How can Thai fighters fight so many fights?

Repoman23 said:
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You sir. Just made my night
 
So there are a couple reasons.

1) Fighters fight to smart/to the rules. There is no need to head hunt because a kick to the body/Throw from clinch scores just as high or higher than a big punch to the head. The rules make for long careers because a high scoring technique isn't necessarily one that ends careers. Muay Thai fighters have less trauma to the brain so they come out of a 300 fight career with less dementia than boxers with 50-150 fight careers (there was a study on it out there somewhere.)

2) Train smart. No need to head hunt in training and no need to spar hard. Studies done in boxing have shown that rounds sparring in boxing gyms correlate to dementia better than the number of fights. 5 rounds of hard boxing sparring/2 times per week/2 month = 80 rounds of hard sparring in just one fight camp. So, way more trauma in training than would occur during a fight for a lot of boxers.

3) Fighting for food/family. Fighting every two weeks makes the training smart and fighting smart a necessity. You won't risk injury in round 5 if you need a knock out to win if you have to fight again in 2 weeks to send money back to your family and to feed yourself.

All these reason feed into one another and cause some of the fight styles we see today.
 
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Most Thai fighters probably retire at quite early, those who don't - fight much less frequently after a certain age. You don't see Saenchai fighting twice a week to put food on his plate nowadays, don't you?
 
Philosophy said:
Boxers have same number of amateur fights. Thais count all fights.

Over. Also, they fight to eat. I would be out there every day to feed my family too.
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This is a valid point. Take Riddick Bowe (since he's going to be making his MT debut) 44 pro fights + 122 amatuer fights, including the Olympics.
 
A few thoughts on this:
- Thais are fighting at lighter weights, which generally means less injury
- They are aiming to win, not hurt and will take it very easy on an opponent once they're ahead
- A ref will stop a fight that's mistmatched, unlike other coutries where they will leave the guy to keep getting hurt
- The scoring favors technique rather than damage
- Their style is very defensive, so they're protecting themselves
- They start from an early age and have a very high pain threshold
- They are tough as nails
 
Basically how in America we spar/ have smokers, the Thais have fights instead.Also the mentality is different. In America, most guys go out to a fight with the intention of hurting the opponent. In Thailand, they go out with the intention of winning and not getting hurt, because they are going to have to fight again in a few days to feed themselves/ family.
 
TonyK said:
Most Thai fighters probably retire at quite early, those who don't - fight much less frequently after a certain age. You don't see Saenchai fighting twice a week to put food on his plate nowadays, don't you?
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Saenchai is one of the most active nak muay on the planet.
He fights every 2 or 3 weeks.
 
As said previously, there is a kind of mutual understanding between professional fighters that both want to win, but that they also need to preserve their health to be able to keep on fighting and make a living. So fighters aren't expected to "fight to death" until the last second of each fight like UFC fighters are.
Basically if a fighter is well ahead by the 5th round he will just ease off; same thing with dangerous techniques.
I also thing that MT fighters aren't as obsessed with their records as boxing/MMA fighters; it's ok to take a fight without a 2 month training camp, if you lose this one you have the next one to make up for it; so fighters are more likely to fight even if they don't feel 110% ready or they have a small injury.
This being said, a lot of fighters are quite banged-up by the time they are 25; I guess this doesn't only come from the number of fights, but also from training full time since they were kids, which is gonna take it's toll on anyone's body.
 
Thais don't really care about their records, so if they're way behind in points they'll take a loss and collect their little bit of money rather than getting injured and not being able to get paid until healed. Unless there's alot riding on a particular fight (like a big bet), then they'll try to KO their opponent before the decision, but that depends on the individual, mid round 4 the fight is usually decided, some will try for KO, some wont.

From my observations, getting good fights is more about how popular you are (how much money you can make the bettors) and how many people support you than the number of wins and losses on your record.

Lumpini and Raj seem to have a pretty strict circuit when it comes to rankings though. Don't know how the system works, but i'd imagine it's just like any other ranking system, the hardest part is probably getting INTO a bangkok gym to get a chance to fight in either stadium more than anything.

It also seems like as a fighter you're judged by how much money you make per fight than how much of a "killer" you are. If you're making close to whatever guys like Saenchai, Sam A, Singdam, Nong O etc are making per fight (in purse and side bets), then you're seen as top-rate "A class" regardless of record. I don't know how much they make, but i'm sure it's at least comfortable, definitely not what the top MMA/Boxers make.

Of course you still have to win pretty consistently to become popular, but there's no obsession with numbers like in Boxing and to a slightly lesser extent, MMA.

Boxing cares the most about records, that's why alot of popular amateur prospects will "pad" their pro record by fighting easy opponents, keep it clean with no losses before fighting worthy opponents.

There are professional boxers who make a living off taking these record padding fights, just like the Thais who throw fights in Phuket, the only difference is the Thais know they're throwing the fight and the boxing "bums" (hate that word) are just outmatched.
 
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Gambling in MT ensures even matches, it's not about Thais not being concerned about their records, more that gamblers want to see even fights, so that is what promoters put together.

Boxing has become a real joke, in what other sport do you have top level athletes who have never lost?
 
Yeah i worded that badly, i meant to say that the number of wins and losses is not a huge focus, especially in the early stages of their careers.
 
a big part of it is that they dont have nearly as much hard sparring as westerners.
 
They have shorter camps, stay in shape the whole time, just can't afford not to fight even though they can't prepare very well, spar light and fight even with some injuries. Pretty much the same way boxers did it 60 years ago as well
 
0rpheus said:
So there are a couple reasons.

1) Fighters fight to smart/to the rules. There is no need to head hunt because a kick to the body/Throw from clinch scores just as high or higher than a big punch to the head. The rules make for long careers because a high scoring technique isn't necessarily one that ends careers. Muay Thai fighters have less trauma to the brain so they come out of a 300 fight career with less dementia than boxers with 50-150 fight careers (there was a study on it out there somewhere.)

2) Train smart. No need to head hunt in training and no need to spar hard. Studies done in boxing have shown that rounds sparring in boxing gyms correlate to dementia better than the number of fights. 5 rounds of hard boxing sparring/2 times per week/2 month = 80 rounds of hard sparring in just one fight camp. Way more than would happen in a camp.

3) Fighting for food/family. Fighting every two weeks makes the training smart and fighting smart a necessity. You won't risk injury in round 5 if you need a knock out to win if you have to fight again in 2 weeks to send money back to your family and to feed yourself.

All these reason feed into one another and cause some of the fight styles we see today.
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This is the best answer.
Good job.
 
Paradigm said:
yeah, and i see a bunch of fatasses everywhere. and this is in California! god knows what the Midwest looks like.

avg american male is 5'9 190lbs...avg woman is 5'4 160lbs. if thats not fat, i dont know what is. mind you thats the average. some 300+lb'ers out there...

why?
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Midwest farmers > a bunch of moronic beachboys.
 
Very educational thread for those who don't really know muay thai. And no BS trolling for once.
 
Many amateur boxers has +200 fights.

The key is to start early. If you fight once a month from 10 years old to 25, then you have 180 fights. Fight 15 times a year from age 10 to 30, then you have 300 fights.
 
Also by the time the world at large starts to know about these fighters they are the best. We dont know about the boys that got injured and couldnt continue or out of the thousands that try constantly we only know a few is what I mean. There are some less famous fighters Ive seen who dont have massive records or losing records but they still fight to provide and their bodys suffer but its a way of life out there. Big respect
 
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