Shared Rounds at Pound4Pound: Team Elite with Kru Saji
Felipe “The Weapon” Lopez, Kru Shankar “The General” Balthasar and Denys “The Burya” Maherovskyi spent time sparring at Pound4Pound (P4P) with Kru Saji. It is an opportunity to put in rounds, share the mats and keep building connections within our Muay Thai community.
P4P also has a personal connection to my own journey. Kru Saji was my coach before I became the coach many of you know today. Bringing that connection into the story of Team Elite is a reminder that the work we do now has roots in the people who taught us along the way.
Learning through shared rounds
Sparring gives training a different kind of conversation. A partner moves, responds and asks questions that a heavy bag cannot. Distance changes. Timing matters. The goal is to pay attention, work with control and give each other the chance to learn.
Training outside your regular gym can add another perspective. You meet different rhythms and approaches, and you have to stay open to what is in front of you. That willingness to learn matters whether you are an athlete developing your game or a coach continuing to deepen your understanding.
For Felipe, Kru Shankar and Denys, this visit connects their work at Elite Fight Club with the wider community around them. The names and nicknames are part of who they are, but the foundation remains the same: show up, respect your training partners and keep doing the work.
Respect for the people who taught us
A gym is more than the equipment inside it. It is also the knowledge people share and the relationships built through training. Coaches pass on lessons, students carry those lessons forward, and those connections can continue long after someone starts teaching in a gym of their own.
Kru Saji is part of that history for me. Recognizing my former coach is a way of recognizing that none of us develops alone. The people who invest their time in us remain part of the journey.
Thank you to Kru Saji and Pound4Pound for sharing the mats with Team Elite. We keep training, we keep learning, and we keep showing respect to the people and gyms that make this community possible.
Kru Christopher “The Professor” Williams
Elite Fight Club Canada
RESPECT IS EARNED. GRATITUDE IS FREE. LEGACY IS BUILT.
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