Daniel C Docto

by Dr. Iain Corness

The marketing manager of the Fairtex Muay Thai division is Daniel C. Docto. I queried the spelling of his surname, to which he replied with a laugh, “I’m almost a doctor!” Daniel C. has even been given the nickname of “Doc”. He is not, as most people imagine on first meeting him, a Filipino, but is actually American, born and bred in the Bay area of San Francisco. However, he is not your usual American, even saying later in the interview when we spoke about the sport of Muay Thai, “Americans take things from the world and corrupt them. We think we’re the best but we don’t really have a clue.” Most un-American!
I did say the Daniel is American, but like many Americans he has a colorful background. His paternal grandfather was Filipino, while his maternal grandparents were Irish and Italian. And Daniel? 100 percent San Franciscan American of course!
At school he had an interest in engineering, and went to college to gain his engineering certificate, and was to forge a long career in the construction industry, but Daniel had something else that was to become a major factor in his life. “I just loved to fight,” said Daniel. This was however, no Jets and the Sharks (Bernstein’s West Side Story), this was something personal.
I found this side of Daniel C. Docto very interesting, pugilism not being one of the sports I had ever considered for myself (perhaps my less than Mr. Universe physique was part of that decision)! But for those who were involved, was the whole concept one of beating the opponent into a pulp? Daniel told me that was not the idea at all. “You are really fighting yourself, your pride, your macho concept of yourself. I enjoyed pushing myself to the extreme.” Again, rather than telling me how many fights he had won, or how many fighters he demoralized, Daniel said, “I got knocked out in the first 30 seconds of the first round of my first fight.” Adding quickly, “He just happened to hit me in the right spot!” He also gave out some telling information as to his own psyche and character when he said, “I almost killed myself,” but very quickly changed that into “I almost allowed myself to be killed.” You can see the difference in the mental processes that keep a fighter going. You never lose, you have allowed the opponent to win, something that is a key factor in any form of competition, not just fighting.
However, at that time, earning money was also important, and Daniel applied himself well in the steel fabrication industry. He went into drafting and estimating and then project management in the building industry. He was to spend 16 years in the steel business, saying modestly, “I was really successful. I was the youngest estimator. I had a corner office in my own building, but my passion was martial arts and fighting.”
That need to fight that had made itself apparent in high school was still there. “I was studying as many martial arts as I could. In those days, Japanese Karate was number one, then came Kung Fu with the Bruce Lee movies. After the Korean war there were Koreans that came to the USA and I studied under them as well.”
Around that time, kick boxing was becoming a sport in the US, a full-contact competition done in a boxing ring, not just on mats, the way other martial arts had been done. “I loved the ring,” said Daniel, “The tall guys couldn’t run away from me!”
He loved the ring so much that he started a kick boxing club and ended up being the Light Heavyweight Champion of California in 1993. However, this was ‘American’ style kick boxing, and Daniel was to learn of the origins of the sport in a somewhat painful way. “We had started wearing Muay Thai shorts, but we didn’t know what the writing on them meant. I didn’t even know where Thailand was. A lot of the guys thought it was Taiwan. Then I met my first Thai fighter, called Vut Kamnark. He was the North East Thailand champion and he knocked me down in the first 30 seconds. It was he who told me the origins of Muay Thai, and up till then I thought the Japanese had started it!”
Daniel studied under Vut and then became an instructor for Vut’s Muay Thai camps. With a “step of faith” he then branched out on his own and opened his own Muay Thai gymnasium.
Faith was not just in business, but Daniel had a very strong faith engendered by the Full Gospel Church he attended. He introduced kick boxing for the local youth. “Many of the older members didn’t want kick boxing in the church, but two gang members became champions.” (West Side Story again.)
It was also this faith that brought Daniel (and his wife) to SE Asia. They had gone to the Philippines as part of a church mission to prepare to be missionaries, but during that time he was invited to Thailand. He fell in love with this country, the spiritual home of Muay Thai. He made contact with Philip Wong the owner of Fairtex, someone he had met previously in America, and the offer was made to come to Pattaya. “It was my chance, or forget it!” He took that chance.
So Daniel C. Docto, the man who has to fight, is here. He is enjoying the atmosphere that Thailand has and is trying to learn to relax and enjoy life. He is even studying Buddhism towards that end. The tiger will always be in him, but he is learning to let the tiger sleep. Daniel’s Christian bible has the words, ‘The meek shall inherit the earth’ and during my interview Daniel said, “Meekness is absolute power under control.” ‘Doc’ Docto is learning that control, and it has taken Thailand and its peoples to show him how.