PHOENIX: A GROWING REPUTATION IN THE NORTH EAST

On September 7th at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre in Co. Durham 14-year-old Glen Fowler had his first public Muay Thai contest – time for a youngster to be a bit nervous, you might think, especially as his opponent, Reece Christlow (Northern Academy of Martial Art), was more experienced than he was. However, standing calmly in his corner, Glen looked completely composed, focussed, unmoved by the cheers of the crowd. On the first bell he exploded into action, running through a whole range of aggressive techniques, but still perfectly poised and controlled. Though Reece never looked in danger of being stopped, throughout Round 1 he was constantly looking to his corner for advice on how to deal with his brilliant opponent.

'Glen Fowler v. Reece Christlow'

The show at Newton Aycliffe was in memory of Lee Smith, a fine Muay Thai fighter from the Kings Cobra gym who died in a tragic motor cycle accident in 2007, and many of the gyms in the North East responded by supporting an event that commemorated a popular figure and raised money for the charity in his name. So there was no shortage of good action, but for me the best two minutes of the afternoon came from Glen Fowler’s sparkling first round display. Admittedly the next two rounds were a bit more scrappy as he tired or lost concentration – as his trainer said, with youngsters you tell them things and sometimes they carry them out – but he continued to dominate and the whole performance was a terrific tribute to the quality of his preparation.

'Glen Fowler v. Reece Christlow'

Perhaps the clue comes in the words on the back of Glen’s stylish Hero shorts: ‘Phoenix Thai’. Based in the small town of Shildon, Phoenix has only been in existence for three years and has yet to promote a show of its own, but is particularly successful in working with youngsters: though it has comparatively few adults among its 20-odd fighters, the number of students at the gym is around 80, mostly young. Phoenix is run by Gary McAllister, with assistance from three other instructors, his son Reece, Sam Mitchell and Wendy Bake, and it was Sam who stressed to me the importance of composure in Glen’s victory – astonishingly, even winning didn’t break his calm!

'Tom Morgan v. Adam Barrett'

The other two Phoenix boxers at the Lee Smith Memorial Show were equally well schooled. 10-year-old Reed Malloy was extremely unfortunate to lose on points to Aaron Martin of Soul of Sukhothai, but took defeat with the same coolness as Glen took victory, then Tom Morgan produced a spectacular 1st round knockout of Adam Barrett (Northern Academy of Martial Arts). Fighting for a Northern Area title in only his second fight, Tom weighed up his opponent cagily for the first minute before taking him apart with, initially, a series of head punches, then a knee to the head that floored him. When Adam bravely beat the count (and was, probably unwisely, allowed to continue), Tom repeated the dose and ended the fight. (A little later, I heard Adam on his mobile giving a very honest report on the fight saying that he simply hadn’t expected an opponent of this class.)

So what’s Gary’s secret? Sam Mitchell (one of the gym’s star performers and a Billionmore Hall of Famer) has no doubt: he’s been everywhere and done everything and now he knows how to respond to any situation.

'Tom Morgan v. Adam Barrett'

Gary certainly has the experience. He started Thai boxing in 1988 for fitness and had his first fight in 1990, then, in 1991, his son was born and, as Gary puts it, ‘I had to provide for him, so I threw myself into my training and fighting. I fought 18 times that year, winning them all, 15 by ko.’ Not surprisingly, he started to move up the rankings pretty quickly. Key fights over the next few years included defeating Richard Smith, now the well-respected trainer at Bad Company, Leeds, for an area title (typically, Gary says that more important than the title was the fact that he and Richard became good friends) and a BTBC British title victory by tko over Dougie Austin of Carlisle Dragons. Remarkably Gary also won a British title at low kick kickboxing and had success as an amateur and professional boxer (that’s Western-style boxing, not Thai!). Overall he had 89 fights of which 66 (59 victories) were Muay Thai.

Gary founded Phoenix at much the same time as he retired from boxing, but its origins go back a little before that. He claims he never intended to teach Thai boxing, but circumstances brought it about:

‘I was doing bits of training with my son, Reece. Then I was approached by a 15-year-old girl who asked if I’d teach her. This was Sam Mitchell. I took them both to the club I trained at, but found that it wasn’t going to work with them getting taught by my trainer. So I hired a room in a leisure centre at Newton Aycliffe and started to teach twice a week. I didn’t advertise as teaching Thai boxing, I just had a few students who trained and I didn’t charge anyone.’

'Aaron Martin v. Reed Malloy'

Unfortunately (or, perhaps, fortunately, as things turned out), his trainer found out, kicked up a fuss, insisted he should train them. The result: Gary left the club and moved to Shildon Leisure Centre where he still has his gym. Three years later Reece and Sam, the original students, are important parts of a highly active club, with two classes a night and one on Saturday morning, plus separate classes from Sam on Mondays and Wednesdays. The gym’s first interclub (on September 27th) was a huge success, with 60 fights, and hopefully the first public promotion will come next year. Meanwhile, Gary, Sam, Reece, Anth Shelton, Lauren Humphrey and Kurt Warburton are travelling to Thailand on November 11th, to train at the Fairtex in Pattaya and, hopefully, to fight as well.

'At Phoenix Thai Boxing'

Among the fighters at Phoenix Sam Mitchell, now ranked Number 5 in the UK, is a special talent whose career is charted on her Billionmore Hall of Fame pages. Sam, who has fought at the highest level almost from the start, has been on the wrong end of several debatable decisions and her modest record doesn’t reflect her ability. A more accurate indicator is the difficulty Gary has in getting her fights and the slowness of opponents to sign up for rematches. A future star on the Phoenix roster is Anth Shelton, one of a crop of immensely talented and dedicated teenagers in the North and Scotland who has impressed me enormously in stirring contests with Kyle Fella and Jordan Calder.

However, according to Gary, the Phoenix fighter who stands out most is his son, Reece. Apologising for what sounds like ‘a dad bulling his son up’, Gary explains in terms that clearly indicate his view of the importance of Muay Thai:

‘Reece trains very hard, is a polite and kind person, he has a lot of respect for people. My aim as a dad teaching him was for him to be successful in life and be a good person – which has been shown to me by all the good people who are involved in Thai boxing.’

Wouldn’t it be nice to think that Gary’s concern for developing ‘a good person’ – certainly apparent in the immaculate conduct of all his fighters at Newton Aycliffe – was one of the reasons for his success in training young boxers?

'Gary McAllister'

The September 7th event at Newton Aycliffe was to support the Lee Smith Memorial Fund, set up to aid Muay Thai in the North East of England. For further details of its work, email theleesmithtrust@hotmail.com.

Special thanks to Gary McAllister and Sam Mitchell.

Photographs by 1337 Creations.

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