It was billed as the Muay Thai fight of the century: Fifty-five-year-old millionaire tycoon Mickey Stratton from the US was preparing to square off with 25-year-old Thai boxer Promlikit. It was to be Mickey’s first competitive match and it was the most talked about fight in Phuket for some time.

Having raised more than 1 million baht for the Tsunami Children Foundation, Mickey flew to Thailand from his home in Las Vegas to train in Phuket with the legendary Master Toddy at Tiger Muay Thai and MMA.

Mickey Stratton is worth half a billion US dollars. He flew family and friends to Phuket via private jet at his own expense. Mickey also has hepatitis C, which would usually raise concerns about a muay Thai fight, but as the promoter said, “This is Thailand.”

The day before the fight Mickey reportedly weighed in at 212 pounds. Come fight night and he had somehow shed 32 of those pounds and got himself down to 180; he probably just sweated it off.

Mickey is a big fella, looking more like a boxer than a Muay Thai fighter. At well over six feet tall and packing a huge pair of pythons, it was clear that Mickey was only going to need to land a couple of punches for the fight to be over. But how would he fair against a more sprightly, younger boxer?

Promklit, Mickey’s opponent, didn’t look to be in the best shape of his career. He looked strong but it was difficult to see where he was going to be able to out-maneuver Mickey.

The bout was the second fight of the night at Patong Stadium and a star-studded audience (the general who was third in command after Thaksin) waited with anticipation. Television networks, newspapers, MMA enthusiasts and muay Thai fans were all in attendance.

The usual muay Thai rituals were observed: Each fighter danced on his knees in the center of the ring while the other paraded around him, and both fighters paid their respects at each corner of the ring before getting down to business.

The two fighters sized each other up, the bell rang and the bout began. One punch, two punches, three punches, down! Mickey took out his opponent before anybody had had time to blink. He went in bombs blazing, paying little regard to the tradition of sizing an opponent up in the first round.

It was clear that there wasn’t going to be much kicking going on in this fight. Promklit got back up before the 10 count, the referee began the fight again and then BAM! he was taken straight back down and the fight was over.

It wasn’t quite the spectacle we had been hoping for, but the Las Vegas tycoon made up for his lack of showmanship by presenting a cheque for more than 1 million baht to a group of local school children.