Kickboxing: Life's a beach but tough test follows

Kyle Gallacher is finding Langkawi Island in Malaysia the ideal spot to peak ahead of his first bout at the IFMA Muay Thai World Championships. Photo/Supplied

Wanganui muay thai kickboxers Kyle Gallacher and Lou Fuller have acclimatised well and are nearing peak, ahead of their first bouts at the IFMA Muay Thai World Championships on Langkawi Island in Malaysia.

The tournament starts today and both are scheduled to have their first bouts on Saturday (NZ time), although neither will know who they are matched up with until the draw is made.

"We're getting a nice routine going here in Langkawi. We have a big morning train on the beach and then relax, swim, enjoy the Malaysian food, and then have another training in the evening," Gallacher said earlier this week.

"It feels like I'm on holiday but it's not long until I will be trading elbows.

"At the moment, we are training twice a day - 7-9am on the beach and 5.30-7pm in the evening.

"Me and Lou struggled with jet lag for a while but we are peaking now and have adjusted well to the heat. The heat makes training a lot harder but it is good for making fight weight. We have been sweating out 1kg-2kg each training."

The Wanganui Assassins Guild fighters will need all their skills and street savvy during the strict knockout competition, featuring some of the best in the world in their respective weight divisions.

The lanky 2.032-metre (6ft 8in) Gallacher will compete in the cruiser under-86kg A class weight division in Malaysia. In contrast, Fuller is tiny, barely scratching the 1.5m mark (5ft 2in) and will fight in the under-45kg women's grade.

Just before the pair left Wanganui for Malaysia, Gallacher was weighing in 89kg and Fuller just 1kg above her fighting weight at 46kg.