Tway Ma Shaung

In this Burmese name, the given name is Tway Ma Shaung. There is no family name.
Tway Ma Shaung
BornYan Naing Lin
(1982-09-15) September 15, 1982 (age 42)
Taw Ku village, Mudon Township, Mon State, Burma
Native nameရန်နိုင်လင်း
Other namesPalaw Yan Naing (ပုလောရန်နိုင်)
Knockout King (အလဲထိုးဘုရင်)
NationalityMyanmar Burmese
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)
DivisionLightweight
Light welterweight
StyleLethwei
StanceOrthodox
Fighting out ofPalaw Township (1996-2005)
Yangon (2006-2013)
TeamKLN/T&T
Nagar Mann[1]
Teacher(s)U Myint Lwin
U Dee (Mon State)
TrainerU Myint Wai
Win Zin Oo
Soe Than Win
Kyaw Soe
RankFirst class
Years active1996-2013
OccupationRetired
Spouse
Daw Khin Thaw Thaw Thein
​
​
(m. 2011)​
ChildrenSit Naing Thu
Sit Yan Naing[2]
Notable club(s)Phoenix Lethwei Gym (2016-2017)
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Tway Ma Shaung (Burmese: တွေ့မရှောင်; MLCTS: twei ma.shaun) (born December 9, 1982) is a retired Burmese lethwei fighter considered by many to be the best of his generation and a legend in the sport,[3][4][5] his fighting style characterised by his resilience and virtuosity.[6] He was revered for taking on larger and heavier opponents[1] and praised for his commitment to working the body instead of the head.[7]

Biography

[edit]

Tway Ma Shaung was born in Mon State, but his family moved to Tanintharyi Region when he was two years old. He is the son of U Mya Thaung and Daw Nyo Nyo Khin and has one older brother and two younger sisters.[1] His first fight was in 1996 while in 8th standard and his second fight was during a school holiday in Myeik Township at an event hosted by his future trainer U Myint Wai. He left school after 9th standard.[8]

Lethwei career

[edit]

The real start of Tway Ma Shaung's career was during the 1999/2000 season in Mon State where he was taught by local legend U Dee, the grandfather of Shwe Yar Mann. During his stay there he won six fights and drew in the other four.[9] After an invitation by coach U Myint Wai to partake in the State and Division tournament in 2002 and subsequently winning the gold medal in his weightclass, Myint Wai gave him the nickname Tway Ma Shaung (loosely translating to "not avoiding anyone in sight").

Tway Ma Shaung's only loss on TKO happened in early 2005 when he faced Kyal Lin Aung. In round 5 Kyal Lin Aung scored a knockdown and although Tway Ma Shaung got up in time, he was too tired to continue and decided to turn his back and hand over the victory.[10] In all their meetings Tway never got to avenge the loss since they were all draws.

Another well-known career spanning rivalry is the one with Win Tun, a fighter as skilled as Tway himself relying more on offense from the outside.[3] By the time they met, Win Tun had already achieved to become a triple Golden Belt Champion and single Challenge Fight belt holder. Tway was able to best him in most of their meetings but both the beauty and level of violence these two brought to the ring was the primary selling point for most visitors, regardless of outcome.

In a rare instance of Burmese boxers going oversees, Tway got to fight in Austria in 2008. For the occasion he camped at his opponents residence.[1] The fight was unfortunately overshadowed by the horrific events that unfolded back in his home country as cyclone Nargis had made landfall the day before the fight, claiming over 138.000 fatalities.

Closing out his career he attempted to attain the highest possible achievement in lethwei by fighting the national champion Saw Nga Man, a good 15kg heavier, who was the title-holder since 2009. Despite high expectations by the fans the fight ended up as a draw. Tway had to take a defensive stance against the powerful champion and was not able to inflict enough damage to take home the win.[11]

Retirement

[edit]

In 2010, a culmination of events nearly led him to retire when his sister married, his house was burglarized and his father passed away.[8]

In 2014, when Tway Ma Shaung retired many theories floated around as to what the real reason was for his withdrawal from competition. Injuries, dissatisfaction and a big falling out with his long-time trainer Kyaw Soe have all been named. He even turned down a fight with newcomer Tun Tun Min for a record purse at the time.[1] In an interview a year after his retirement he said he had chosen family life at the request of his wife, because he always kept that itch to get back into the ring,[2] persistent rumors often appear of Tway Ma Shaung returning.[3] In 2018, The Daily Eleven falsely reported his return to the ring, as did various outlets after he appeared on a press conference prior to WLC 6: Heartless Tigers.[12]

