There is a growing push to brand the sport of Khmer Boxing under the name Kun Khmer. So in an effort to make sure that Paddy’s Gym is with the program, I just wanted to reiterate that there are 6 Kun Khmer cards every week in Phnom Penh. That’s about 40 fights every weekend.

Kun Khmer boxing is currently promoted by three Phnom Penh TV stations: TV5, CTN and Bayon. Each station hosts 2 cards per weekend.

TV5 has fights on Friday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. in the arena at the Old Stadium. Tickets are 1,500 reil on Friday and 3,000 reil on Sunday ( $US1 = approximately 4,100 reil ).

CTN hosts cards on Saturday and Sunday starting at 2 p.m. CTN fights are held at the CTN studios, located at Kilometer 3, National Road 5 (to Battambang). It’s just past the Coca-Cola factory on the right-hand side of the road. There is a giant TV antenna there. making it impossible to miss. Admission is free.

Bayon also hosts fights on Saturday and Sunday at their purpose-built arena, located about 2 kilometers past the Monivong Bridge on National Road 2 (to Vietnam). Fights at Bayon start at 4 p.m. Admission is also free.

It is recommended to arrive early at CTN and Bayon fights, in order to get a good seat.

Typically, fight cards consists of anywhere from 5 to 7 fights. Sometimes Western boxing matches are included. And at Bayon, sometimes girls fight on the undercard. Generally every card has two high-quality fights, with the rest of the card rounded out with one or two matches between noteworthy up-and-comers (or veterans) plus one or two matches between green rookies thrown in for entertainment value.

SCHEDULES

I am making a concerted effort to publish Kun Khmer fight schedules here every week. Generally I will publish by Wednesday the schedule for the coming weekend. I’ll try to offer a little insight or point out especially noteworthy matches in the future.