Original subtitles

♪ music ♪

Noy Khaopan: (speaking Thai)

♪ music ♪

Noy: (speaking Thai)

♪ Thai music ♪

[singing in Thai]

[singing in Thai]

Narrator: To know a people is to know what moves them.

To understand their passion, and their pride.

♪ music ♪

Thailand-- a modern skyline built atop ancient shrines.

Sixty-six million people spread across

a mountainous countryside,

and packed into foreboding corners

of its teeming capital city.

♪♪♪

What binds such a nation?

Muay Thai.

Each year brings a new harvest of young fighters.

But it's not just a way out.

It's a way of life.

♪♪♪

A violent art entwined with religious belief,

Muay Thai isn't merely a sport,

but a national obsession.

[crowd cheering]

It's called the art of eight limbs:

hands, elbows, knees, and feet,

an arsenal of flesh and bone.

A savage quest for fame and fortune,

and one that captures the very contradictions

woven into Thai culture.

Only the best fighters make it to Bangkok's big arenas,

where the betting is non-stop,

and most of it illegal.

As a spectacle, it merges the sacred with the profane,

Buddhist tradition with bloodlust--

a brutal ballet.

[crowd cheering]

[indistinct background conversation]

♪ music ♪

Rob Cox: There's very little waiting around here.

As one fight's going on, the other guy is waiting

to get straight into the ring.

So there's one after the other, there's no delay,

there's no waiting around for the next fight.

It's almost run like clockwork.

♪♪♪

Rob Cox: What you've got now is,

which every boxer in Thailand will do before the fight,

it's known as a Wai-Kru.

It's where they pay their respect to their teacher,

the owner of the gym, the teachers before them,

their mother and father, that kind of thing.

They start off by sealing the ring first,

so they'll prevent any outside spirits from interfering

while they fight.

Narrator: These rituals date back centuries.

They don't just sanctify the fighters,

but evoke an ancestral memory,

something at the heart of the national character.

Once a year, in arenas around the country,

the nightly card is preceded by the re-enactment of a fable,

which, like many a fable, is based on historical truth.

Rob Cox: It's a special day today,

it's the birthday of Nai Khanom Tom.

It's obviously something that makes the Thais very proud.

Nai Khanom Tom is seen as the founding father of Muay Thai.

He was captured in one of the wars.

The Burmese came in and I think they captured Ayutthaya,

the city, that was the capital city at the time,

and he was taken back to Burma.

They knew he could fight and they put him in a challenge

and he beat all the best Burmese fighters

and was let free after that,

he got his freedom from there.

Narrator: According to legend,

Nai Khanom Tom won his freedom March 17, 1774,

after beating ten Burmese fighters,

one after the other.

Like so many myths of creation,

this one involves a heroic warrior,

insurmountable odds,

and the use of violent means to achieve a virtuous end.

In victory, Nai Khanom Tom didn't father a sport

so much as a concept.

If Muay Thai is rooted in the national consciousness,

then so is the idea of fighting one's way out of prison.

♪ ♪

[responses in Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Noy Khaopan is among 4,000 inmates

at Khao Prik Prison.

With one of the world's highest incarceration rates,

life behind bars here is a notoriously grim proposition.

The open cells are roughly 50 percent over capacity.

Problems that ail society at large--

addiction, gambling, gangs and murder--

are only magnified inside.

Area One houses Khao Prik's most dangerous criminals--

rapists, drug lords, killers.

And also --

the elite Muay Thai fighters.

Patrick Winn: The prison conditions in Thailand

are pretty bleak.

There's this sweaty room with 60 people in it.

You're sleeping on your side.

There's guys basically spooning each other in this room

with a little hole in the corner serving as a toilet.

If you're a Muay Thai fighter in prison,

then you can use that to up your status,

probably curry favor with other inmates,

your honor is restored.

Muay Thai is the way to go.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[door closing]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: This has been Noy's home for longer than

he cares to remember.

But five years into his sentence,

he now finds himself training harder than ever.

For fighting offers not just respect within these walls,

but a way to escape them.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[background speaking in Thai]

[cheering]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Oh's father: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Sirimongkol Singwancha--

known to his countrymen as "Oh"--

was raised to be a Muay Thai champion,

but ended up finding his fortune in conventional,

western-style boxing.

