Lumpinee Boxing Stadium Closes Its Doors ~ Bangkok, Thailand

The infamous Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand held its last round of fights last week, and closed its doors for good on February 7, 2014.  This came as a total shock to us, and followed the closing of the nearby Suan Lum Night Bazaar just over a year or two ago (Read: Oh, How We Miss The Suan Lum Night Bazaar In Bangkok).  Which, by the way, still sits as a vacant lot.

We were just in Bangkok a week prior (during the election protesting kerfuffle), and walked by the stadium a number of times, as we ventured out to and from our hotel.  If only we had known that we could’ve seen one of the last fights at the Madison Square Gardens of Bangkok for Muay Thai.  We would’ve happily shelled out the exorbitant tourist trap rate of 2000+ baht to sit ring side, in hopes of catching a flying tooth or collecting some boxer sweat in our beer.

Luckily, we did catch one night of fights at the Lumpinee Stadium before it closed.  It was our first trip to Asia together in 2009, and on our last night of that adventure filled summer, we couldn’t think of a better way to bring it to an end than to see two gruelling (skinny) boys tough it out for all the glory that Lumpinee Muay Thai offers.  We sat front row, paid a ridiculous amount for it, drank a lot (beer for Katherine, pop for Thomas), and lined up at the end of the fight for what is now a historic photo with the champ of the night!

The Lumpinee fights are being moved to a new stadium on the fringe of town, with a grand opening date of February 28, 2014.  Lets hope the “new” stadium is still as raw, grungy, loud, and chaotic as Lumpinee was, because the experience just won’t be the same without it.