Muay Thai vs Western Boxing

[Sieh Tanonchai]

Hi,

I am also new here in this forum. It looked nice to me so I joined.

Regarding the comparison of western boxing and MT it is for sure a thought many will have, but it is not meaningful, I think.

Let's remember, MT is part of the traditional Thailand art of war. Just a few techniques were taken and allowed, so MT was born, made for sports and bedding. By the way the thailand art of war is called Pahuyuth, and Pahuyuth is a complete fighting SYSTEM.
Western Boxing was exclusively made for sport. Its techniques do not come together in an own system. So you better do not compare both.

If a MT-fighter meets a WesternBoxing fighter it is like always: The one who is better at that special day at that special time, wins probably. But what means better? Doesn't it include fitness, experience, knowledge, possibility, orders etc? I think you better do not decide ahead of time. bedding is based on this ...

:-)
Tanonchai

[the tick]

Fights 4 You: Peter Aerts vs Yosuke Nishijima

[Marksmarkou]

The tuth is that technically, A muay Thai fighter should always beat a boxer, simply becuase of the amount of extra weapons other than punches he has.

However, to say that a Muay Thai fighter will always beat a boxer is wrong. It all depends on who is better on the day. Who hits harder (at the right time and at the right places), who moves better and who is faster.

[Tom Yum]

Fights 4 You: Peter Aerts vs Yosuke Nishijima

Nishijima was not prepaired for kicks to the leg or muaythai clinch work. He took a solid beating. Good demonstration of why the art/techniques you aren't familiar with can beat you.

Likewise, K-1 kickboxer Cyril Abidi got clobbered by former pro-boxer Francois Botha.

[tiger uppercut]

i fought a boxer few years ago, i knocked his teeth out. the first move he did was a straight punch, all i did was slight step to the left and my right shin smacked on his thigh, while he was staggering my right elbow connected to his mouth K.O!!!!!

[ninjachamp2]

Muay Thai vs Western Boxing

Who would win in a STREET fight?

A Westerner who trained Muay Thai in Holland and fought in Thailand

For street self defense a combination of skills is key and only focusing on the combat skills of boxing which is incorporated into Muay Thai too will limit ones potential for winning a fight.

I live in Thailand and run a mixed martial arts training and self defense camp on the island of Samui.

Though we cover a full range of martial arts, I will send students for some additional hard core training to a Muay Thai gym and for good reasons.

As Python pointed out - the person can very often make the style, but when taking two peole of equal skills and giving them either Western Boxing or Muay Thai would you side on the more rigourous of the two - especially if that training is done in Thailand.

But this only leads to more debating on what is tougher and the gym on attends is key - as well as the coaching. Balance is certainly a key strategy.

Many fighters start out in Western Boxing and migrate to Muay Thai to add some powerful elements to their game.

If we are only talking about PUNCHING then you have to realize that you don't need the Muay Thai or the Western boxing label. What you need is to understand the basic punches (what produces the result you are looking for) and then practice, practice, practice.

Start with a heavy bag to get your basics covered then start working with a sparring partner.

Look into the science behind punching and understanding that a collapsing jab (where you put your body weight into the punch) has a different application than say a snapping or twisting jab.

The street is a different game and you will need to contemplate other elements that come into play. For example, grappling on the concrete is not the most realistic (fun for the elbows and knees) and if you can't take a fall to the ground, your ground game doesn't do you much good.

I remember a night out in Amsterdam I noticed a punky kickboxing student get into an arguement with a bulky drunk. When the situation reached punching stage the kickboxer went for a kick to the head (though his jeans didn't stretch like the shorts do in class) the motion of his right leg tighten his jeans and pulled his left leg up and off the ground - down he went. The drunk landed on the kickboxer and took over the fight with punches. The comedy is that he led battle with punches and so in reference to your question it is certainly the most important aspect to work on.

For those that have been watching battles like the UFC since the beginning you might remember it used to be a system dominated by ground fighting and now has evolved back to a standing game with punching being key.

But all of this is irrelevant in a street fight where you have chairs and your biggest enemy is the concrete floor beneath your feet.

[sixthangel]

As a Thai person who is totally unbiased

Muay Thai is more like a martial art but boxing is more like a sport. They are alike but you can't really compare the two. Muay Thai has way more tactics fo street self defense that are also the basics for women self defense. If you have learned Thai boxing history, this guy - Nai Konom Tom was capture by Mianmar (dont' know how to spell that) and had to fight with other boxers infront the the emperor as entertainment. History says he fought 100 match and won every match. This is because Muay Thai was taught as self defense.

The Exotic Earth Shop

[Tee Sok]

Yes I agree with you about muay thai, but boxing has many tools for self defense as well.
You can train for the ring or you can train for self defense and for the street.
Of course, as it has alredy been mentioned, muay thai has more tools in its arsenal.
The fights you mention in ancient Myanmar can have an echo in old British pugilism.
you can see that it was successfully employed by smaller fighters
to beat bigger and stonger ones, and the rules (or lack of) weren't as restrictive as those
of modern boxing.
Then of coures you can think of the ancient Greeks and Romans whose bare-knuckle tournaments
were even more brutal.

[Tee Sok]

Just adding this good video on bare knuckle/pugilism by Carl Cestari to add to the discussion:

YouTube - Bare knuckle two punch combo