Today, at age 39, he's a shadow of his former self.

Still, he perseveres,

a fallen icon in need of money and good karma.

Oh's been fighting so long,

he doesn't know how not to.

[cheering]

[bell clanging]

[speaking Thai]

[crowd cheering]

[speaking Thai]

[crowd cheering]

[speaking Thai]

David Treharne: The first time I worked the corner for Oh,

yeah, it's an exhilarating feeling really.

Especially when you have such a-- an athlete that's so good

and his reflexes are so great that,

even as a coach it seemed

you didn't have to worry,

he had everything in control.

He's a great fighter to work with--

a great person.

[speaking Thai]

[bell clanging]

[crowd noise]

[speaking Thai]

[crowd noise]

[speaking Thai]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Narrator: Like many Thai children, Oh began fighting

to put food on his family's table.

By 19, he won his first world title at bantamweight.

He'd win a second at super featherweight

when he was still only 25.

[speaking Thai]

[speaking Thai]

[announcer speaking in background]

Narrator: By the summer of 2009, Oh's record was 63-2.

He'd fought all across Asia and Australia,

even in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

To many Thais, he was their nation's Manny Pacquiao.

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Oh's rise coincided with a man-made plague

that rocked Thai society to its core--

the introduction of cheap,

widely available methamphetamine.

In 2003, the government's first crackdown resulted in

nearly 3,000 deaths.

Authorities cited gang violence,

but human rights groups blamed the police.

The years since have unleashed a vicious cycle of addiction,

violence and corruption.

One in sixty Thais uses meth regularly.

The jail population has more than doubled since 2006.

And police--

loathe to admit failure in the war on drugs--

remain on the lookout for high profile arrests.

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

David Treharne: When Oh was arrested,

it was a huge media event.

Every TV channel in Thailand had it spread

front pages of papers and it was devastating.

Narrator: Oh was charged with attempting to sell

28 grams of meth for 10,000 baht--

less than $300.

David Treharne: The prosecution wants to give you 60 years.

I'm just thinking 60 years, you know you had like,

the amount of crystal meth fits in your front pocket

of your shirt.

The judge said, ok, take time off,

I'll give you ten years off

because you made a name for the country,

another 10 or 20 years,

whatever it was, because you agreed to everything,

accepted everything,

you've da, da, da, da.

so I'll give you the minimum by Thai law

I'm allowed to give you is 20 years imprisonment.

Narrator: The two-time former WBC champion

was sent to the infamous Pattaya Prison.

Oh was 32, his career thought to be over.

But again, it was an idea going back to Nai Kanom Tom

that offered a way out.

Over the years, the Department of Corrections began

establishing reform policies within the system.

One in particular allowed select inmates the opportunity

to compete in Muay Thai and boxing.

The logic behind it--

capitalize on the popularity of a national sport,

and exploit the rehabilitative power

of fighting's discipline.

[speaking Thai]

Narrator: In 2007, a recovering drug addict, Amnat Ruenroeng--

then just one year into his 15-year sentence--

was freed after winning a place on Thailand's

national boxing team.

He went on to earn a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

Siriporn Thaweeksuk, a convicted drug dealer nicknamed "Samson"

won a W.B.C. women's title

while serving her ten-year sentence.

She, too, received a royal pardon.

Aree: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: In Oh, however,

officials saw an even greater opportunity.

They'd make the nation's most famous boxer

the face of a new program.

They called it "Prison Fight" --

♪♪♪

a modern concept inspired by ancient legend.

Wins translated to reduced sentences,

and in some cases, a chance for a royal pardon.

The program gained even more momentum when officials began

matching home-grown inmates with foreign professionals.

[crowd noise]

Narrator: Oh was fighting regularly again.

It wasn't the MGM Grand,

but the stakes were even higher--

not money, but freedom.

Each victory brought him closer,

bestowing new glories on his jailers.

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Oh was pardoned in 2013,

just four years into his 20-year sentence.

