I finally learned the importance of keeping my chin down.

You cannot deny what you can learn from having a good pad holder in Muay Thai. This was my trainer when I was at Fairtex Bangplee, training his son who has had 100-something fights. Go figure. That kid was my friggin idol! During morning training he could be seen leaving the camp for school in his uniform looking all proper and wai-ing all of us. In the afternoons you would see him kicking like a maniac like in this video.