Khaosai Galaxy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Khaosai Galaxy เขาทราย แกแล็คซี่
Statistics
Real name	Sura Saenkham
Nickname(s)	Sai thaluang-si (ซ้ายทะลวงไส้) "The Left Hand That Drills Intestines"
Rated at	Super-flyweight
Height	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Born	(1959-05-15) 15 May 1959 (age 66) Ban Cha Lianglab, Tambon Na Pa, Mueang Phetchabun, Phetchabun, Thailand
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	48
Wins	47
Wins by KO	41
Losses	1

Khaosai Galaxy (Thai: เขาทราย แกแล็คซี่, born May 15, 1959) is a famous Thai former professional boxer and Muay Thai fighter. He competed from 1980 to 1991. He held the WBA super-flyweight world title for over seven years, from November 1984 to December 1991.

Ring Magazine, a top boxing publication, ranked him as the 19th greatest puncher of all time. In 2002, they also named him the 43rd greatest fighter of the past 80 years. As of 2022, BoxRec, a boxing record website, considers him the best Thai boxer ever, pound for pound.

Khaosai's Early Days in Muay Thai

Khaosai was born as Sura Saenkham (Thai: สุระ แสนคำ) in Phetchabun Province, Northern Thailand. Before becoming a Western-style boxer, he was a Muay Thai fighter in the early 1980s. He got his professional name, Galaxy, from a restaurant and nightclub. This place was owned by a friend of his manager.

Khaosai had incredible punching power, especially with his left hand. This left hand soon became very famous. His manager and trainer suggested he switch to Western-style boxing. So, he began training for that.

In Muay Thai, he used other ring names like Daoden Muangsithep (Thai: ดาวเด่น เมืองศรีเทพ) and Khaosai Wangchomphu (Thai: เขาทราย วังชมภู).

He often said his mother was his first trainer. She loved boxing and Muay Thai. Khaosai and his twin brother, Khaokor Galaxy, were born when Pone Kingpetch, Thailand's first world champion, was very popular. Their mother would wake them up early for a run before school. She supported them completely in their fighting careers.

Khaosai's Unique Boxing Style

Khaosai didn't have much amateur boxing experience, which is common for many professional boxers. So, his early skills were simple. He relied on his toughness and amazing punching power to win fights. His southpaw (left-handed) style meant he would get close to his opponent. Then, he would throw his powerful left hand whenever he saw a chance.

He mostly used his right hand to figure out how far away his opponent was. All of his knockout wins came from his left hand. Many people believe it's one of the hardest single punches in the history of boxing's lighter weight classes.

As he gained more experience, Khaosai became a more skilled boxer. He learned to use different punches together, which made his deadly left hand even better. His favorite punch was a straight left to the body. This punch was so strong that its nickname meant "the left hand that drills intestines." He was incredibly strong and opponents could never overpower him. Even fighters who tried to keep their distance found that Khaosai was quick on his feet and could block their moves.

Khaosai's Professional Boxing Career

Khaosai started his Western-style boxing career in December 1980. He won his first six fights. This earned him a chance to fight for the Thailand bantamweight (118-pound) title in 1981 against Sakda Saksuree. He lost that fight by a points decision. This was the only fight he would ever lose in the ring.

Khaosai then won his next three fights. He claimed the Thai bantamweight title in 1982. He went on to win 15 fights in a row by knockout! This helped him climb the world rankings. By the summer of 1984, he became the required challenger for the WBA super-flyweight world champion, Jiro Watanabe.

When Watanabe didn't defend his title against Khaosai, the WBA took the title away from him. They then set up a fight between Khaosai and the undefeated Eusebio Espinal for the empty championship in 1984. Khaosai knocked out Espinal in the sixth round. This win started the longest title reign in his division's history.

Khaosai defended his WBA title 19 times over the next seven years. He won 16 of these title fights by knockout. In the mid-1980s, when heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was famous for his knockouts, boxing fans nicknamed Khaosai The Thai Tyson.

Khaosai fought outside of Asia only once. This was in 1986 when he defended his title against Israel Contreras in Curaçao. He had two title fights in Kōbe, Japan, one in South Korea, and one in Indonesia. All his other fights were in Thailand. There, he often earned large amounts of money and fought in front of huge crowds. Because few top fighters wanted to challenge him, he was not very well known in Western countries.

In 1988, his twin younger brother, fighting as Kaokhor Galaxy, won the WBA bantamweight title. This made the Galaxy brothers (the Saenkham brothers) the first twins ever to become world boxing champions.

Khaosai Galaxy in 2007

Retirement from Boxing

Khaosai's last fight was on December 22, 1991, in Bangkok. He beat Armando Castro over 12 rounds. A few weeks later, he announced he was retiring from boxing. His final record was 47 wins and only one loss. He never tried to make a comeback.

Life After Boxing

After retiring from boxing, Khaosai decided to try the Thai entertainment industry. He first released a song called "Khob Khun Krub," which means "Thank You." Then, he started acting in TV shows and movies, especially comedies. His first acting role was in the TV series Poot Mae Nam Khong (1992). He also appeared in Mon Rak Luk Thung (1995), The Legend of Suriyothai (2001), and The Bodyguard (2004). In 2005, while filming, he had an incident with a fan.

In 2006, he appeared in a music video for a song by fellow boxers Somluck Kamsing and Samart Payakaroon. In the video, Khaosai played a shy man approached by a young woman.

After retirement, he married Yumiko Ota from Japan. They had met during one of his fights in Japan. They lived together for a year before separating. He later married Sureerat "Fah" Saenkham. They raised her nephew together. In 2013, he married Wannapa "Nung" Kamboonsri. The same year, he became a father for the first time at age 54 when his wife had a daughter. In 2016, they welcomed a second daughter.

Today, Khaosai owns two Muay Thai gyms, one in Bangkok and one in Phuket. He also trained Denkaosan Kaovichit for his fight against Takefumi Sakata in 2008. Denkaosan won that fight and became the WBA flyweight champion.

Besides boxing and entertainment, Khaosai has also been involved in politics. He was a candidate in the 2007 Thai general election for the Puea Pandin Party, but he did not win. In the 2011 Thai general election, he ran for the Chartthaipattana Party in his home district of Phetchabun, but he lost again.

Khaosai's Legacy

Khaosai Galaxy was chosen for the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1999. He is still a very well-known boxer throughout Thailand.

There's a famous saying that whenever he fought, traffic in Bangkok would be light. This was because everyone rushed home to watch him on TV!

Professional boxing record