[singing in Thai]

[singing in Thai]

[Thai speaker in background]

Narrator: Noy Khaopan's days begin here in the yard.

It's a life of endless regimentation.

Survival requires conformity.

But Noy has a chance these other men do not--

to reclaim his life, and start a new one.

He's undefeated in seven prison fights,

and already being touted as the system's next star.

But his eighth, just weeks away, looms largest of all.

A loss could send him back to general population

for the duration of his sentence

while a victory would mean his freedom.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Aree: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Narrator: What lies ahead will test not just the fighter

but the very notion of rehabilitation.

Muay Thai isn't just another sport,

and Noy isn't just another inmate.

Unlike the legendary soldier, Nai Khanom Tom,

or the drug offender, Oh,

Noy is in prison for murder.

And his upcoming bout poses an existential question:

can violent men redeem themselves through violent acts?

♪♪♪

[chopping sounds]

Noy's Mother: [speaking Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Noy's Father: [speaking Thai]

♪ music ♪

♪ music ♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Noy's Father: [speaking Thai]

[dog barking]

Noy's Father: [speaking Thai]

Noy's Mother: [speaking Thai]

Noy's Father: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: The portrait of Noy

dates to his last days as a free man,

while awaiting sentence for his crime,

when he embraced his Buddhist faith and opted,

for a time, to live as a monk.

[chanting in background]

Buddhists believe in the inevitability of suffering,

and the need for self-purification.

With that in mind,

prison seems a very Buddhist proposition--

hardship with an opportunity for reflection,

even reformation of the soul.

[chanting in background]

Prison Director: [speaking Thai]

[responding in Thai]

[counting]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Prison Director: [speaking Thai]

Aree: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: It's unclear if they're actually repentant,

or simply using the system.

The true state of one's heart is impossible to gauge.

But the fact remains--

less than five percent of prison fight inmates

have been re-incarcerated after earning their release.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[children's voices]

[dog barking]

Narrator: Noy's son Don was not yet two

when his father went away.

He was too young to remember,

and remains too young to understand.

After his father went to prison,

his mother left him for Noy's parents to raise.

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

[laughs]

[speaking Thai]

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

[family conversing in Thai]

[punching sounds]

STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP.

Narrator: Thailand attracts expatriate fighters

from around the world.

Some come for fame and fortune.

Others, to find themselves.

But all seek to prove their worth in combat.

Masood Izari: I decided to come to Thailand because

I love Muay Thai and I love fighting.

So I come to live here and start to fight professionally.

After a few years fighting,

they offered me to select the fighters for Prison Fight.

The foreigners that I choose for the fight,

I will be honest with them.

I'm going to tell them it's not an easy fight.

The prisoners are going to try so hard.

So I will explain to them

if you come you really have to be ready.

You have to try so hard from the first round

until the last round.

French Foreign Fighter: I come to Thailand because,

in boxing, I think the most dangerous is a man

fighting for his freedom.

Masood: A long time I've been in this business, this job.

It's not easy to find boxers who want to fight the prisoners

because most of them, they're scared.

They're going to fight with a murderer.

To prison fight, you have to be crazy.

That is why they decide to go fight,

to be honest.

Narrator: Cody Moberly is 27, a native of Wichita, Kansas.

He's had 26 pro fights since moving to Thailand

almost five years ago.

His next opponent will be Noy.

Cody Moberly: I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.

I didn't have any education, no work experience, no nothing.

Sometimes people are lost

and they start doing stupid stuff.

All they need is a path, a guide,

someone to believe in them.

♪♪♪

I hung around the wrong crowd

and I got really into selling drugs and doing drugs,

I dropped out of school,

drinking a lot and partying a lot.

I didn't care about nothing.

I was really angry.

I never hurt anybody, I never--

was just kind of selfish and stupid--

young and dumb.

♪♪♪

I was at a party one night and I was really drunk

and I went to a bathroom and got sick,

and I just looked at myself in the mirror and I just knew,

like, this isn't who I wanted to be.

At that moment, I don't know what happened,

everything just kind of clicked.

I knew I needed a change.

I went to a Buddhist temple the next day

and I was a monk for almost three weeks,

just to kind of get clean and sober away from everything,

and after that I saved my money and I came here.

