Tearsheets | Child Boxing in Thailand

This past month, I was contacted by Esquire in Singapore to shoot a feature on child boxing in the countryside outside of Bangkok, Thailand. The writer and I spent two days following different families a few hours outside of the capital. We watched as the kids trained and fought, but also as they just hung out with their relatives, all of whom lived in poor rural communities, and were simply trying to make ends meet in whatever ways they could. But there was pride there as well. In these kids, in these families. Muay Thai, the national sport of Thailand, can be everything to some of these children. It’s not fighting. It’s more than that. Much more. It’s an escape, mentally and physically. It’s growth. It’s beauty. It’s intellect. And above all else, it’s discipline. And everything else.