Lethwei With Champion Dave Leduc
In South east Asia nestled between Thailand and India sits a country forged by conflict. Myanmar is formally known a Burma. In the last hundred years they have separated from imperial rule, had a civil war and freedom from a Military ruled government.
These kind of environments are rugged and make for hard upbringing. Much like growing up in a rough neighborhood people become more prone to violence. Those same environments leave people and countries alike striving for their individuality.
Part of their individuality and the reason you are reading this here is their unique national sport of “Lethwei”. For those of you who have never heard of Lethwei, it is the most brutal exciting stand up style in the world.
In traditional Lethwei there is only two ways to win. Either you knock the other guy out, or do so much damage they call a doctors stoppage. In an attempt to modernize the sport and bring it to the forefront of the world judges have been instituted.
In Lethwei there are no gloves only lightly wrapping and taping the hands is allowed. What is allowed is essentially anything that goes while standing. Punches, Elbows, Knees, Slams, Takedowns and Headbutts! The headbutt is the reason the sport has earned the nickname “The art of 9 limbs”
All fights are 5 rounds. During the fight if a fighter is knocked down three times in a round a TKO is called or if a fighter is knocked down a total of five times through an entire fight a TKO is called.
Lethwei is also unique in the fact that there is only one sanctioning body. They issue one champion per weight class, then there is the “Golden Belt” Champion. The golden belt is the open weight champion. The golden belt signifies being the best fighter in Myanmar.
Recently many western fighters have been drawn to Lethwei. The people of Myanmar love foreign fighters fighting the hometown fighters. It becomes a sense of national pride for them. The national fights often times have more than 30 million viewers.
Speaking of foreign fighters that have gone over to Myanmar and fought is Canadian fighter Dave Leduc. Dave is the current Cruiserweight Champion and the holder of the Golden Belt champion. What makes Dave special is he is currently undefeated in traditional rules matches.
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His Current Lethwei record is 5-0-6. In Lethwei at the end of big fights, it will be declared a draw if there is no clear winner. Dave’s Muay Thai record makes more traditional sense with a astonishing 14-1-0. With all these fights taking place in Thailand.
What makes Dave Leduc special is the way he trains. His pad work is something of legend at Tiger Muay Thai in Thailand. Dave would draw peoples attention while hitting pads and the heavy bag because of his integration of headbutts into his combos.
Being a technical striker with an open mind is what makes Dave such a spectacle in Myanmar. He is as big as any movie star can be in Myanmar. Yet outside of Myanmar very few know who he is and even fewer know about Lethwei.
Lethwei has given so much to Dave and he has been trying to spread the word and bring his sport to the masses. Part of his mission is to help people learn the sport while he is the current Golden belt champ.
So Dave has created an instructional that shows his Lethwei Style, and those legendary pad work headbutts. He goes over stance, footwork, drills, proper elbow technique and he sprinkles in some fancy stuff like spinning elbows and sweeps.
Want to enter the world of Lethwei? Start Here!