Geez..., it seems like a lifetime ago especially with the COVID pandemic raging across the globe. This photo is going to make it to the history book one day when people look back and ask "Hey, when did professional boxing start in Vietnam?" My business partner is a punter who successfully runs a billion dollar betting business in Australia and he immediately recognized the talents of some Vietnamese boxers from a small boxing event I had arranged 4 months earlier. He had this crazy idea of bringing in talented boxers from Australia to Vietnam to put this opinion to the test. Vietnamese boxers were all amateurs and had not fought professional boxing. He was of the opinion that Vietnamese boxers would put up a good fight while the Australian coach laughed and predicted 100% win by the Australian team with 60% KO rate. 8 boxers were flown in from Australia and the event was on.  The event was done as an exhibition fight that allowed amateur boxers to be matched against professional boxers. As the event went on, one Aussie boxer after another exited the ring in disbelief that an amateur would beat him.  Final score was 5 wins to the Vietnamese team out of 8 fights that evening.  Can't believe me?  Check out the full fight videos on our YouTube channel.  

Now it begs the question, how did Vietnamese boxers perform so well against good pros? Vietnam is not really known for professional boxing. There are several factors that I think resulted in such outcome. The organizer deliberately kept the rounds at 4 rounds for each bout. This is actually a huge advantage to the amateur boxers who are used to the 3 rounds format under amateur rules. (If you are not familiar with the difference between "Amateur Boxing vs Professional Boxing, check out our blog on this and you will definitely have a better understanding on which boxer is winning and why.)  Anyway, back to the topic! Another factor is that the Australian boxers definitely underestimated their opponents and did not really prepare as hard as they otherwise would have.  In addition, the weather (the heat and the humidity) is not something boxers from Sydney were used to and this became even harder for them in the ring as multiple halogen spot lights raised the temperature to above 33C. Last but least, it's the psychological aspect of the match up. There must have been a pressure on the professional boxer to win the fight and when they felt being outscored by the Vietnamese amateur boxer in the first 2 rounds, a thought would probably go through "damn....it's only 4 rounds and I am already down on 2.....I gotta do something!"  This would push the pro boxers to take more risk by being the aggressor but it also means they become more vulnerable to counter punches and making mistakes that could be exploited by the Vietnamese boxers.  

One thing that really stood out was how tough the Vietnamese boxers were.  I am not talking about the physical toughness which all boxers had that night but the grit, the heart, and not being afraid at all about fighting professional boxers. Boxing is a mental sport as much as it is a physical sport and this traits by the Vietnamese boxers show bright hope for the future of professional boxing in Vietnam. For the next Victory8, we said we would bring even tougher fighters from overseas to go against the Viets!