Spagnolo reaches quarter finals of World Muay Thai Championships
The Fontainebleau fighter was knocked out with a knee to the face, which broke his nose.
Local fighter, Richard Spagnolo – along with the rest of the South African team – reached the quarter-final stages of the recent World Muay Thai Championships.
The event in Abu Dhabi saw the 21-year-old represent his country for the first time.
“It was good to see how much talent there is out there in the world,” he told Randburg Sun.
“Seeing that didn’t depress me at all. It inspired me. I want to go back next year and win a medal. I will be competing in the U23 division then, but stay in my weight category [63–77kg].”
He recently dropped weight to fight in this category – something his father and trainer at Elite MuayThai, David Spagnolo, is proud of.
Before the championships, Richard fought some heavyweights 30kg heavier and beat them.
Richard currently has no fight on the card at the moment, as the knee to the face, he took, when he was knocked out in the quarter-final, broke his nose.
“I need to have an operation and I will not have competitions for a while. I am still training though,” he added.
In February, Richard beat Mathys du Randt with a knock-out victory in just the second round at the Eclipse Fight League.
His long-term goal is to go professional in muay thai.
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