Muay Boy Meet one of hundreds of pre-teen British kids with a passion for the most "effective and brutal" martial art in the world: Muay Thai boxing. "I did Karate but all the stuff was too slow; it was boring," informs shockingly shy 10 year-old Joshua Lloyd. "My Aunty said 'Do you want to try another martial art?'" The miniscule 26.5 Kilo Croydon kid did. He chose Muay Thai. That was just over six months ago. Just over an hour ago Joshua won his first official ring fight inside Croydon's Martial Arts Centre, Surrey. His secret? "My technique. Mainly my push kicks and jab crosses." But the brown-eyed boy wonder isn't cocky. He knows his opponent's "jab was good." The fact that this pre-pubescent child is learning one of the most deadliest forms of combat known to man doesn't seem to bother Josh, his parents or the crowd. Does Josh know Muay Thai derives from the battlefield art, Krabi Krabong, which Thai boxing guru, Gordon McAdam informs was "weapons based" and part of "violent cultural history?" Probably not. It's highly unlikely the small, grotty girl screaming "Come on! Fucking kick him!" inside this rundown gym does either. Whether or not Mr and Mrs Lloyd did or didn't persuade Josh to take up the sport (Mr used to "practise" Muay Thai, Mrs has been "physically sick" through nerves and adrenalin), Gordon McAdam answers "yes" to the question: Do you think it's dangerous for under 16s to compete? "Emotionally and physically, I don't think there's any need to take it into the ring," says the practitioner inspired by Bruce Lee's top student Dan Inosanto and taught by the legendary Master Toddy. "They fight in Thailand from the age of ten and we're introducing it here. The question I have is: how many of the kids choose to be in the ring and how many are pleasing their parents?" So the roped theatre of war is not McAdam's choice for little-uns, but he's still up for training kids aged ten years plus. "They can get challenged with easy sparring, in their own club, highly supervised and they can grow." McAdam warns, however, that Thai Boxing is "Brutal...When you see someone going for it? Ooooh it's scary." Words by Elle J Small