Protecting the Big Boss: The Muay Thai Bodyguard

Photos by Matthew Yarbrough

[Aun, known in the ring as Kongsuriya Narupai and on his birth certificate as Buncha Taparsa, began studying Muay Thai at age 10 in his home province of Ranong. He has racked up an estimated 100 fights in his career. Aun is now 27.]

After I retired from fighting, I joined the military. That's how it goes for men in Thailand; when you turn 21, it's like a lottery and they pick you or they don't pick you. Only some are eligible, like if you have glasses or are disabled in some way, you can't be a soldier. The ones who are eligible are made to choose a color, red or black, and if you pick red, you have to do two years in the military. I picked red.

They sent me to southern Thailand where they have problems all the time. My duty was to talk to people in the village, try to help them understand why the military came to their province, to protect them and not to hurt them. Southern Thailand still has problems. They try to have their own country and their own culture, lots of Muslims there.

I heard gunshots everyday but was never involved. I was involved in bombings, though. Cooking gas explosions happened three times. I was near them but I was safe every time. People were killed, yes, but thankfully no one in my department or my friends.

After my military service, I went back to Muay Thai. Worked as at trainer for a few months in Hong Kong, then went over to FA Group in Bangkok, to Wat Charoenrit in Koh Phangan. FA Group used me as a training partner for some of their other fighters, but I wasn't a full-fledged trainer, so that's part of why I took the new job in Koh Phangan. I didn't have problems with any of my gyms; I just moved to find better opportunities.

Soon after I moved up to Chiang Mai for a job at Santai Gym, I got an offer to go to Macau.

But it wasn't to be a Muay Thai trainer.

A lot of my fighter-friends went to Macau. They would tell me all about it. They're the reason I got the job. They called and asked me to work with them. Bodyguard work, they told me. If the boss wants a new bodyguard, he tells his other bodyguards, who are mostly former fighters, to ask their friends.

So I thought about it for two weeks, then decided to go. I was able to leave Thailand immediately. The boss I was about to protect was mafia, and he was able to help with visas and sort all that out easily. I went in February 2014, stayed one year and 10 months total.

My job duties as a bodyguard were exactly like what you see in the movies. When the boss goes to dinner, we bodyguards go with him and just stand there close by. There was no special training once I arrived. They said as long as you can fight, you can do this job.

Working hours depended on my boss. If he didn't go anywhere, I would stay at the office waiting for him, or wait at home for him to call. Sometimes the boss would pick me up at home. I earned 50,000 to 60,000 baht a month, and of course tips from the boss and his friends.

Sunday was my day off. I did whatever I wanted, sometimes touristy stuff in Macau, but mostly I liked to stay home, cook and relax. I was never really one for casinos or bars, never liked partying. I wanted to save money instead.

My boss was Chinese, somewhere in his fifties. We spoke Cantonese to each other. The boss had a legal business, a five-star hotel in Macau and China, and casinos too. He also had an illegal money-lending business, lending to people with a really high interest rate. I knew he was doing illegal activities because I was with him all the time, when he was doing his shady dealings. He didn't try to hide it from me, either. Everyone in Macau knows that the people who have bodyguards are probably doing something illegal. They know the rich people are mafia because they buy everyone. Macau used to belong to Portugal, so there's corruption everywhere. They've been independent for a while and still have corruption, like police taking money.

Sure, the job was kind of fun, but I was also afraid for my life at times.

I would get this anxious feeling every time we drove around. I was worried someone would shoot us in the car. Think about it: cars aren't safe. If you're in a car, you can't fight. I would have these bad thoughts about people shooting us from a long distance, like snipers, or a truck hitting our car and ramming it over a bridge, on purpose or by accident. I think I was afraid of this because I'd heard stuff like that had happened a long time ago, before I worked there. My boss's car was bulletproof, but every time we would go somewhere, we had to search under the car for bombs. My boss had bodyguards just to watch the car; we took turns. The boss had seven or eight of us working just for him. Sometimes we'd work together, and everyone had his own duty.

All the big bosses were friends, like a group of 10 heads of companies, and they all had Thai bodyguards. And sometimes when they wanted to fight, they'd fight with another group that hired Chinese bodyguards. But sometimes things got out of hand. It was well known that if you beat someone to death and go to jail, your boss can't help you but he can help your family, send your salary back to them. So they did help.

None of that ever happened to me, but it happened to Thai bodyguards I knew. I heard of one case like that. Fifteen years in jail for killing a policeman, and all 10 people involved went to jail. Doesn't matter who actually did it. They all went to jail. But the bosses still sent money back to the families. I heard the policeman was killed accidentally. Their boss had told his bodyguards, "This policeman did something bad to me. Go give him a lesson." But it got out of hand.

Stories like that scared the hell out of me. I didn't fight anyone because I was afraid of the consequences of fighting. Luckily my boss was a nice guy and I didn't have to fight. Good, because things escalate quickly in fights. Macau has really strict laws, like no guns and no knives, so if something happens, it would supposedly be a fistfight. If you use guns or knives, you could go to jail for 15 years. That's why they hire old Muay Thai fighters to be bodyguards, because we know how to fight.

I'd say it's way more dangerous to be a bodyguard in Thailand than Macau, though, because of the laws. Here in Thailand, guns are allowed. You can apply for a carrying permit. One hundred percent, I'd rather be a bodyguard in Macau. In Thailand, you might have to kill someone, and I don't want to kill anyone. It's illegal to kill people.

Sometimes my boss would make trips abroad and I loved that because it meant I could stay home and hang out and not work. Sometimes he'd be gone a few weeks and just bring one bodyguard and the rest of us could just chill. He would go to England for vacations. I personally was never picked to go. The boss took only one of us at a time because it's expensive, all those international flights and everything.

The most challenging time was always Chinese New Year when the whole family got together. We had to be so much more careful and make sure there were no mistakes. Big family, lots of friends. More people around means more work. We had to take care of the whole family. Luckily it was only once a year.

As for my advice for other fighters who want to be bodyguards, well… If you want to work for money, just do your job and don't get involved with drugs or the casinos. Keep away from everything that'll take your money. The job is not all that hard, but you have to focus and avoid distractions.

Now that I'm back in Thailand, things are going well. I had a girlfriend here in Thailand when I was in Macau. We were long-distance. I was saving money for our future together, didn't send her money because we weren't married, but just bought her some gifts. I figured I'd save money for my future with her, and just see if she's still there when I got back. Well, guess what? She was still there! I'm still with her, been four or five years now. My girlfriend was a little worried about me when I was in Macau, but she understood I had to work, and it wasn't too hard because I behaved myself.

I'm glad I'm back home in Thailand. It doesn't matter if you earn a lot abroad; working in Thailand is the best thing that could happen to any Thai person. We're always homesick.

Now I'm working at Santai, hoping to stay for a few years, trying to save as much as possible. The plan is to get married, go home to Ranong, build a house, raise cattle and a farm, do more in the meat business. My dad already has 30 head of cattle at home. I bought them all with the money I saved, but my dad takes care of them.

Also, I want to be a family man and have my own business. I want my future children to achieve a high education level so they won't have to do the same work as I have had to do in my life. Better to be the boss than the employee. It would be great if my kids were ever successful enough to hire their own bodyguards.

Thai-English interpretation by Jiraphan Hjalmarsson.