Transitioning from boxing to muay thai

**Spider-man341** · Posted On: 7/04/2010 3:38pm

Hi, guys hows it going I am curious to get some opinions on how difficult you guys think it would be for a boxer to transition into muay thai/kickboxing. I have boxed competitively in the amateurs and the question is whether my skills would transfer over in a muay thai fight. I do plan on training all aspects of muay thai and am not gonna go in just as a boxer, there is also a very good muay thai gym close by that has a very good competition record btw.

Here is a quick lil vid of me hitting the pads with my boxing trainer so you guys can see my punching technique. Any feedback would be appreciated.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdx4ka_tech

**Neo Sigma** · Posted On: 7/04/2010 5:53pm

Well, I'm not sure this belongs in the advanced forum, but here's a few things I've seen from boxers changing over. It depends on your gym, but muay thai doesn't generally work a ton of footwork the way boxing does, so that should help you. At my gym, we tend to emphasize kicks and clinchwork more than punches, so having good hands is generally a plus too.

That said, there's some stuff you'll need to watch out for. Watch a thai boxer's mouth start watering when their opponent takes a traditional boxing stance. It leaves you wide open for leg kicks. Expect to have your front leg beaten black and blue until you learn how to check kicks(block with your shin) on a consistent basis.

On that subject- CHECK LEG KICKS. DO NOT DROP YOUR ARM TO BLOCK. I can't stress that enough. Not only does it leave your head wide open, if your opponent knows how to kick, they might accidentally break your arm.

Also, you'll want to watch how much you weave under punches. When you're dealing with strikes from the lower body too, you may end up moving your head straight into a kick or a knee.

Most of all, have fun and don't get discouraged when you go home limping from your legs getting pounded. It's all practice.

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 7/04/2010 8:01pm

I've personally been back and forth between boxing and muaythai for years, doing a LOT of boxing specific training. The mobility, movement, and balance you've gained from boxing will make you excel greatly in muaythai. The stance is somewhat different simply because your lead foot is turned out more, until you can get comfortable modifying that your kicks will feel really clumsy for a while (whenever I train strictly boxing for a long period my kicks get really awkward). Just understand that your stance will pretty much be the beginning and end of any difficulty you have in muaythai.

Judging from your mitt work you shouldn't have much trouble with the transition I think since your stance is very upright and fairly square. Once you get the feel of checking kicks with your shin you should be good to go. Have fun dancing circles around all the muaythai kids with that quick footwork you've picked up :)

**Tsukyomi** · Posted On: 7/10/2010 11:45pm

Yes! Boxing is amazing attribute when going into Muay Thai! the people above me have more to tell though. Have fun!

**beardedtaco** · Posted On: 7/11/2010 1:42am

The gym I train at basically was very good at teaching boxing, but just ok at muay thai. So for the first several months the main focus was on boxing which is were I became comfortable. Over the last few months our head coach has made a big effort to bring in experts in MT to come help us as well as putting a lot more time into mt training, and I have finally started to really get into and enjoy the kickboxing.

The advice given by Neo Sigma and KidSpatula is spot on.

Switching from boxing to muay thai I definitely felt very clumsy kicking from my stance and I wasn't using the balls of my feet correctly to knee and kick. I would go on the balls to punch, then go all flat footed when kicking/kneeing. The only thing that really helped was doing the kicks over and over and over with someone who knows what they are doing, correcting as we go plus grueling repetition on the pads.

There is a tendency for people trained in boxing, when caught in the plum clinch, to duck weave to get out of the hold, which sets you up to eat a knee to the face. This guy who came to help us while he was here for the world cup pointed out to me that I was making this mistake, and showed me some safer ways to get your head out of the clinch.

The head movement and footwork from boxing definitely helps a lot ! You just have to learn how to use it in the context of muay thai.

**karma2343** · Posted On: 7/26/2010 4:02pm

As someone doing the opposite (going from Muay Thai to Boxing) I gotta say everyone is spot on. While I do well enough for punching itself, there are plenty of other things I am learning that we barely touched upon at my old place. Footwork was already mentioned enough so I'll leave that alone; another thing is head movement. While we had a little before, boxing definitely has a lot more emphasis on it. In short many things are more emphasized in boxing.

And on a side note, switching my stance to the wider boxing stance makes me feel paranoid simply because I remember what happened in my old place when someone wasn't in tight enough.

**salizar** · Posted On: 9/20/2010 7:11pm

I found the transition to be quite simple. I had trained and fought amature boxing for about 10yrs, was becoming bored so I decided to try Muay Thai. What better place to try it than Thailand. You can check out a video of me doing some boxing padwork at a gym over there. YouTube - George St Pierre 's Killer doing Pad Work . In reality you just need to make a few adjustments. I think the biggest hurdle is throwing your kicks in the same rhythm you throw your hands, and not separating the combo.

**salizar** · Posted On: 9/20/2010 7:12pm

Oh and please I was just kidding about being St Pierres killer, He is the best.

**Sevir** · Posted On: 9/21/2010 8:58pm

Boxing will help you a lot going into Muay Thai. Even with the use of all other "weapons" in striking hands are the most important. Of course you'll have to change your stance, learn to use kicks, elbows, knees, etc... but that will come with time.

**blue-dragon** · Posted On: 10/17/2010 8:57am

I'm sure your chin and hands are conditioned for abuse, but get ready for bruised insteps and shins from kicking a heavy bag. And limping on ur lead leg from receiving leg kicks. Most thai boxers like to out-fight with kicks then go to a clinch when things get inside so in-fighting is tricky. Good luck.