Muaythai Judging Introduction

By Tony Myers

The author, Tony Myers is an experienced referee and Judge as well as an experienced MuayThai coach. He has judged and refereed at national, international and world level, in Britain, Europe and Thailand; this year being selected to referee live on national Thai TV and in front of Thai Royalty in Bangkok. He holds World MuayThai Council (WMC) professional refereeing and judging qualification, an International Federation of MuayThai Amateur (IFMA) amateur refereeing and judging qualification. He also runs refereeing and judging courses, as well as being a senior referee and judge for, the British Thai Boxing Council, the World MuayThai Organisation and Scottish MuayThai Federation. In addition he also referees and judges for some Showsport International events.

Introduction International Competition
Fight Classifications Differences between associations
What techniques score? Fouls
How are fights actually scored? Decisions
Some common mistakes made when judging Muay Thai bouts, and how to avoid them Summary

It is essential for fighters, coaches and officials to understand how their sport is judged. It would be unthinkable that football players would not have a rudimentary understanding of the rules of football, or were not sure where and how they score. However, this is the case, on occasion, in MuayThai. When refereeing, I have often had blank looks from fighters when warning them not to trip an opponent, grab the ropes or grab the lower spine. I have had anger and disbelief from cornermen when their fighter has been disqualified for using a hip throw and injuring an opponent. There is often real confusion, even amongst those involved in the sport, as to what scores and what doesn't score in MuayThai. There are a wide range of misconceptions aired by fans, coaches and even some officials regarding scoring. These misconceptions have ranged from "punches don't score", "Leg kicks are the most important kicks for scoring", "throws don't count", to "the scoring is the same as international boxing and kickboxing". All these statements are untrue and highlight the confusion over scoring in MuayThai. So how are MuayThai fights actually scored? What are the fouls? What are the legal techniques? This article attempts to answer these questions.

I will never forget the first time I sat on the wooden bench seats in the humid atmosphere of Bangkok's Lumpinee Stadium. I was totally mesmerised by the unified chants of fans frantically willing on "their" fighter; this generally meant the one they had placed a bet upon. Having spent a lifetime involved in martial arts, I was enormously impressed with the toughness, speed, balance, agility and skill of the boxers fighting in the ring. However, I was also a little confused at some decisions awarded by the judges that evening. The sport fascinated me but having grown up on a diet of international boxing and Japanese martial arts, the scoring of some of these MuayThai fights baffled me a little.
After talking to other European fans of the sport, I soon realised I was not on my own; a number non-Thai spectators didn't fully understanding how the MuayThai was judged. Since that time I have been lucky enough to have had my own fighters fight at Lumpinee and Radjadamnern stadiums, and have had the chance to have refereed and judged fights in Bangkok. Now that I understand the rules and how fights are scored my fighters fair better in international competition and my enjoyment of the fights has actually improved. I hope your enjoyment of fights will be enhanced a little by this article.

On to International Competition