ISKA welterweight (64.5kg/142 lbs) Muay Thai champion Lloyd Chochran from O'Briens Gym is no stranger to press attention. He has been interviewed for BBC Scotland and featured on BBC News; his fights have been filmed for Sky Sports and Eurosport as well as shown online. Outside of this, in 2007 he received the Renfrewshire Sports Personality of the Year Award. Popular man. That's what 8 years of hard work and a handful of domestic titles on top of the European strap will get you.
It looks like Lloyd and his girlfriend will have to dust off their best again, as he has been nominated for The Sunday Mail's Great Scot award after receiving a record number of nominations. According to The Sunday Mail, this is for "the ordinary people doing extraordinary things whose spirit sums up what makes Scotland great". Four nominees from a number of categories, such as charity, business and sport win an Unsung Hero award with one of these ultimately winning the Great Scot award.
While the martial arts have had a reputation for attracting thugs and criminals for as long as they have been practiced outside war-time, Lloyd's story is the complete opposite. Starting Muay Thai at age 15 in order to get off the streets turned out to be a good choice, since his gang of friends from the street all ended up in jail after getting involved with drugs. Lloyd has come from a tough kid on the street to a well disciplined and well decorated Nak Muay who is a role model for everyone.
Congratulations Lloyd, hopefully you win another trophy to stick on your mantle for the son to inherit.
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