight. | |
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Howard Leigh I met Howard a few years ago when I worked with him as I was doing the commentary for Adelaide's world title fights in 1999. Howard was brought in to Adelaide to be the Master of Ceremonies for the big show. |
| Howard’s a very funny man, full of humour, it was very nice to have met him. He has been in the spotlight for many years, very | |
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Kash "The Flash" Gill Former world middleweight champion, Kash is a respected identity in the kickboxing areana. Ive been communicating with him for a while now mostly though email. He really loves visiting Australia too, he has been here on many occasions. |
| Recently Kash made a comeback to the ring as he was retired for a while after his loss his world title to Ian Jacobs from Australia. Kash will be fighting for another world title again soon | |
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John Wayne Parr JWP has to be one of the nicest guys in the sport of Muay Thai and now Professional Boxing. I recently met him in August 2001 in Surfers Paradise while I was up there with Anthony Dutton and Barry Saunders. He is a World Muay Thai champ, having fought the best in Thailand and beating many of them including his last fight with Coban at the Kings Cup 2000. |
| He may seem to be cocky when he fights, but once the fight is over and out of the ring he is a true gentlemen. Now all his efforts are into the world of Pro Boxing and working his way up the rankings. He recently has the urge to get back to using all eight weapons once more and he is going to the U.S for a Muay Thai fight contract. | |
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