muay thai vs. boxing/pros and cons.

[patfromlogan]

Well yeah...by "nobody" I meant nobody whose IQ is higher than their shoe size. I try my best to ignore all the dumb **** that goes on in the strip mall dojos these days.

One does learn by sparring. I got hit with counter punch hooks repeatedly last week until without thought, I started having them wiz by my nose. I realized that training from long ago came right back when needed and all it took was getting hit moderately hard a couple times. Of course any decent contact sparring school will enforce this type of learning curve, be it karate, mt, boxing, or in my case, Hawaiian Kempo. To answer the op, I think that it's a lot more important to have a good instructor that pushes you in a safe manner than choosing different styles. Though boxing sucks for kicks, I'd bet.

[P-Dub]

I'm no expert, but a lot of the MT fights I watched from Thailand on ESPN have a sort of "who's tougher" kind of vibe. I guess what I am trying to say is the focus is almost completely on offense, and there is a certain amount of pride, however misguided, in how much you can take. I don't mean every one of them, but there are similarities in Mexican boxing matches, where guys just get into "wars", without much defense. It would be interesting to have some Thai's weigh in on this, as I could be completely mistaken.

That's purely a function of the rule set. When I went and trained in Thailand, the first time I sparred with somebody I stayed on the outside and jabbed, took angles, circled, dodged, etc. I thought I was killing the other guy, and he had barely landed a thing. When I went back to the corner in between rounds, the trainer told me "When you do that, the judges think you're afraid". He explained to me that Thai judges don't like seeing fighters back up. They considered circling while jabbing and keeping the guy on the outside backing up. I should check leg kicks, rather than use footwork to avoid them, because the judges looked for proper "use of Muay Thai defense", and proper Muay Thai defense was to check the kicks.

So, as a result, the fights often ended up looking like pissing contests where they stood in front of each other trading*. So yeah, it looks like they're trying to prove who's tougher because the rules require them to do so. Not so much like how K-1-Max looks.

The Dutch changed this by altering the scoring system to allow for more "boxing". (I don't mean boxing as in the sport, I mean boxing as in the concept of boxing, out-fighting as opposed to in-fighting).

If anybody else is more informed on this, or if I am wrong on anything, be my guest and correct me.

* An interesting rule that I noticed on the pamphlet I picked up at Lumpinee was that if I throw a round kick to your body, and you immediately throw one back to me that lands, yours is worth more because you're showing that you're stronger/tougher than me. The appearance of looking strong was very important in the judging. I would lose points if I dragged my ass back to my corner in between rounds and looked like I was dying.

[edher08]

I've trained muay thai and tends to relay on offense a lot. I guess it has to be with the whole pride and spirit of the art. Boxing on the other hand , its been said is the art of hit and not getting hit, so defense plays a bigger role in it. A combination of both seems better.

[P-Dub]

That or the rules determine the way the fights look. One needs to look no further than the World Combat League to see this.

[chi-conspiricy]

That or the rules determine the way the fights look. One needs to look no further than the World Combat League to see this.

Do we have to look at the World Combat League? Yuck.

[P-Dub]

Do we have to look at the World Combat League? Yuck.

My point exactly....

[Zyph]

I seem to be hearing this "Don't bob and weave in MT" thing a bunch lately, and not on these boards.

There is a HUGE differance in the B&W and the duck which is what most people think the B&W is.

The BW is almost a "U" Movement with the head, where the fist slightly brushes the top of the head as it goes by. The back is kept in fighting position the movement is done mostly with the legs. Hands remain in fighting position also. This brings you up in a good spot to counter hook in most cases.

The duck bends at the waist, and that is how you eat a knee to the face. This is an example of bad coaching or bad training practices.

To me it is a matter of pick and choose. Even seen a guy try to throw a knee after a right hook? The body just dosen't like it, the flow is not there. So that is a safe on to go under.

I really don't see the BW as a middle ring tech any way. Works best on the ropes.

As for the slip, hell yea. Again not HUGE movements, but just enough to get you head out of the way.

As for the OP, both boxing and MT and Kick Boxing have their strengths. I think MT has the most though ;)

[Sang]

* An interesting rule that I noticed on the pamphlet I picked up at Lumpinee was that if I throw a round kick to your body, and you immediately throw one back to me that lands, yours is worth more because you're showing that you're stronger/tougher than me. The appearance of looking strong was very important in the judging. I would lose points if I dragged my ass back to my corner in between rounds and looked like I was dying.

The reason my instructor makes me return with a leg kick right after a failed block from a roundhouse to the side is because their leg is in a vulnerable position, in order to be kicking you their other leg is straight and hitting it hard at that moment is going to cause alot more damage than their kick hitting your arm. This is probably why they score it higher. No doubt you've felt the pain on a roundhouse to a straight leg before :P.