International Kickboxer magazine, pubished in Australia by Blitz Publications, has run a cover with one of my photos this month. In the magazine, there is an excellent 6 page Behind the Scenes article on The Contender Asia. The article, which also features a half dozen or so of my shots, obviously does not reveal any results or sensitive information, but it does provide a great introduction to what the show is about. Mark ‘The Hammer’ Castagnini, the GM of Blitz, goes on to explain what it can achieve for the sport of Muay Thai and how it will affect the future lives of the three Australian contenders John Wayne Parr, Bruce “The Preacher” MacFie and Soren Monkongton. The enthusiasm and excitement for the Contender Asia within the Muay Thai community is clear – it’s going to be an exciting next few months. Thanks goes to Mark and the team for putting this together.

International Kickboxer went on sale on the 17th October. You can also subscribe to the magazine here. Below are a few of my images that were covered in the article (click on any image for a larger version, all images copyright Lawrence Ripsher).

This was the cover. From left to right are John Wayne Parr, Soren Monkongton and Bruce “The Preacher” MacFie.

John Wayne Parr working the bag

Soren training

JWP and Soren