Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Martial Arts: Fighter going for world gold

By Shane Hurndell
Hawkes Bay Today·
27 Jul, 2015 08:45 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Hawke's Bay's Cody Thomson is eyeing gold in a 110-strong field. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay's Cody Thomson is eyeing gold in a 110-strong field. Photo / Duncan Brown

Talk about bold ambitions ... they don't come much bigger than this one of Hawke's Bay Muay Thai fighter Cody Thomson.

The Highlanders Fight Club representative is aiming for gold in a 110-strong field in his 16-17 years 63.5kg class at the Royal World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand next month.

"I got silver at the world champs in Malaysia last year when I was beaten by a split decision in the final against a Turkish opponent. I want gold this time," Thomson, 16, said before another gruelling training session yesterday.

More than 3000 fighters representing 110 countries will be in action at the August 13-23 event, the biggest sporting show to be staged in Thailand.

"The King of Thailand [Bhumibol Adulyadej] and his family have got right behind the show which is a celebration of Muay Thai being accepted as an Olympic sport and this is why it's called the Royal World Cup," Thomson's father and trainer Scotty Thomson explained.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Thomson snr will be one of five trainers in the 45-strong Kiwi contingent, which will also include Napier brothers Aaron and Lucas McAdam, who fight out of the Jackals Gym.

"It's a straight knockout event which means if you lose you're out," Thomson said.

"I've been training five days a week since the beginning of the year and apart from school work it's been my only focus. You don't get much time to hang out with mates but these are the sort of sacrifices one has to make.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We leave on Saturday so we can spend almost two weeks acclimatising and training in the heat. From what we hear it's 40 degrees celsius in the day time over there so that's a big difference from our winter," the Napier Boys' High School Year 11 student said.

A fighter for the past eight years, Thomson, boasts a five wins-two loss record in fights on New Zealand soil. He has only had two fights since returning from the May 2014 world champs and has won them both.

"I'm in Muay Thai for the long haul. I want to become a professional fighter and also teach it."

It will be interesting to see if Thomson can maintain his focus should he meet his hero, Thai welterweight fighter Buakaw Banchamek.

As part of the royal flavour of the event the best adult male will be awarded the King's Cup, the best adult female the Queen's Cup, the best male junior the Prince's Cup and the best female junior the Princess' Cup.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad

Hawkes Bay Today

Napier City Rovers face crucial match in bid for top-tier football


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Premium
Premium
Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park
Hawkes Bay Today

Two CHB wins on finals weekend at McLean Park

11 clubs share 14 first and second round trophies in Hawke's Bay club rugby.

15 Jul 06:00 PM
Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad
Hawkes Bay Today

Club rugby stars announced in Magpies NPC squad

15 Jul 06:00 PM
Napier City Rovers face crucial match in bid for top-tier football
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier City Rovers face crucial match in bid for top-tier football

15 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP