by Flip English
At times it can be both a burden and a blessing to bear the title of Khru: sometimes you feel hated, sometimes you feel celebrated. If the outcome of a fight is a loss, sometimes the blame goes beyond the fighter and is suffered by the trainer. But if the night goes as planned and results in a win, then the glory goes around the camp and all its members share the victory. Right now Khru Ray Cole of Khanomtom Muay Thai is feeling more blessings than burdens. When one of your pupils is ranked ninth in North America by MuayThaiAuthority.com, to have contributed to that placement can make any Khru feel a sense of accomplishment. But with a visionary like Khru Ray, he won’t stop to smell the sweet aroma of achievement for too long. He is always trying to go a tier higher, a mile farther. A sweeter smell for him is when all his fighters saturate the top ten rankings. That is just how he is.
