Lucca tipped for top
Muay Thai youngster wins multiple titles
A budding fighter at a Rutherglen gym is being tipped for the top after winning several belts – aged just eight.
Lucca Rae, who trains at the town’s Inferno gym, has come out on top in various Muay Thai events since taking up the sport, with wins including three intercontinental belts, a Scottish championship and two titles that he lifted with victory at a show in Italy.
Although the family live in Ayr, dad JP brings Lucca to the Inferno gym on Cathcart Road every day for training.
He told the Reformer: “To look at your son and think that he’s inspiring is a big thing to a parent.
“He’s so dedicated and works so hard at the sport that it’s amazing.
“I’ve been involved in sports all my life. I played football, and did a charity boxing match recently; but Lucca is on a different level.
“He’s got that control, that discipline, that technique at such a young age and he loves doing it.”
The youngster took up the sport after breaking his arm in an accident when he was aged five. To build his strength back up, he started going to a gym where one of the exercises involved hitting a bag.
That drew him towards Muay Thai – and he soon became very active in the sport.
After competing for a while he was spotted by Amy Pirnie, the Rutherglen-based women’s champion, which led to him training at the Inferno gym.
JP said: “We drive straight to Amy’s gym after school every day.
“Seeing Amy’s career and how well she is doing is rubbing off on Lucca, and she’s been fantastic
“He’s having to fight kids a couple of years older than him at a lot of these competitions. That shows a lot of heart to do that.”
Amy was also full of praise for the youngster.
She said: “He’s a credit to the gym with his attitude. He’s progressed leaps and bounds, he’s been taking tougher opponents and I think he could develop into a tremendous fighter.
“I’m unbelievably proud of him because he’s a kind-hearted and lovely boy– he’s got the world at his feet.”