Phil Nurse

Phil Nurse (born on April 3, 1963) often referred to as Kru Phil Nurse is a British Muay Thai fighter and a retired undefeated European Light Welterweight Champion, Double British Champion, and British All Styles Super Light Welterweight Champion. He currently is the owner and senior instructor at Wat in Manhattan.

Biography & Muay Thai Career

Born on April 3, 1963 in Northern England to Barbadian parents, Phil naturally became enamored with Football (known as Soccer in the US). He was a very promising player until a leg injury forced him to seek other active ways to rehabilitate itself. At the age of 17, he began using Muay Thai aka Thai Boxing to strengthen his injury and found the sport addictive. He began his training with Master Sken, who is largely credited with bringing Muay Thai to the UK. Through dedication and hard training, Phil rose through the ranks of Thai Boxing becoming European and British Welterweight Champion. Phil’s record to date is 32-3-0, with 15 fights by way of knock out. Though currently retired, He has held and never lost 3 title belts: European Light Welterweight Champion, Double British Champion, and British All Styles Super Light Welterweight Champion. Phil has successfully defended both his European Light Welterweight and his British Super Light Welterweight Titles twice.

After drawing so much attention to his abilities in the Muay Thai circles around the world he decided to try Boxing. He attained some success on the British Professional Boxing Circuit while still actively competing in Muay Thai. With a record of 14-3-0, He quickly climbed to number 11 in the UK. Phil spent three years as a professional boxer but ultimately realized that Thai Boxing was his life’s ambition and deserved his full attention. As a Thai Boxer, Phil has fought professionally in the UK, Italy, Hong Kong, Sweden, Switzerland and the US. His training has also taken him to the camps of Thailand where he lived and trained alongside professional Thai fighters.

Teaching career

While succeeding as a fighter, Phil also developed his teaching skills under the tutelage of Master Sken. Eventually he earned the title of Kru (which means ‘teacher” in Thai), and received Master Sken’s blessing to open his first gym called Bury Thai Boxing. Years later while vacationing in New York City, Phil sought a gym to train in. Since there were no Thai Boxing gyms in New York City, Phil made his way to Gleason’s Boxing Gym in Brooklyn. While training there curious people began asking him what martial art he was training in and where they could learn it. This set the ball in motion, and after returning to New York several more times (and with Master Sken’s blessing); he opened a gym in New York in 1995. It was called Lug Sit Narong or “Student of Sitnarong” Thai Boxing Gym. After experiencing exponential growth in New York. He realized that there was a huge demand for a larger space with premium services in a Thai setting. He then created the Wat (the Thai word for Temple) in China Town [ [http://www.thewat.com/ Wat ] ] . Kru Phil is a traditional Muay Thai artist who combines Western boxing footwork with strategic fakes to create one of the most exciting and effective forms of Muay Thai today. His camp, Wat, is renowned for their effective offensive and defensive use of clinch work. He employs sophisticated use of leverage and bodyweight along with the art of clinch work to make his fighters just as effective on the inside as they would be if they were kicking or punching an opponent from the outside. Kru Phil is an active trainer who doesn’t ask his fighters to perform a task that he can’t do. His exposure to Asian, European and American Muay Thai has built his reputation as a trainer and teacher unsurpassed with a career spanning over 27 years. He maintains a philosophy of keeping his fighters conditioned and ready to fight at a moments notice. He has worked with and developed many Muay Thai Champions. He has also entered into MMA circles and is currently training Welterweight Champion, Georges St. Pierre and light-heavyweight contender Rashad Evans. His gym is also frequented by Hollywood’s A list when they’re on the east coast and seeking advanced training. Because of his proven track record, his tremendous work ethic, and his unblemished integrity, Kru Phil is currently being sought out by several contenders and champions in various weight classes and organizations.

Controversy

After attaining so much success throughout Europe in Muay Thai, It was only naturally for Phil to find himself fighting for a world title. In that fight Phil broke his arm and courageously continued to fight all ? rounds and received a unanimous decision in his favor. In a bizarre twist of fate, unbeknownst to Phil’s corner and the crowd, the officiating referee ignored the scorecards and awarded the win to Phil’s opponent. Preoccupied with his injuries his camp found out later about the incident due to the judges coming forward. Phil’s opponent refused to return the belt, and the referee permanently lost his license. He was never awarded his much worked for World Title but was offered a rematch they never came to be. As a result of his injury he endured several surgery’s to repair his arm and was unable to compete for 2 years.

References

External links

* [http://www.thewat.com/ Kru Phil Nurse's Camp]
* [http://thewat.com/kruphilnurse.html Kru Phil Nurse Fight Highlights Video]