Saekson Janjira, 1961-2026: Two Hundred Fights, Then a School in Plano
Six world titles and more than two hundred fights in Thailand, then thirty years teaching Americans what the real thing looks like. The second career is the harder one, and far fewer champions manage it.
- Born
- Pattaya, Thailand, 1960 or 1961
- Died
- 2 August 2026, at home in Plano, Texas, age 65
- Legal name
- Saeksan Saengchan
- Record
- Six-time world Muay Thai champion; 200+ fights; a former Lumpinee Stadium title
- Honours
- Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame
Saekson Janjira fought more than two hundred times and held a Lumpinee Stadium title — the credential that separates Muay Thai fighters who competed in Thailand from everyone else. Then he came to the United States and taught.
He built the North Hollywood Muay Thai Academy and ran it through roughly 2022, then moved to Texas and opened Janjira Muay Thai Gym in Plano. His own obituary puts it simply: he introduced authentic Muay Thai to generations of students across the United States.
What a school owner should take from Saekson Janjira
Almost every elite fighter who opens a school fails at it, because the two jobs share a vocabulary and nothing else. Fighting rewards a tolerance for pain that has no commercial application. Teaching rewards patience with people who will never be good.
Janjira managed the transition twice — once from Thailand to Los Angeles, and again in his sixties from Los Angeles to a Dallas suburb, which meant rebuilding a student base from zero in a market that had never heard of him. Most owners will never voluntarily start over at sixty. He did, and the gym is still there.
There is a market lesson under it too. “Authentic” is the most abused word in this industry, but in Muay Thai it is verifiable — you fought at Lumpinee or you did not. Where a credential can actually be checked, it is worth more, and the owner who has one should be far louder about it than most are.
Sources, and what we could not confirm
- Six-time world champion, not eight. His own obituary and a 2024 local profile both say six. The eight-time figure circulates but is not supported.
- He was Texas-based at his death, not Los Angeles. The North Hollywood connection is real but historical.
- Exact birth date not found. Age 65 on 2 August 2026 implies 1960 or 1961; we have not printed a single year as fact.
- No cause of death was reported. Survived by his son Pong Janjira, daughter JJ Saengchan and his mother Chor Kunsch.
- Principal sources: the funeral home obituary (Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow, Allen, Texas), the Plano Star Courier, and the Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame.
Corrections and first-hand recollections are welcome and will be added with attribution.