A fighter at heart
By Tarah Holland
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO – For David Lambright, some things in life are worth fighting for.
That’s why the 19-year-old was willing to drop out of high school and work 12 to 15 hours a day to make good on his goal to become a Muay Thai fighter after seeing a competition on television.
Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, is one of the most intense forms of martial arts. Competitors use fists, elbows, knees, feet and shins to strike their opponents. Matches are fought in five three-minute rounds and are decided by a knockout or by points.
Lambright used the Internet to research the sport and to find trainers and facilities. To train and live in the U.S. was expensive, Lambright said. But in Thailand, a 35-hour plane ride away, the training was better and the living was reasonable.
So Lambright decided to train in Thailand. He knew hard work would get him there.
After he dropped out of Southeast Guilford High School, he got a job as a brick mason. He often worked 12 to 15 hours a day, driving a forklift and laying brick for grocery stores and other businesses.
The money was good, and Lambright never missed a day. In two months, he went from $10 to $12 an hour. He later picked up a second job laying hardwood floors on weekends.
“He was a tightwad,” said his mother Suzann Reed. “He wouldn’t even buy a soda. If we all chipped in for dinner, he’d eat a sandwich.”
In October, Lambright took the $1,700 he’d saved and boarded a plane bound for Thailand for a two-month stay.
Once there, a jet-lagged Lambright headed straight for the Rawai Muay Thai gym to meet his trainers. He trained with one other American from California. He shared a bungalow near the gym with two other fighters.
Training cost about $200 a month, and he paid about $100 for accommodations. The food was different, but good, he said. He often ate fried rice and shrimp and other Thai food. He also had some American foods, such as burgers, which cost about $1 in U.S. money.
At the gym he sweated through repetitive drills of 600 kicks, knees strikes and sit-ups. He also ran four to five miles each day.
After just two weeks, Lambright met his first opponent.
“I had to get in there and swing for the fences. I wore myself out quick, but I worked him out quicker,” Lambright said. “I was overwhelmed with joy, and the adrenaline was crazy.”
Lambright landed his first knockout victory after three rounds. He won 3,000 Thai baht – a little less than $100 in U.S. dollars.
Though Lambright was new to the ring, he had always sparred. He spent some of his youth growing up in some of Fayetteville’s toughest neighborhoods, where he quickly learned to defend himself in street fights against bullies.
“I’ve always enjoyed the feeling that you get when you get into a fight,” Lambright said. “I figured if I like it, I may as well do it legally.”
Now Lambright gets an adrenaline rush from the spectators.
“In the ring I feel more aggressive,” he said. “I’m in there to hurt people.”
Three weeks after his first Thai fight, a more confident Lambright fought again. That time he won with a second-round knockout, and his trainers and fight promoters talked him into a third fight the following night.
“I had a good time celebrating the night before,” said Lambright, who doesn’t drink but spent the night dancing and hanging out with friends. “I was asleep in the truck on the way to the fight. I didn’t find out until I got there that I was fighting for a title belt.”
Lambright defeated the local champion to take the 170-pound Soi Bangla championship title belt in another second-round knockout. The victory earned Lambright respect and a one-year contract offer to stay in Thailand to fight.
He came home in December to see his family and get his dogs. Now at his family’s Greensboro home, Lambright again is hard at work, saving money to return to Thailand to win back the belt he had to surrender before coming back home.
At home, Lambright is more quiet and reserved, and he’s more confident in himself and his dreams.
“He has a big heart,” Suzann Reed said of her son. “There were a lot of people that didn’t think he’d amount to a whole lot. Now, they’re eating their words.”
Then and now, the negativity makes Lambright push harder. His ultimate goal is to fight for an Ultimate Fighting Championship in the next five years. To get there, he’ll need to add to his knockouts and victories.
Until then, he’ll continue to install windows and saving each dollar he earns while running miles around his South Elm-Eugene neighborhood and attacking punching bags at the Bryan YMCA.
“I don’t want to fight for a check,” he said. “I want to fight because it’s what I want to do.”
http://news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/NEWSREC0105/701120311/-1/NEWSRECRSSGNRL