JCVD vs. Somluck Kamsing

[GeneChing]

This is a dated announcement, but I didn't find a previous post on it. If there is one, please point that out and I'll merge. I haven't heard much more beyond this initial announcement such as development of the reality show, which you'd think would be going on now last I heard, the fight was scheduled for Oct.

Van Damme to fight in 2010
January, 25, 2010
By Jake Rossen

Express a love of Jean-Claude Van Damme's filmography in the wrong company and you'll have a hard time recovering. This is the kind of admission that can infect every opinion you ever share in the future.

You: "You know, universal health care is a noble thing, but government intervention in the private sec …"

Acquaintance: "Sorry, but aren't you the fellow who said he owned 'Replicant' on Blu-ray?"

You: "Yes, but …"

Acquaintance: "Let's just go to opposite corners of the room."

Nostalgia is what it is: you like what you like. I grew up on a diet of Van Damme movies and their snake charms on adolescent boys who enjoy watching a numb-mouthed foreigner spin-kick Powers Boothe through a glass partition. For anyone who shares that appetite, the news that Van Damme, nearly 50, is considering an actual kickboxing fight should be met with some kind of interest -- however morbid it might be.

"It's the first time in history a guy at 50 will go for a real fight in Macau [China],'" he told gathered media at a news conference in the Ukraine last week. "It's kind of dangerous, but life is short."

If he's serious, it's about to get much shorter. Van Damme says he intends to fight Somluck Kamsing, a Thai boxer with 300-plus bouts to his credit (this according to Van Damme). Kamsing is only 37 years old: According to Wikipedia, he won gold as a featherweight boxer in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Van Damme's athletic résumé consists of some hazy full-contact tournaments in the 1970s -- and beating up himself in "Double Impact." By way of bizarre fight ambition, he also (allegedly) circulated a rumor that he had signed to fight Bas Rutten in a K-1 bout some years back.

The actor says he intends to film up to 36 episodes of a reality series this year, the latter 12 of which would consist of his training for the fight, culminating with the bout in China. "[It will be] the training of Van Damme," he said. Third-person references rarely portend good things.

[Dragonzbane76]

oh... wow.... i so totally hope he gets his guts stomped in...

[Lucas]

could be entertaining. as an actor, especially at 50, he has a better shot at this than any other actor out there. he brings some notability to his endeavor in that he's already famous (infamous?) hes ko'd people and been ko'd as a youngin so at least he has a bit of experience in his youth with contact.

[GeneChing]

Anyone know Somluck Kamsing?

Jean Claude Van Damme to fight for fans' respect
* By Entertainment Reporter, Alison Stephenson
* From: news.com.au
* November 30, 2010 1:11PM


Jean Claude Van Damme is swapping movies for reality TV. Picture: Sony


The former Kickboxer star will contest a real fight in August 2011. Picture: Supplied

JEAN Claude Van Damme is tired of playing the action hero on the big screen, so he's turning to the small screen to fight for real.

After almost 30 years of "kicking butt" in action films, like so many jaded stars, Van Damme is entering the reality TV ring.

"I lost some of my excitement in the film business after 35 movies it was the same story, I go in, become the hero, I kick butt," Van Damme told news.com.au.

"I've been around the world I'm not joking at least about 10 or 15 times... I'm tired of the same choo-choo train."

The former martial arts champion has signed a contract to face former Olympian Somluck Kamsing in Las Vegas in August 2011 and the cameras will be following his journey to the ring.

After the actor's highly-publicised fall from grace, including an alleged $10,000 a week cocaine habit and several stints in rehab, the Kickboxer star says the move is an effort to mentally repair himself and regain the respect of his fans.

"Some people said 'c'mon it's over,' (the bad press) but I feel guilty about it and I made some mistakes in Hollywood and now I want to make good in Vegas.

"(I want) to be loved again because that's the truth, even if the movie stars aren't saying it, we love to be loved."

It's a brave ambition at 50, and the "Muscles from Brussels" admits he's no spring chicken.

"I'm thinking like a 20-year-old, but the problem is when I see myself in the mirror, I don't look 20, it ****es me off that that's the way it is.

"Face-wise I'm 50 for sure. Believe me, I've got some boo-boos left and right."

* JCVD is promoting the Sony Entertainment Great DVD Amnesty which encourages people to clean out their DVD collections for a cash redemption.

[Sardinkahnikov]

I hope he does some spinning flying kicks and those cool jumping splits.

KUMITE!!!