Muay Thai/Boxing Gyms, East Bay (CA)

[nine]

Any recommended Muay Thai and/or Western Boxing gyms near Fremont, CA?

[ECS]

Mike Quijano

Although not real close to Fremont, you can always try my instructor Mike Quijano (last name kee-ha-no).

He is currently teaching a few people out at Moffet Field. Mike trained and fought in Thailand and is the President of the American Muay Thai Council. You can e-mail him for info at: michaelquijano1@hotmail.com

Tell him Adrian sent you.

Sincerely,
Adrian Wise

[terry]

Check out the Thai Buddhist temple in Freemont. There are a bunch of guys that train after services on the weekend. They also organize fights with the other local temples. There are a lot varied experience levels--everything from beginners to guys with 30+ pro fights. Um, so it is best to be polite.

Master Cheetah in Oakland may not be too far either.

[nine]

Great! Thanks for the replies. I found an online list of Muay Thai schools in California for anyone who wants to know

[ECS]

Kru Cheetah

Terry is correct about Chadeth (Cheetah). He and Mike train together on Friday's at Cheetah Muay Thai, alongside Keo Sahareth and his brother. You can contact them through Mike.

Adrian

P.S.

LaMecque is Mike's gym, but it is no longer in San Jose. Email him for current info.

[terry]

Ajarn Cheetah opened up a second school down in Alameda that he teaches at two days a week. He's got a couple of assistant trainers with about 15 fights each. Nice guys. Fairtex, of course, is in San Francisco with a branch in Daly City. Also, I would check out some of the Gracie Academies, as there are MT guys teaching at those places as well. Ralph's school in Mtn. View may be within striking range if you can stay away from the 237 rush hour traffic. If you call there say hi to the manager of that school, Larry Estevan, for me.

I don't know about the guys down in San Jose too much. There was a guy by the name of Javier Mendez that is a good boxing coach that lives down in San Jose. Nice guy. He also teaches boxing in the Police Athletic League, which is worth checking out. I've also heard of a San Jose-based gym that is half MT and half bodyguarding/secret agent killer-type stuff. All I know is that they loose most of their fights. That probably leaves 2 or 3 schools that I don't know much about one way or the other.

[little bullie]

cheetah is actually in emeryville. I left his number at home...i will post his number later i left it at home. it's not listed.

javier mendez is at american kickboxing academy 408.371.4235

cesar was having george tsutsui (not sure if that's still the case) teach his stand up out there and chris sanford as well.

george tsutsui has his own school as well. in the concord area i left that number at home...post it later.

fairtex daly city, contact darren uyenoyama 650.994.5025

woody smith in san carlos. forgot the name of his school.

concord kickboxing club contact doc or zina docto 925.674.0321

hope that helps if you haven't found what you wanted yet

[Lao_Padek]

Fairtex is cool I heard but training with Cheetah would be a good choice. I trained there a couple of times when they were at King's Boxing Gym in Oakland. It was the best i've seen in the area. I also trained a bit at the temple just outside of Fremont when Mongkol was there. There was also a guy named Andy that was coming around the temple, who at the time wanted to get a school going but I am not sure if he ever did. There was also a guy named Nirmalya in San Jose that taught Muay Thai and Bando. And of course, Cung Le is teaching San Shou in San Jose too. I won't say anything about Mike.

[joe]

Muay Thai Eastbay

I have trained at Amsterdam Gym in Emeryville with Cheetah when he was working there with Ercivan. Actually Ercivan started the Oakland/Emeryville gym back in 95 and later opened a second gym in Alameda. Now Cheetah runs the Emeryville gym and Ercivan is still in Alameda/Oakland. I like both of their training styles, Ercivan has been kickboxing and practicing Muay Thai for more than 20 years. Started back in Holland. I still train with Cheetah at times but prefer to train with Ercivan ( more boxing!) I like European style Muay Thai. Those fellows from Holland have proven over the years that being open minded to other styles really pays off. When I visited Amsterdam back in 1999 I found out that Ercivan actually trained with a lot of big names like Kaman and Hoost and was well known as a fighter. Also found out that Dutch fighters don't really get involved to much with the politics/styles/ organizations. They just go in the ring and duke it out. We could learn from this!

I see this same mentality at Amsterdam Gym. Everyone is humble and trains hard. Check their site out at www.amsterdamgym.com

[DaOutlaw]

ive been tryin to start muay thai, and im from the Oakland/Bay area

so far ive found out about Cheetah's Muay thai gym, Kings Boxing Gym, and Amsterdam King boxing

im trying to learn muay thai, which do you recommend me to go?

because i heard kings is a boxing gym but they also got muay thai

[little bullie]

hey daoutlaw,

i recommend cheetah over amsterdam. it's more authentic although ercivan's program is good it's definitely more of a european style kickboxing program.

as for king's ra'karma and cheetah teach the muay thai there but not a full schedule. cheetah's own camp has a full program and he and ra'karma are great guys as well.

[Twins]

European Kickboxing vs Muay Thai

I dunno everytime I go to smokers I see Ercivan's fighters sweeping the ring with the Traditional Muay Thai fighters from say like Fairtex. That is why the Dutch or French are good in Muay Thai: they actually box. But you know Ercivan doesn't speak Thai so us Americans are easily impressed by any Thai trainer who claims he once was a Lumpinee champion. Challenge Ercivan or his fighters and lets see what happens? I think they know enough "European kickboxing" at www.amsterdamgym.com to give any Muay Thai fighter a run for their money!

[DaOutlaw]

correct me if im wrong
cheetah teaches a more traditional style muay thai
while ercivan teaches a more european style muay thai

then what does Kings boxing gym teach?

euro = better boxing?
traditional = better cliching and elbowing?
whats the differences anyways?

[little bullie]

correct me if im wrong
cheetah teaches a more traditional style muay thai
while ercivan teaches a more european style muay thai

then what does Kings boxing gym teach?

euro = better boxing?
traditional = better cliching and elbowing?
whats the differences anyways?

they are different, it depends on what you are looking for. cheetah is definitely able to teach you all around muay thai. ercivan is more kickboxing focused not much in terms of clinch/knee work and elbows. so it's up to you to decide which style you prefer.

[Twins]

Traditional Muay Thai

Little Bullie

You must have never taken a class with Ercivan if you think he doesn't teach knees and elbows, maybe he doesn't in a group format but in private training (when he trains his fighters) he does. But it also depends on what rules his fighter will be fighting under. In any case when I used to train with Cheetah the only knee techniques I learned were skip knees against the wall or skip knees against a bag or pad. But the same thing happened when I took some privates with Cheetah he explained knees and elbows in detail. So I guess it depends on the class you are taking. I always felt both instructors had a lot to offer. The traditional aspect from Cheetah just came mainly from the fact that he would teach you the names of the techniques in Thai and the ceremonial part before or after training. Ercivan starts end ends his classes the way they do in Japan or Europe (oshu etc) If you want to be able to say that you actually trained with a Thai Kru you should train with Cheetah otherwise it doesn't matter. Whatever gets the job done in the ring...it sounds like you are from the Cheetah camp I still train with Ercivan and haven't lost a Muay Thai fight yet!