Personal life

[edit]

Tway Ma Shaung met his wife back in Dawei where she taught the child of the home-owner he was staying at. They got married in 2011 and have two children, Sit Naing Thu and Sit Yan Naing.[2] His favorite fighter is Wan Chai, closely followed by his former opponent Win Tun.[8]

Titles and accomplishments

[edit]
  • Championships
    • 2007 Golden Belt Champion (60kg)
    • 2009 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan winner (1st class)
    • 2013 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan winner (1st class)[13]
  • Other championships and awards
    • 2002 State and Division gold medalist
    • 2007 Golden Belt Championship best boxer award
    • 2007 Southeast Asian Games bronze medal (Muay)
    • 2008 Challenge fight belt (vs. Thepsamut Wan Chorenrit)
    • 2009 Challenge fight belt (vs. Takashige “Crazy Hill” Hirukawa)
    • 2020 Legend of the Year award (WLC)[14]

Lethwei record

[edit]
Professional Lethwei record
82 fights, 46 wins (46 (T)KOs), 2 losses, 34 draws
Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time
2013-03-28 Draw Myanmar Kyal Lin Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights, Kyaik Kelasa Lamaing, Ye, Mon State, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2013-03-01 Draw Myanmar Soe Lin Oo Lethwei Challenge Fights, Kyaik Kelasa Lamaing, Ye, Mon State, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2013-02-17 Draw Myanmar Saw Nga Man National Championship Challenge, Thein Phyu Stadium Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
For the Openweight Lethwei Golden Belt[15]
2013-02-05 Win Thailand Petchtae Jaipetchkorsang Win Sein Taw Ya 2013 Mudon Township, Mon State, Myanmar KO 4
2013-01-20 Win Thailand Joviha[16] Myanmar vs. Thailand Challenge Fights Yangon, Myanmar KO 1
2013-01-06 Win Myanmar Phoe Kay 2013 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan Final Yangon, Myanmar KO 1 2:20[16]
Wins 2013 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan, first class flag/trophy[17]
2012-12-18 Win Iran Masood Izadi 2013 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan Semi-final Yangon, Myanmar KO 2 1:45
2012-10-25 Win Myanmar Thutti Aung Kandawgyi Lake, Myaw Sin Island Yangon, Myanmar KO 2[18]
2012-10-07 Win Philippines Mike Tumbaga[19] International Challenge Fights, Thein Phyu Stadium Yangon, Myanmar KO 2 0:54
2012-09-16 Win Myanmar Tun Tun Mandalay Rumbling Intl. Challenge Fights Yangon, Myanmar KO 2
Bout was originally scheduled to be against Umar Semata[20]
2012-08-12 Draw Myanmar Soe Lin Oo Lethwei Challenge Fights, Thein Phyu Stadium Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2012-04-07 Win Myanmar Phoe Kay Mandalay Rumbling Challenge Fights Yangon, Myanmar KO 3 2:30
2012-03-00 Win Myanmar Mya Nan Taw Lethwei Challenge Fights Lamaing, Ye, Mon State, Myanmar TKO (injury) 3
2012-02-24 Draw Myanmar Kyal Lin Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights Mandalay, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2012-01-00 Draw Myanmar Soe Lin Oo Challenge Fights, Hnit Kayin village Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2011-11-06 Win Australia Brian Harris Myanmar vs. Australia Challenge Fights, Thein Phyu Stadium Yangon, Myanmar KO 2 2:11
2010-12-31 Draw Myanmar Yan Naing Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights, Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium (1) Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2010-12-19 Draw Myanmar Kyal Lin Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2010-11-21 Win Myanmar Yan Naing Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights, Pa Nga village Thanbyuzayat Township, Myanmar KO
2010-07-25 Draw Myanmar Win Tun Lethwei Challenge Fights, Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium (1) Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2010-00-00 Draw Myanmar Mya Nan Taw Challenge Fights, Aung Myay Mantalar Sports Complex Mandalay, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2010-02-17 Draw Myanmar Win Tun Challenge Fights, Watho village Thanbyuzayat Township, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2010-01-01 Draw Myanmar Phoe Kay Challenge Fights, Hnit Kayin village Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2009-12-12 Loss Myanmar Phoe Kay 2010 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan Quarter-final Yangon, Myanmar Decision 5 3:00
