Muay Thai

About Muay Thai

Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing or Thai kickboxing, is a martial art originally from Thailand.

Traditional muay Thai has a long history in Thailand as a martial art used by the military. The military style of muay Thai is called Lerdrit, while today's "sport muay Thai" slightly varies from the original art and uses kicks and punches in a ring and with gloves similar to those used in boxing. Muay Thai is also known as 'The Science of Eight Limbs' as the hands, feet, elbows and knees are all used extensively in this art.

Muay Thai Techniques

The basic offensive techniques in muay Thai use hands, elbows, kicks and knees to punch and kick the opponent. To bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used: the clinch. Defensively, the concept of "wall of defense" is used, in which shoulders, arms and legs are used to hinder the attacker from successfully executing his techniques.

Though the high kicks at the head look spectacular during a competition, insiders of the sport claim that the elbows and the knees are the most damaging, sometimes deadly, to the fighters.

Two >muay Thai techniques became popular in other martial arts: The Thai low kick and the Thai roundhouse kick. The low kick uses a circular movement of the entire body to kick the opponent's leg with the upper part of the shin. When not correctly defended against, this technique often leads to the end of the fight, as the opponent can not stand anymore after a few low-kicks. The Thai roundhouse kick is also unique and was adapted for its efficiency. The kick is carried out with a straight leg and the entire body rotating from the hip, which is "locked" right before the leg makes contact to the opponent. Other martial arts, such as Shotokan Karate tend to prefer "snappy" kicks, which are faster but less powerful. Furthermore, Thai boxers kick with the shin instead of the foot.

Almost all techniques in muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch and block. This results in most techniques being slower but more powerful than techniques from boxing or karate.

During a competition, the participants perform a lengthy ritual and ceremony before the fight (ram muay). The ritual is both for religious reasons and as a stretching warmup.

Muay Thai History

Muay Thai heavily influenced the development of kickboxing, which was later created in Japan, Europe and North America.

In the last decade, muay Thai has enjoyed a boost in popularity in the whole world as it turned out to be very effective in popular no holds barred events, such as the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) competitions. It is widely recognized that a combination of a grappling art, such as Judo or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, with muay Thai is very effective in such fights.

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Kick Boxing

About Kick Boxing

Kickboxing is a martial art which was made for beating Muay Thai by Japanese boxing promotor Osamu Noguchi in 1950. Opponents are allowed to hit each other with fists and feet, hitting above the hip. Using elbows or knees is forbidden and the use of the shins is seldom allowed.

Kick Boxing History

"Kick-boxing" was created by a Japanese promotor of boxing matches in the 1950s, Mr. Osamu Noguchi. He wanted to introduce to the Japanese people what he had seen in Thailand. Therefore he sent some Thai boxers to Japan and founded the Japan Kickboxing Association. He named the new martial art "kick-boxing". The first kickboxer around the world is Tadashi Sawamura (real name: Hideki Shiraha) a Japanese karate fighter. Kick-boxing enhances cordination and fitness.

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Boxing

About Boxing

Fighting with the fists for sport and spectacle is probably as old as sport itself.

Boxing contests are found throughout antiquity. Greek boxers would wear boxing gloves (not padded) and wrappings on their arms below the elbows, but were otherwise naked when competing. The word "boxing" first came into use in England in the 18th century to distinguish between fighting to settle disputes, and fighting under agreed rules for sport. It is now used to describe a sport in which two contestants (boxers) wearing padded gloves face each other in a "ring" and fight an agreed number of "rounds" under recognized rules. Although men have always been the most numerous participants, there are some references to fights between women during the 18th century, and women's boxing was organized again at the end of the 20th century.

Throughout the latter part of the 19th century and the whole of the 20th century, amateur and professional boxing operated in parallel. In the final quarter of the 20th century, however, amateur boxing lost much of its popular support. Traditional concerns about bruises and black eyes gave way to more serious concerns about long-term eye and brain damage, and medical checks on boxers, and medical supervision of their fights, became an increasingly important feature of both amateur and professional boxing.

Origins of Boxing

18th- and early 19th-century pugilism (bare-knuckle fighting) was an important precursor of boxing in Britain. Boxing, however, probably grew most specifically out of the demonstrations held at the Fives Court and the Tennis Court in London in the early 19th century. These promotions had several features that anticipated the future sport of boxing. The boxers wore "mufflers" (padded gloves), and "time" was called after a set period, and the lengh of the fight was predetermined. Wrestling throws were also barred. None of these features were present in bare-knuckle pugilism.

"Boxing" as distinct from any other form of fist fighting can be dated from 1867, when John Chambers drafted new rules. There were twelve rules in all, and they specified that fights should be "a fair stand-up boxing match" in a 24-foot ring. Rounds were to be of three minutes duration with one minute between rounds. Ten seconds were allowed for a man to get up if he had gone down during a round. New gloves of "fair-size" were to be worn and "wrestling or hugging" was specifically forbidden. These gloves' purpose is to protect the knuckles. An average pair of Boxing gloves appears like a bloated pair of mittens, are often red, and are laced up around the wrists. The rules were published under the patronage of the Marquess of Queensberry, whose name has always been associated with them. The first fighter to win a world title under these rules was "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, who defeated John L. Sullivan in 1892 at the Pelican Athletic Club in New Orleans.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boxing"