This is a story of a man who was once forced to rob people in broad daylight off of their valuable and precious items to satisfy his financial and personal needs. Amnat Ruenroeng was born into a family which lived in poverty. Due to insufficient money and no food to eat, the Thai was forced to get into the dark world of robbing. Amnat was a grade-school dropout as is the case with several people in poverty.
But almost 20 years later, the same man is a proud Olympian for his country at the Rio Olympics and lost to France’s Sofiane Oumiha in the Round of 16 bout in the men’s light 60kg boxing category. But the boxer did well to reach the round of 16 after he defeated a boxer 11 kilograms above his own professional weight, Argentina's Ignacio Perrin, by decision. It meant that the Thai boxer had pulled himself out of the world of wrongs, and brought himself to the grandest stage of them all – The Olympic Games.
His story starts way back in 2007 when the Thai boxer was sentenced to 15 years in jail for robbing a tourist in Thailand. It was Ruenroeng’s third jail term and all seemed lost for the boy who grew up streetside. Life seemed difficult and tough for the 27-year old who had never known what real happiness was. Ruenroeng was put behind bars for multiple crimes, but these were crimes which he was forced to do. If he had proper money and had not seen so many atrocities in his 20-years of life, things would have probably been different.
But these are the kind of people who make up for interesting stories. But one important element that every story requires is a turn of events. This turn of events took place with the 27-year old prison inmate when he took to the prison athletics program. The Thai took up boxing as his sport in the program and soon discovered an undying knack for the sport which eventually took him through to competing at international events around the world.
Love affair with Boxing
Ruenroeng laced up his boxing gloves for the first time when he took up the sport in the prison. The trainer at the boxing programme recognised potential in Ruenroeng and asked the authorities to let the new boxer go outside on day release so that he could enter amateur championships on behalf of the prison service.
This move was a step in the right direction for the Thai. Within one year of starting his boxing, the man won the Thai Championship. This led to the boxer being released from prison on ‘good behaviour’ to participate at the biggest sporting spectacle in the world in 2008.
Luckily for the boxer, the rules of the event allowed him to participate after he had qualified for the event which was held in Beijing. However, his performances at the 2008 Games do not reflect how giant a leap the boxer had made. Ruenroeng returned home and sharpened his boxing skills for four years and finally turned pro in 2012. It was a year where the boxer won the IBF world flyweight title in only his 12th fight as a professional by defeating Rocky Fuentes.
The boxer went on to rack up five successful defences of his title but slipped to the only defeat of his 18-fight career last year when he had to give up the title in May 2015. The boxer had been inactive professionally for 14-odd months but when none had thought that the Thai would go to Rio, the boxer himself came to the fore and decided to compete in the Olympic qualifiers for Rio.
His rusty victory against Argentina's Ignacio Perrin may have stood him in great stead but the even better truth about the boxer was the turn-around of his lowly life into this life of a sportsman.
The Thai has gone to great lengths to repay the debt he owes to boxing. One such effort was him qualifying for the Rio Olympics, as in a recent interview Ruenroeng expressed that he had come to the Rio Olympics to prove himself. It also meant that the boxer has been trying to right his wrongs of the past. Life has also presented him with the chance to make amends for his mistakes and the boxer seems to be hell-bent on making the corrections.
The 36-year old boxer is devoted to the King of Thailand as he was the one who had pardoned him from a 15-year sentence after Ruenroeng had showed his boxing talent. Ruenroeng’s path to recovery had started by lacing the boxing gloves and the pugilist had wanted to end it with a medal around his neck.
But as it turned out, his stay in Rio was cut short by Sofiane Oumiha, but Ruenroeng has definitely created a new image for himself and shown the beauty of the Games.
