British actor Idris Elba steps up preparation for kickboxing debut with INTENSE training in Thailand

[les Dennis]

I wouldn't imagine there was all this fuss when Van Damm, Norris, Chan, Lee, etc made the switch to acting !

[csabo]

Love this guy. If you have not seen his series "Luther" check it out on Thai Netflix.

[dogpatch55]

Yeah  a  great  actor,  good  luck  to  him  with  this

[ocddave]

This is one of those times where "Don't quit your day job" has real meaning.

[MiKT]

12 hours ago, YeahSiam said:

Over the hill?

Hardly.

 

Over  the hill, to become a "professional" Muay Thai fighter. Yes without a doubt. Even the incredible George Forman packed it in at 48 after fighting for more than 30 years.

 

I don't care how good and fit he is, at 44 he will only be "acting", not earning his living as a fighter.

 

I am sure we will all enjoy the movie, but it will still be a sham and (as pointed out before) he will not go on to make his living as a fighter. Even if he gets into a ring with some paid fighters, it will not make him a professional.

 

At least everyone in England's football team has been in paid employment as a footballer for some years, even if they don't necessarily deserve it. No lets rephrase that, they definitely don't deserve it, but its a fact that they have been paid to play football at the professional level since young. None of them started at 44 and it is risible to suggest that a person can start to be a professional in any contact sport at that age.

 

Its a bit like the old top gear team, put them in a fast car and they can move it around quite well, put them in a F1 race and they don't have a ghost of a chance of being paid to drive for Ferrari.

 

No problem with him making a movie, but saying he will be a "professional" Muay Thai fighter is an insult to all those who train daily since young to make a hard, hard, living in Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

[Changwatchap]

They didnt mention it is Buakaw's gym, not some bullshit place.

[Xircal]

9 hours ago, jacko45k said:

Didn't Mickey Rourke do something similar? It is just TV and another actor having a go at something that was perhaps on his bucket list. Rourke has destroyed his looks with that and a few bouts of cosmetic surgery. I don't think getting kicked in the head is a great hobby for anyone who has anything that will be damaged.

 

The difference between Mickey Rourke and Idris Elba is that Mickey was already into boxing as a teenager and won his first match aged 12.

 

Looking at Idris Elba's bio on the same site doesn't give any indication that he's ever been interested in any fighting sports. Since he's just become a father again for the second time, he should be thinking more about his family than getting involved in Muay Thai at his age.

[evadgib]

13 hours ago, Rancid said:

I think this is about entertainment rather than him having any delusions about being a professional fighter. If he was so deluded his first fight will soon change that. He's an actor, gets paid, raises his profile, and he will probably end up in the best shape of his life.

 

I thought David Walliams and Eddie Izzard were a pair of clowns until one swam the English Channel and the other ran 27 marathons in as many days and still found time afterwards to appear on Question Time dressed as Captain Sensible :)

 

Edited October 10, 2016 by evadgib

[MiKT]

11 hours ago, evadgib said:

 

I thought David Walliams and Eddie Izzard were a pair of clowns until one swam the English Channel and the other ran 27 marathons in as many days and still found time afterwards to appear on Question Time dressed as Captain Sensible :)

 

 

These two are really great blokes and they are both great sportsmen, but they don't claim to be professional swimmers/runners.

 

The headline said “British actor is taking part in a three-part documentary as he travels to Cuba, Japan, South Africa and South East Asia to become a professional fighter”.

 

I wish Idris Elba luck in making his film and maybe it’s just the headline writers fault, but he is not going to become a professional Muay Thai fighter by practicing Cuban style fighting and vice versa, let alone throw in a bit of SA – what? “stick fighting” 555.

 

Unfortunately, if it said for instance: “ Idris Elba is going to make a film about learning some different fighting styles in Thailand, SA and Cuba at the relatively old age of 44 to get a bit ripped for his next film role”, it wouldn’t make a good headline.  Or maybe it would?

 

Maybe also he should watch a few films on how Ali ended up and GF should go and sit on his head to spare his kids having to view the long term results of real professional fights for an old man with no background experience to help him.

 

GF could do it still at 48 because: 1. He had 30+ years of fighting the best of the best to become so incredibly skillful at boxing that he did not get really hurt. 2. He was huge and could take a lot of hits and barely feel them.

 

If a real MT fighter kicks IE in the head with malice just once, he could get severely hurt.

 

But it will not happen; it will all be a sham with him being protected against being hospitalized which is what would happen if he was fighting even the oth Thai professionals who put on such a good show on the pier in Pattaya….. and that’s a show. Not the real thing.