Which hurts more? Boxing or Kickboxing?

[Kotaro]

I've been training in boxing and kickboxing for about 6 months now. I've sparred many times (mostly boxing) and I've decided I'm more interested in MT/kickboxing. I haven't been in a real match yet.

I'd like to know from someone with experience which sport, boxing or kickboxing, generally messes you up more (injuries, tiredness, dizziness, etc.). Both right after the fight and long term?

[pittbulldog]

Which one?

Depends on who you're getting punched and kicked by. If you're fighting Mike Tyson or Ramon Dekkers, you might get messed up pretty bad in either. You should be practicing your timing sparring. During timing sparring, you are developing...anyone, anyone...your timing. The only thing you accomplish by going hard and hacking, is that someone is going to get injured, and then you can't train as much. Save the power for the pads or the bag.

[Kotaro]

Ok but you see I'm just trying to grasp the whole wight of my decision to do kickboxing rather than boxing as a sport. I just want to know in general which leaves you the most messed up after a fight (assuming I will have many). If you're saying its basically the same because it all depends on who you fight then ok, but I'm not sure thats what you meant.

[Kotaro]

Ok but you see I'm just trying to grasp the whole weight of my decision to do kickboxing rather than boxing as a sport. I just want to know in general which leaves you the most messed up after a fight (assuming I will have many). If you're saying its basically the same because it all depends on who you fight then ok, but I'm not sure thats what you meant.

[pittbulldog]

Muay Thai has more tools. It is called the science of eight limbs. If you took two people that were equally good at boxing, and one of them has a decent applicable knowledge of Muay Thai, then you have just added elbows, knees, and kicks to his arsenal. So, all things being equal, one of them will have more options, thus, they would probably have the upper hand.

[seppuku]

umm.. ok... that doesnt really say which hurts more.

im inexperienced with boxing, but i know your not likely to limp out of the ring. if your in a full rules thai fight, you will leave bleeding and limping a lot. otherwise youve been very lucky. thai boxing hurts, just the conditioning hurts. but id stick with it, pro boxers tend to get hit about the head far too much to be healthy. at least kicks to the head are rare-ish.

id suggest thai, but thats just cos i love thai boxing and never got on well with western boxing

[pittbulldog]

Time permitting, you would do well to study both. Even at Oregon Camp, we spend afternoons with Prof. Trigg learning boxing. Ajarn Chai has said that he likes for his students to study western boxing also.

[Wolverine]

In boxing you there are only 2 basic targets....the head and the body. Body shots (i.e. broken ribs ect...) you can recover from in time. But the head shots are something you don't fully recover from after you stop getting hit.
In Muay Thai you can take punishment almost everywhere on your body, but the majority of this damage will heal in time. You still take plenty of head shots in Muay Thai, but the fights are usually 5 rounds so at least your not taking head shots for 12 rounds....
Anyway my conclusion is that in Muay Thai the short term damage is more intense than in boxing. And from my experience the long term effects from boxing are much worse. So they both hurt, just in different ways

[Kotaro]

I had heard that boxing can cause some pretty severe brain damage after many fights. Wasn't sure about the frequency of head shots in MT. Very informative, thank you.

[Blue Wave Gym]

Lol

Brain damage, smain damage I always say

[aseepish]

Getting kicked in the thigh hurts. A lot. I've seen so many TKOs from leg kicks, and it's painful to watch. Shin to shin contact hurts a lot too.

Then again, a TKO from a liver shot in boxing isn't very much fun either.

[Gard]

Vann Dammes brother, Dennis Alexio in Kickboxer said it best,
a punch is a punch a kick is a kick.

[waylon]

concusions

I've done fair amount of heavy boxing/Muay Thai/MMA sparring and always thought that boxing was harder on my body.....the primary target is the head and I think I suffered quite a few minor concusions. I didn't like waking up feeling like I had a hang over every morning.......I prefer to kill brain cells the traditional way and drown them. LOL

[seppuku]

you get used to being kicked in the thigh tho. first time, a gentle kick hurts like hell. after a while you need to be hit pretty hard to feel anything at all, and even then it takes more than one kick to drop you .

ill agree tho... shin to shin is NOT nice. very nasty when it happens hard with someone whos conditioned better than you...

[Kotaro]

Has anyone ever heard of a shin bone (tibia) being broken in MT?