Yodsaenklai Fairtex v. Artem Levin Fight Video

Another video from the SportAccord Combat Games in Beijing this past week.  Here we have the 75kg finals between Yodsaenklai Fairtex (blue) and Artem Levin (red).  Enjoy.

There is some excellent discussion of this fight over at MyMuayThai.  Here's their breakdown of why Levin won:

This is just like Olympic boxing... it's an entirely different game. You're going to have to out work and out point your opponent. Levin is used to fighting in this format, I think he and Kyshenko are regulars on the world amateur tournament scene.

Like all fights you've got to go in with a game plan. You have to consider the rules, the format and your opponent. I think Levin had all 3 figured out. I don't think Levin would have fought Yod the same way in a pro fight.

Levin was catching a lot of Yod's kicks... without the shin protection, it just simply wouldn't have happened. Yods game is all about cracking the shell, it's just not going to happen with two fighters of this caliber.

I saw Levin landing a lot of elbows, (which are scoring). I think if you took another fighter who was used to fighting in this format, they would have made more of an effort to avoid those elbows. What I'm trying to say is, I don't think Yod perceived that he was in any real danger from those elbows and didn't adjust his fight game.

Hat's off to Levin, can't wait for the rematch.

I like this analysis a lot.  The only thing I would add is that, yet again, Yodsaenklai doesn't seem to be putting in maximum effort here.  This has become something of a trend with him over the past year.  For much of that time, he was so far above his opponents that even coasting through the late rounds was enough to gain the victory.  But here, for the 2nd time this year, that casualness costs him the win.  I still think he has the potential to beat any fighter on any given night, but I would like to see him display that full potential on a regular basis. 

Next up for Yod is the John Wayne Parr rematch in October.  Not to take anything away from Parr, but if Yod loses there, it may become more clear that his run at the top is over.