About the Book
From champion to refugee to martial-arts teacher, a kickboxing innovator tells of his career, remarkable survival and journey toward self-understanding. Includes a historical introduction, maps, and photos.
Oum Ry (b.1944) grew up on a Central Cambodian island in the MeKong River in a family of silver engravers. When his family couldn't afford his food or schooling, he lived with monks until seeking out masters of Cambodian kickboxing, a martial art called Pradal Serey. He was the smallest kid but would become national champion at 23 years old. Over 15 years, he toured Southeast Asia and without ever suffering a knock-out won more than 250 fights. After a young man's dream-life of stardom, parties, and girls, his new wife gave birth to a child in 1975, two months before the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh and pushed the country into an abyss of mass executions, disease, and famine.Oum Ry survived the genocide though much of his family perished. He was saved many times from death in Cambodia due to fame, talent, and his resilience, but suffered a life-threatening attack during Southern California's epic gang violence of the 1990s. Earlier, as a refugee in Chicago, Oum Ry worked cleaning hotels, knowing no English. Within a few years, he had an investor and opened one of the first kickboxing gyms in the United States, and was raising a daughter, Zochada, who took her first steps in the ring.In February 2022, Oum Ry returned to Cambodia for the first time since his escape. He taught workshops, traveled the country, reconnected with recently rediscovered family who survived the war, and met his grandchildren. He still runs 7 miles on the beach several times a week.
When I was 6 years old, my grandmother told me, "The rice won't bear grain if it stands tall, but it will if it bows." I have always followed her advice: "Be calm, be kind, be brave." To this day, because of my grandmother, I am not afraid of anybody.About the Author:
Oum Ry, born in Central Cambodia in 1944, was an international kickboxing champion for many years. From 1963 to 1975, Ry fought over 300 times, never getting knocked out and winning 250 matches, and became one of the most famous people in his country. This was all before the Cambodian genocide, of which most of his family were victims. He was persecuted, starved, recruited by rebel factions as a bodyguard, and after the war fled to the border of Thailand, where he lived in the infamous 007 refugee camp. In December 1980, his immigration was sponsored by an American pastor and he came to the Chicago area, where he raised a family and learnt English by working as a janitor in a hotel. In 1987, he founded Long Beach Kickboxing, one of the oldest kickboxing gyms in the United States. His gym has been open 6 days a week for the last 33 years, training several kickboxing champions and keeping countless kids out of gangs.
Zochada Tat is Oum Ry's daughter, an author, and kickboxing instructor. She took her first steps in the ring at Long Beach Kickboxing and has trained with him throughout her life. She traveled with him to Cambodia in February 2022 and helped translate his oral history.
Addi Somekh is an author, television producer and an instructor of critical thinking at University of California, Santa Cruz.
Michael G. Vann is an author and American historian who serves as Professor of History at California State University, Sacramento. He specializes in the history of the French colonial empire.