2009-10-24 Draw Thailand Thepsamut Wan Chorenrit Myanmar-Thai Challenge Fights Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2009-10-04 Win Myanmar Aung Zeya Lethwei Challenge Fights, Myeik city (Day 2) Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar KO 3
2009-09-05 Draw Myanmar Zan Htoo 2009 Golden Belt Championship Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2009-04-04 Win Japan Takashige Hirukawa Myanmar-Japan Goodwill Letwhay Competition Yangon, Myanmar KO 2
Wins Myanmar vs. Japan Challenge Fight belt
2009-04-04 Win Myanmar Saw Ga Pa Re Hmu 2009 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan Final Yangon, Myanmar KO 2
Wins 2009 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan, first class flag/trophy
2009-03-01 Win Myanmar Win Tun 2009 Dagon Shwe Aung Lan Semi-final Yangon, Myanmar KO 3 1:24
2009-02-00 Win Myanmar Zan Htoo Challenge Fights, Sa Khan Gyi Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, Myanmar KO 5
2009-01-31 Win Myanmar Yan Gyi Aung Calsome Challenge Fight-2 Yangon, Myanmar KO 5
2008-12-21 Win Thailand Phichitchai Democratic Karen Buddhist Army 14th Anniversary Myaing Gyi Ngu, Hpa-an Township, Kayin State, Myanmar KO 3
2008-11-08 Win Thailand Thepsamut Wan Chorenrit Myanmar-Thai International Letwhay Challenge Fight Yangon, Myanmar KO 2 2:15
Wins Myanmar vs. Thailand Challenge Fight belt
2008-00-00 Win Myanmar Daung Nyo Lay Lethwei Challenge Fights Kachin State, Myanmar KO 2
2008-09-27 Win Myanmar Thuya Ye Aung Calsome Challenge Fight-1 (Day 1) Yangon, Myanmar KO 3
2008-08-09 Win Myanmar Aung Zeya Lethwei Challenge Fights, Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium (1) Yangon, Myanmar KO 3
2008-06-11 Draw Myanmar Thutti Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights Mon State, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2008-05-03 Win Austria Thomas Hengstberger Cage Fight Series 3, Eisstadion Graz Liebenau Graz, Styria, Austria TKO 2
2008-04-09 Win Myanmar Win Tun Challenge Fights, Labutta Labutta Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar KO 3
2008-03-21 Win Myanmar Kyaw Nyein Challenge Fights, Lamaing Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar KO 3
2008-03-01 Win Myanmar Daung Nyo Lay Lethwei Challenge Fights, Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium (1) Yangon, Myanmar KO 2
2008-02-00 Win Myanmar Win Tun Challenge Fights, Hmawbi Hmawbi Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar TKO 1
2007-12-00 Draw Myanmar Daung Nyo Lay Challenge Fights, San Daw Shin Phayar Twante Township, Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2007-11-00 Draw Myanmar Daung Nyo Lay Byai Ta Gaung Sayar Daw Festival Byai Ta Gaung village, Mon State, Myanmar Draw 3 3:00
2007-11-00 Draw Myanmar Kyal Lin Aung Challenge Fights, Thaung Pyin Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar Draw 6 5:00
2007-10-00 Draw Myanmar Daung Nyo Lay Aghattan village Challenge Fights Twante Township, Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2007-09-00 Win Myanmar Win Tun Challenge Fights, Thaung Pyin Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar KO 3
2007-09-09 Win Myanmar Thutti Aung 2007 Golden Belt Championship Final Yangon, Myanmar KO 3 2:38
Wins 60kg Golden Belt Championship & best boxer award
2007-09-01 Win Myanmar Maw Shee Lay 2007 Golden Belt Championship Semi-final Yangon, Myanmar KO 3 1:19
2007-08-28 Win Myanmar Hein Nyi Nyi 2007 Golden Belt Championship Quarter-final Yangon, Myanmar KO 2 1:56
2007-00-00 Win Myanmar Tar Toe War Challenge Fights, Thaung Pyin Ye Township, Mon State, Myanmar KO 5 20:00
2007-00-00 Win Myanmar Tun Tun Myeik city Challenge Fights Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar KO 2
2007-02-24 Draw Myanmar Thuya Ye Aung Kandawgyi Lake, Myaw Sin Island Fights 2 Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2006-02-00 Win Myanmar Tun Tun Lethwei Challenge Fights Kawkareik, Kayin State, Myanmar KO 2