Once I found Muay Thai,

I kinda, I left it all behind.

It kinda opened my eyes,

and it was the best thing that I did.

♪♪♪

[indistinct background conversation]

Narrator: Six years after his release,

Oh still ekes out a modest living as a fighter.

Boxing's the only life he's ever really known.

He's not seeking titles anymore,

but rather, a kind of salvation.

To that end, he runs a gym 30 miles from Bangkok.

It's a safe haven for local kids.

But also, pardoned fighters, a place for convicts

to shed their past and train for the future.

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Chalermpol Singwancha,

an ex-con,

better known as "M" -

was a professional hit man convicted of nine murders,

and during his incarceration,

stabbed at least three fellow inmates.

But before meeting Oh in jail, he had never boxed.

♪♪♪

Under the fallen champ's tutelage, "M" won a prison fight

title himself, and soon thereafter, his parole.

However, having spent 13 years behind bars,

he had nowhere to return.

None of his old gang friends.

No family.

Just Oh, and his gym.

[indistinct voices]

M: [speaking Thai]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

[indistinct voices]

M: [speaking Thai]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Today in Khao Prik

will be Noy's final sparring session.

In keeping with prison rules,

there will be no shots to the head.

Instead the fighters will concentrate on kicks

to the body and takedowns,

which count heavily in Muay Thai scoring.

But in a break with routine, general population inmates

are being permitted to watch the training.

The convict-fighters are expected to remain good sports,

and stay loose enough to entertain their fellow inmates.

[bell clanging]

[cheers and crowd noise]

[cheers and crowd noise]

Narrator: While fights usually divide a crowd,

this one has united the prisoners.

Most of these men will remain behind bars

long after Noy gets the chance to fight for his freedom.

But in this moment,

there's a cathartic sense that he carries with him

the hopes and aspirations of every inmate.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[cheering]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Narrator: Two years have passed since Noy last saw his son.

But with his freedom fight approaching,

Khao Prik's warden has granted a special family visit.

It's not clear how Don processes all the security,

how a seven-year-old boy reconciles

his present circumstance with what he's been told--

or if it even matters.

He's going to see his father.

[family conversing in Thai]

[laughing]

Narrator: If the past five years have taken their toll,

then so will the next few weeks.

It's not just a fight that hangs in the balance.

It's the course of their lives.

[family conversing in Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: With so few chances to be a father,

Noy takes every advantage of his time with Don.

The next time they'll see each other

will be the day of the fight.

[family conversing in Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Noy's mother: [speaking Thai]

[chopping sounds]

Noy's mother: [speaking Thai]

♪ soft music ♪

♪ soft music ♪

Victim's mother: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

Anirut's father: [speaking Thai]

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Police apprehended Noy Khaopan the following day,

and brought him to the hospital,

thinking, perhaps,

that the sight of his victim and the grieving parents

might elicit a quick confession.

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Police promised justice for Anirut's family.

But the system routinely punishes murderers

less severely than even small-time drug dealers.

Noy got 11 years, and a fine.

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[indistinct voices]

Anirut's mother: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: If Noy is training with a higher sense of purpose,

then so is his opponent.

Cody Moberly wants to give Anirut's family

what the system wouldn't --

justice.

Cody: I'm about to fight someone who's killed someone,

who's stabbed someone in the neck.

Thinking about that crime is perfect motivation

before a fight.

♪♪♪

I could open the gate for him to be free,

or I can shut it.

I think that regardless of what happens,

I shouldn't make it easy for him.

♪♪♪

Cody: Redemption starts within yourself.

It's not up to another person to say

"you're redeemed, you're free to go."

If you're not changed inside,

if you can't redeem yourself inside,

then nothing else is gonna change.

If you change in your heart,

then everything's gonna be fine.

If it's not, it's gonna go back the same way, it will.

It will.

If he got out,

he would have to live a life big enough for two people

because he took one.

If he loses and doesn't get out early

maybe the victim's family will feel pretty happy about that.

Many bad people can do great --

can do other things too,

but you still did the crime, you gotta do the time,

is what I feel.

