Dave Leduc “Lethwei Is Where You Really Express Yourself Freely”
Dave Leduc vs Prom Samnang goes down under hybrid Kun Khmer rules and Leduc is retiring on November 5th. The Last Dance goes down in Phnom Penh City. This bout has one 9-minute round, is KO to win, and uses traditional Cambodian ropes on fists.
Leduc appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts to discuss the machinations behind why he is retiring now. Plus, Leduc discusses the blueprint for Dave Leduc vs Prom Samnang, and so much more. Excerpts from the chat are below.
Dave Leduc
This is such a decorated opponent you have here. I mean just even seeing some aspects of the resume, 150 some-odd fights. Like you said a massive win streak, for sure. This strikes me as a person you were already aware of. Even before Dave Leduc vs Prom Samnang was lined up. Is this someone you’ve had in your proverbial crosshairs for a while now?
“Yeah, it’s so true. I was actually looking at him a lot because I was analyzing one of my former opponent Diesellek (TopkingBoxing) who was; Diesellek fought the likes of Samy Sana in ONE FC. He fought Youssef Boughanem and he knocked out Boughanem at Rajadamnern (Stadium). So when I was studying for Diesellek, I came across Prom Samnang who actually fought Diesellek in Cambodia. He won on decision and that was a very impressive three to five round decision. So I ended up knocking him out in the first round.”
Dave Leduc vs Prom Samnang
“So for me again that doesn’t tell you anything but it just for me, adds to my confidence level. The fact that like I know what I’m doing. So anyway yeah, I was thinking about him a lot because I thought it was very interesting. I wanted him to come to fight lethwei. Which is because I always say lethwei is the ultimate striking test. It is the way where you know; gloves off, everything off because you know those ropes are quite massive.”
“They don’t cut as much as when you have only a thin layer of gauze like in lethwei. So for me, lethwei is where you really express yourself freely with, you know; everything goes in a clinch, everything goes. Then you don’t care about points and it’s just; you only focus on damage. So of course I wanted to fight under lethwei rules. We found a common ground in this mass rule which is able to win and everything. So it makes sense but yeah it’s something. I definitely take this fight very seriously.”
Kun Khmer
Dave Leduc continued, “Because like I had a talk with my coach Sifu Pat (Marcil). He’s like after what’s happening right now with my former training partners like Israel had an upset recently. He’s like use that as a wake-up call. Don’t get too comfortable, don’t get too friendly. That’s when **** happens and I’m like yeah it’s true. Because it’s easy to get on the roll and then you forget how there’s a lot of; it’s always like day one.”
“Scared of getting knocked out, scared to lose. Basically fear, use it as a fuel and it’s dangerous when you’re not afraid anymore, if you’re overly confident. So you don’t want to be overly confident and I know I have the tools to beat him. I know I have great stuff that can really put him on his ass and I’m really confident about this. But I should still go out there with massive fear like I always go.”