2006-02-00 Draw Myanmar Thutti Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights Hpa-an Township, Kayin State, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2006-01-25 Win Myanmar Dawna Aung Myeik city Challenge Fights Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar KO 4
2005-10-00 Draw Myanmar Yan Gyi Aung Lethwei Challenge Fights Insein Township, Yangon, Myanmar Draw 5 3:00
2005-02-00 Loss Myanmar Kyal Lin Aung Karoppi Village Challenge Fights Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, Myanmar TKO (gave up) 5
2004-07-11 Win Myanmar A Mae Thar Myanmar vs. Japan, Thuwunna National Indoor Stadium (1) (Day 2) Yangon, Myanmar KO 4
2000-00-00 Win Myanmar Nyi Nyi Soe Lethwei Challenge Fights Mon State, Myanmar KO 1
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Schroeder, Mark (15 October 2019). "Lethwei favorites: Tway Ma Shaung". The Fight Site. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Htunn, Zin Lin (19 August 2014). "အလဲထိုးဘုရင်တွေ့မရှောင်နဲ့ရှောင်တခင်". Fighter Sports Journal (in Burmese) (349): 25. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Jennings, Leon. "LETHWEI LEGEND OF THE YEAR". Asian Persuasion MMA. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  4. ^ Slack, Jack (17 August 2015). "Three Strikers Every MMA Fan Should Be Ashamed Not to Know". Vice. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  5. ^ Slack, Jack (25 January 2017). "Three More Strikers for the Fighting Connoisseur". Vice. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
  6. ^ Fagan, Sean. "Lethwei: The 'Wild West' Of Kickboxing". Muay Thai Guy. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  7. ^ Si Hein, Aung (14 November 2011). "Tway Ma Shaung outwits Ozzie pretender". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Tway Ma Shaung interview Episode 1, A moment with people champion of lethwei fight (in Burmese). Lekkha Moun. 5 December 2015. Event occurs at 2m32s.
  9. ^ Schroeder, Mark (29 May 2020). "Under the Influence". The Fight Site. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  10. ^ Lin Htunn, Zin (12 September 2009). "Calsome 2009 အကြိုဗိုလ်လုပွဲမှ ပရိသတ်ရင်ကို ဆွဲယမ်းမည့်ပွဲကြမ်းများ" (PDF). Myanma Alinn (in Burmese). p. 11. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  11. ^ Zin Hlaing, Kyaw (21 February 2013). "သရေရလဒ်သာ ထွက်ပေါ်ခဲ့သည့် မြန်မာပြည်ချန်ပီယံလုပွဲ". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  12. ^ "တွေ့မရှောင်နဲ့ ဘယ်သူဆုံချင်မလဲ?". Duwun Sports (in Burmese). 13 September 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  13. ^ Zin Hlaing, Kyaw (24 January 2013). "မြန်မာလက်ဝှေ့ကျော်များ အနိုင်ရခဲ့သည့် ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့စိန်ခေါ်ပွဲ". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  14. ^ Aung Myo Kyaw, Sithu (30 January 2021). "WLC၏ ၂၀၂၀ တစ်နှစ်တာ World Lethwei Awards အတွက် အကောင်းဆုံးကစားသမားများ ရွေးချယ်". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  15. ^ Zin Hlaing, Kyaw (30 January 2013). "စောငမန်းနှင့် တွေ့မရှောင်တို့ ယှဉ်ပြိုင်ထိုးသတ်ကြမည်". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  16. ^ a b Soe, Tin (20 January 2013). "Myanmar, Thai boxers to face head-to-head in Yangon" (PDF). The New Light of Myanmar. p. 16. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  17. ^ Zin Hlaing, Kyaw (14 January 2013). "Tway Ma Shaung's KO captures title". Myanmar Times. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  18. ^ Sin Hein, Aung (31 October 2012). "တွေ့မရှောင်က သတ္တိအောင်ကို နှစ်ချီတည်းဖြင့် အလဲထိုးနိုင်ခဲ့". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  19. ^ Nay Aung, Tun (10 October 2012). "မြန်မာ-ဖိလစ်ပိုင်ရိုးရာလက်ဝှေ့စိန်ခေါ်ပွဲတွင်တွ့မရှောင်နှင့် သတ္တိအောင်တို့ အနိုင်ရရှိ". Myanmar Times (in Burmese). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Myanmar traditional boxing challenge 16 Sept" (PDF). The New Light of Myanmar. 13 September 2012. p. 9. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
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