Thousands of fans, promoters and officials flocked to Lumpini last night to bid farewell to the 58-year-old boxing stadium.
Dancers perform at a ceremony to bid farewell to the 58-year-old Lumpini boxing stadium on Rama IV Road. The stadium is moving to its new home on Ram Intra Road which can hold up to 8,000 spectators. PATIPAT JANTHONG
The legendary venue on Rama IV Road hosted its last muay Thai matches featuring Petboonchu Borplaboonchu and Seanchai PK Saenchaimuaythaigym.
"It's a historic day," promoter Pong Wisetpaiboon said.
"We will never see fights at this legendary stadium again."
Tickets for Thai citizens were 400 baht each a special price compared to the usual 1,000 baht.
The stadium is moving to its new home on Ram Intra Road which can hold up to 8,000 spectators.
Officials will begin working at the new venue from Tuesday and the official opening ceremony will be held on Feb 28.
The Army Welfare Department, which owns the stadium, decided that the venue needed a bigger home.
It wanted to establish a new venue away from the traffic-clogged heart of the city.
The department granted permission for the use of its sports facility to build a modern stadium.
One of Bangkok's two major boxing stadiums along with Rajadamnern, Lumpini, which was opened in 1956, hosted many historic muay Thai and international boxing matches
One of the most important fights in Thailand's boxing history took place at Lumpini on April 16, 1960.
On that day, Pone Kingpetch beat Pascual Perez of Argentina to become the country's first world boxing champion.
His Majesty the King went to see the fight.