Could somebody explain some stuff for me.

[Uglybugly]

I am trying to put together a mental picture of what kind of weaknesses boxing and thai boxing have and I was wondering if somebody with experience could help me. I am considering each style in an mma rules here.

Boxing.
I have noticed that some mma fighters that does boxing tend to loose against fighters with a thai boxing based striking style. Boxers seems to me to be the style that is best for going in and knocking people out fast. However leg kicks, clinch game and takedowns gives boxing alot problems when these techniques are allowed.

Thai boxing
Thai boxers seems to move their head more linear. Boxers tend to have more power in their fists than thai boxers then again.. thai boxers have the leg kick and the clinch.

Input?

[erezb]

I am trying to put together a mental picture of what kind of weaknesses boxing and thai boxing have and I was wondering if somebody with experience could help me. I am considering each style in an mma rules here.

Boxing.
I have noticed that some mma fighters that does boxing tend to loose against fighters with a thai boxing based striking style. Boxers seems to me to be the style that is best for going in and knocking people out fast. However leg kicks, clinch game and takedowns gives boxing alot problems when these techniques are allowed.

Thai boxing
Thai boxers seems to move their head more linear. Boxers tend to have more power in their fists than thai boxers then again.. thai boxers have the leg kick and the clinch.

Input?

Well they both lack grappling, so that is a big weakness. You should ask yourself why did boxing stay in the curriculum of MMA, when it could have been absorbed by MT or Kickboxing stiles. IMO, the possibility to follow thru after catching a kick coupled with the boxer's ability to lend a ko while moving is the answer.
Though i do boxing mainly, i know the importance of elbows and knees inside a clinch. (Boxing has a lot of clinch work in it btw.) I think that the best striking art will be the Dutch MT, which incorporated Boxing and gives punching it's due place.

[Ojay]

Just my personal observations and bias here... As with all styles the individual instructor and what they focus on is more important than any statement about the styles as a whole.

That said, I think Boxing tends to focus more on powering punches with a primarily rotational mechanic where as (traditional) Muay will tend to focus more on powering all strikes with more linear drive (body moving straighter towards the opponent and only rotating a bit right before impact). Boxing focuses entirely on fist range and the styles of boxing have evolved specifically with that range in mind. Muay considers all ranges from kicking to punching to elbows to clinch. So there is a weakness for boxing, it trains a smaller subset of ranges. But for the same reason boxing might emphasize good footwork, body movement, and head movement (evasion) more than Muay.

I think of boxing as more often being a game of two snipers dodging and throwing power attacks. Where as Muay ends up more often being more like two buzz saws of punching and elbows clashing head on and seeing who can line up their shot better or first. Of course both are more complex than that, but that's how I personally view their paradigms.

There are good things to learn from both, for sure. If you're interested building a knowledge and technique base for MMA I would recommend Muay Thai over boxing as it is more combat oriented than sport oriented (significantly less limiting ruleset) and because of that it will hold up much better in MMA.

Hope that's helpful.

[dwkfym]

Way too general for a useful answer. Theres boxing-oriented kickboxing, theres counter oriented muay thai, theres wrestler mma guys who only use it to really work takedowns, etc.

You really can't sum up boxing nor muay thai in a single style.

[alex]

theres also no way this should be in advanced striking.