24 hours: Joey Lee

The 28-year-old muay thai champion tells P.Ramakrishnan how she has never lost a fight and why kicking ass is the best way to stay in shape. Photo by David Wong. Hair and make-up Karen Yiu.


"Normally I get up at 6.30am and rush to Pure Fitness, as I have early morning clients and classes as a personal trainer. From about 7am until 10am I am booked up. In the past, though, there have been bankers who've wanted to train as early as 6am, which means I have to be up at 5am and sociable before the sun rises.

But, before I hit the gym, I eat a healthy breakfast - usually oatmeal with bananas or blueberries, or whatever's in the house. I cook for myself but I have a part-time maid who delivers lunch and dinner to the gym; she's fabulous, my lifesaver. For protein and vitamins, I stick to oatmeal and fresh fruit. Most of the time I'm on my feet, so I need the energy.

When I'm not in training, I indulge in French toast with chocolate and bananas, which my trainer [Pierre Ingrassia from The One Martial Gym] would not be happy to hear about. I have to maintain a weight range for fights and it can be a struggle to get it down.

I have a mix of men and women who train with me but, before noon, it's mostly women. They're not there to become professional kick-boxers or to compete against me in the ring; they just want to get into shape and it's the fastest way to shed kilos.

When I'm done with training others, I begin my own training and I usually go for a run around the beautiful waterfront, near the Star Ferry. Those little Nescafé cans keep me awake in the morning but the run will really kick me into gear.

For lunch my helper will source my low-carb menu.

I have chicken or stir-fried vegetables or grilled fish with vegetables. She even cuts up fresh fruit for me - like I said, I am spoiled.

During my breaks, if it's the right time, I will call my mum in Vancouver. I was born in Taiwan but brought up in Canada. When I was in school and college, I did sports - a lot of basketball - and I was always competitive. I tried muay thai for a lark. I really enjoyed it and, when I started winning matches, obviously I enjoyed it more.

Since I moved to Hong Kong in 2005, the two titles I've won have been the World Muay Thai Championship Asian women's champion and the South Pacific champion.

Even though my family's in Canada, Mum can watch the fight in Thailand, Macau or wherever [on YouTube] the next day but I report back by phone. My mother worries about me a lot but at the same time she wants all the details. I have to call her after every fight almost immediately otherwise I know she'll worry herself sick. She has come to just one of my matches but she couldn't watch someone kick the s**t out of me.

When I moved to Hong Kong, after studying, I didn't know what I wanted to do. As both my parents are originally from Hong Kong, I had residency here so I flew down to see what it was like. It's great; so many opportunities have come up. I got a job as a trainer at Pure quite quickly and Pierre saw a fight of mine somewhere, tracked me down and said he'd manage me.

I was fighting for a local gym, really underground stuff, like you would see in movies on cable TV. [Then I got] my first big fight, in Sydney. The first one was a draw - I've never lost a fight.

I've been fighting around Asia and Australia. My last fight was a big event in Macau, which I won. Fortunately, this time the media reported it correctly. Last year, I was in a fight in Macau and the Hong Kong papers misreported that I lost the fight.

I train almost every day in the afternoon at The One, which is a gym dedicated to muay thai and kick-boxing.

I really sweat it out. On Monday to Friday for about two hours I workout. On Saturday, my day off [from training others], it's about four hours. I spar with my trainer or there's a guy I train with. (There aren't many, if any, girls in Hong Kong who are at my level in muay thai so it's usually a man.) It's interesting to fight with a guy because they think it's going to be a little easier. When it turns out it's not, even if we're just training, they get a bit rough and end up hurting me and themselves. It's a pride thing, but I'm just there to train.

Kick-boxing is all about preparation and training. A fight usually lasts three to five rounds, two minutes each. I'm 'on stage' for about 15 minutes - it really is my 15 minutes of fame. Just for those few minutes I have to train for about six months. Even on my days off, I try to do some form of exercise: I run on Bowen Road or The Peak, or I play tennis. I've just started wakeboarding at Tai Tam. Most of my friends are pretty healthy and often they are my gym buddies or clients too.

Usually my training starts weeks, months before a fight and I go at it pretty hard. I start my diet and running and all that jazz. I can drop about 5.5kg in six weeks. Anyone can do that if they work at it. You don't have to train for eight hours a day. All you need to do is regular workouts and cut the crap: no sugar, no alcohol, easy on the carbs, drink plenty of water - all the clichés that are so obvious. If you have a goal - and usually a big fight will goad me into it - it's easier to achieve.

Currently, there's a big fight that I'm working towards: the world title. I was promised if I won the last fight, I could fight [American kick-boxing champion] Angela Rivera-Parr or one of the other top, well-known fighters in the world. There's an Australian girl who I'll be challenging for the world title in December at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel in Macau, so, if I don't want to get the crap kicked out of me, I've got to start training for it now. It's a huge event, with about 2,000 to 3,000 people watching and millions more on TV. There's pyrotechnics, big music, the high rollers. Tickets to my last fight cost US$3,000 per table. I get paid a certain amount to take part but I don't do it for the money and I'm not just saying that. I'm doing it for the love of the sport.

Around 6pm, I'm back at Pure, as I have clients till about 9 or 10pm. By the end of the day, I am beat. I try to eat dinner in between seeing clients and I just gulp it down. I try to eat earlier in the evening as opposed to later. I live in a small apartment, not far from the gym and I cab it home. If work ends early, then I go out to eat with my friends. I don't drink at all. Not ever, not even champagne. But I really enjoy my food. I'm a total foodie and love to try different things and new restaurants. During the heat of training season, I have a bowl of Chinese soup for dinner then I get my eight hours' sleep.

There's a list of people I'd like to fight before I retire. Until then, you know where to find me. At the gym."

Publication Date: September 16, 2007
Post Magazine,
The South China Morning Post



See earlier feature Kick the Girls and Make them Cry