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

[conversing in Thai]

♪♪♪

[conversing in Thai]

♪ foreboding music ♪

♪ foreboding music ♪

[conversing in Thai]

[laughter]

♪ light piano music ♪

♪ light piano music ♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Oh: [speaking Thai]

Cody: I'm going back home after this fight,

so to go back to my home and be able to say

I won in the prison fight,

that's a big deal for me.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Cody: When I saw him, I was kind of like,

wow, this guy looks like a normal kid,

just another face in the crowd sometimes, you know,

you can't always tell.

When you try and think about him stabbing someone in the neck,

it's hard to envision in my head.

I don't know what I was expecting, honestly,

but I was expecting something different.

[conversing in Thai]

♪ suspenseful music ♪

♪ suspenseful music ♪

Announcer:

You're good?

Good, I'm here, I'm here.

[drumming]

[ bell clanging]

[drumming]

[drumming and crowd noise]

[drumming and crowd noise]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

[drumming and crowd noise]

[bell clanging]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

Noy's coach: [speaking Thai]

[bell clanging]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

[cheering]

[cheering]

[cheering]

[bell clanging]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

Noy's coach: [speaking Thai]

Cody's Coach: Very good, Cody, you come too close.

Reach up.

Keep your rights and throw the middle kick.

Throw the middle kick.

You hear, Cody?

Yeah?

[bell clanging]

[crowd noise]

[cheering]

[cheering]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

Noy's Coach: [speaking Thai]

Cody's Coach: Do you think you know how to beat him?

Play with your right, boom with your left!

[bell clanging]

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

[crowd noise]

[crowd noise]

[bell clanging]

Noy's corner man: [speaking Thai]

If you win this one, you win the fight.

They cannot give him the fight, right?

It's now or never, alright?

It's your last round.

Last one.

You can become a legend in your country, alright?

Noy's coach: [speaking Thai]

Everything you've been through?

This shit starts from within, huh?

Let's go, let's do it.

Finish this shit, huh?

Yeah?

You've come to the real life--

the good life right now.

Announcer: [speaking Thai]

[bell clanging]

[crowd noise]

[crowd noise]

[cheering]

[bell clanging]

[cheering]

♪ music ♪

Narrator: In the end,

it wasn't just the more experienced fighter who won,

but the man with most at stake.

If this was justice,

it didn't come easy.

♪♪♪

I wanted to knock him out

but my hands could not find the jaw.

Didn't go the way I wanted.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

[speaking Thai]

[speaking Thai]

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

Noy's mother: [speaking Thai]

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: Noy is among several inmates being released today.

The families assembled outside the gate

are both eager and uncertain,

as those they remember might not be the same

as those who emerge.

[crying]

Noy's mother: [speaking Thai]

[crying]

Narrator: The piece of paper in Noy's grasp

doesn't merely set him free.

It wipes clean his past,

expunging his criminal record.

In legal terms, it's as if he never took a life.

The royal pardon is a transformative document,

allowing the bearer to shed his past en route to his future.

Noy's mother: [speaking Thai]

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Noy's father: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[barking]

Narrator: For a man just out of jail,

the family reunion is as beautiful as it is bewildering.

There are those he barely remembers.

Those he's just now met.

And those he carried in his heart.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[dogs barking]

Narrator: The next morning,

Noy heads to the chicken shop with his father.

It's not the future he envisioned--

far from the bright lights of Bangkok's arenas--

but the rhythms of the family business draw him in.

Noy: [speaking Thai]

♪♪♪

Narrator: The plan was to always continue

what he'd begun behind bars.

He had fought his way out.

Now he would fight his way to fame and fortune.

Noy Khaopan had been boxing all his life.

But only now--

for the first time--

was he asking "why?"

Maybe the only way to move forward

was to leave Muay Thai behind.

♪♪♪

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

Narrator: He'd made good on his jailers' expectation.

Now he has to make good on his own--

not as a fighter, but as a father.

♪♪♪

Noy: [speaking Thai]

[Thai rock music]

Narrator: Perhaps, after all these years,

he'd finally come upon a truth--

♪♪♪

It wasn't fighting.

It was learning not to fight.

[Thai rock music]

[Thai rock music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