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The Evolution of Kru Mark Tabuso: Filipino American Martial Artist (Special Series 3 of 5) By Emmanuel Rivera, RRT PhilBoxing.com Fri, 26 Sep 2025  South San Francisco, California — From the sidewalk, 647 El Camino Real could be any other storefront. Nondescript. Quiet. But step through the doors of Evolve Training Center and the air changes. The ground floor opens wide into a hall filled with Jiu-Jitsu students, bodies weaving and tumbling across mats, their laughter mixing with the slap of grips and falls. It feels less like a business and more like a community alive in motion. Climb the stairs and the sound shifts. Up here, heavy bags sway on their chains, a boxing ring waits with ropes pulled tight, and the echo of shin against pad keeps a steady rhythm. This is the Muay Thai studio, and at its center stands Kru Mark Tabuso — co-founder, fighter, teacher, mentor, and one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most respected voices in the martial arts. In Muay Thai, Kru means teacher. It’s not an informal title; it’s earned, given to those who’ve put in years of work and proven themselves worthy of passing the art forward. Like a sensei in Japanese or a sifu in Chinese traditions, the word carries weight. Tabuso wears it with humility. He is also a representative who is recognized by WBC Muay Thai, the World Boxing Council’s international governing body — a stamp of credibility respected around the globe.  Before he was guiding classes, Tabuso was fighting. He carved out a winning record in kickboxing and Muay Thai bouts across San Jose and the wider Bay Area. Those nights in the ring — the nerves, the grit, the relief of victory — shaped him. They gave him not just stories, but the authority to speak about toughness, preparation, and composure under pressure. On a typical day upstairs, nearly fifty students fill the mats. Some stumble through their first lessons. Others move with fluid confidence, the product of hours of practice. Today, the lesson is the teep — Muay Thai’s push kick. It looks simple, but Tabuso teaches its subtleties. It can create space, cut off momentum, or open the door for attack. He shows the movement himself, crisp and measured, then gestures for the class to try. “Effort,” he says firmly. “Every strike must mean something. Straight lines hit faster than curves. Train like you mean it.” The room erupts with sound — pads snapping, voices grunting, sweat hitting the mats. And despite the effort, the mood is light. Tabuso calls it serious play: discipline taught without killing the joy. He often calls on senior students to demonstrate for the newer ones, but never lets anyone forget that progress is personal. “No one can do the work for you,” he reminds them. “We can guide you, but you have to own the drills. Protect your health, protect your mind. Build yourself.” To the youngest, he breaks it down in kid-friendly terms: “Find your superpower.”  That same spirit carries into his home life. His wife, Audrey, and their son, Donovan — only eleven — also train. “A family that trains together stays together,” Tabuso likes to say. His social media handle, @TeamTabusoMuayThai, reflects that shared identity. The story of how he arrived here starts with his grandfather, Antonio Pontino, a boxer in his own right. Later came mentors — gym owner Espinosa and, most importantly, two-division world champion Luisito Espinosa. While studying at San Francisco State, Tabuso would slip out of lectures, drive to Daly City, spar Luisito, shower, and rush back to class before anyone noticed. “Luisito taught me humility and discipline,” he recalls. “He showed me how to use my skills for the good. He was the role model I try to follow.” Ask him about Bay Area fight history and the memories pour out: Floyd Mayweather Jr. against Jesús Chávez at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium; Manny Pacquiao, blond hair streaked, locked in a brutal battle with Agapito Sánchez; the golden years of Fairtex Gym with Enn, Jongsanan and Bunkerd… Fairtex. He still honors the late Alex Gong, whose legacy in American Muay Thai looms large. He lists peers with pride: pioneer deejay and Tae Kwon Do star Freska Griarte, the first Mexican heavyweight champion Martha Salazar, and the Gutierrez sisters, Lupi and Blanca, who now run Beautiful Brawlers in Pacifica. Each has carried the tradition forward.  But when the conversation turns to Master Danovis “Dee” Pooler, the tone shifts. “Master Dee Pooler was part of my original gym, Martial Arts Enterprises. We all trained kickboxing together. He was more senior than I was, and he became my mentor in the gym in Muay Thai as he was fighting too. I learned many great lessons from Master Dee in boxing and martial arts. He is a great teacher.”  That bond will be celebrated this October 11, 2025. At Bangon Kabayan: Pistahan sa Fulton — a Filipino American History Month festival at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza — Tabuso will join Master Pooler as featured presenters. From noon until five, the plaza will ring with boxing and martial arts demonstrations, music, tributes, and Filipino dances. From 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Tabuso will do what he does best: teach, demonstrate, inspire. As one of the founding directors of the Philippine Boxing Historical Society and Hall of Fame, he will also speak of the Filipino boxing tradition — a tradition, he says, “rooted in song, dance, rhythm, and footwork.” For Tabuso, it’s another chance to give back. The philosophy of Evolve Training Center is stitched into every shirt the students wear: growth, effort, resilience. His own path mirrors those words. From a college kid sneaking out to spar champions, he has grown into a husband, father, fighter, and teacher shaping the next generation.  At Evolve, no student is invisible. Each one learns more than strikes. They learn that discipline builds strength, that health is a choice, and that every action carries consequences. From the street, the building may look unremarkable. But inside — on both its floors — lives are being reshaped, one teep, one drill, one lesson at a time.  Kru Mark Tabuso remains what he has always been — a fighter shaped by the ring, a teacher devoted to his students, and a proud Filipino American voice for the art of eight limbs. He is still evolving, and so are the lives he touches. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Emmanuel Rivera, RRT.  |
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