Boxing or Muay Thai?

[ChingPowKO]

I'm interested in starting MMA. I'm just wondering which stand up discipline I should start training in, Muay Thai or Boxing. I've had very little experience in this sport but I am really interested. I'm 15, 5' 7" and weigh 130.

 

[nip102]

boxing at your weight and age there should be tons of people to train and fight plus a good boxing gym should be cheap or free at your age where you based

 

[SAAMAG]

Depends, do you have an affinity for kicking or punching?

Personally, I'd pick the one that gives you more weapons, but your hands will be far better if you focus on boxing only.

 

[Vil7]

You can't really go wrong with either unless you find a shitty school.

 

[Vil7]

Oh and maybe you should visit a few schools or gyms and watch the classes and see which you like the best.

 

[Skurge187]

Start out with the most basic of all fighting arts, yet the the one that focuses on the moves that give the highest percentage of damage inflicted from strikes and the moves that give the most KOs. That would be boxing. Stick with this for a year. Get GOOD at it. Whip yourself into the kind of shape that's necessary to take part in boxing and keep yourself in that shape. Then go into muay thai. When you do that, your muay thai will way easier to learn and you'll be way better at it than the other people your age who are just learning muay thai. Straight up fist fighting is a muay thai fighter's weakness, so you've taken care of that right off the bat just going into the style.

 

[Staring At Fate]

Start out with the most basic of all fighting arts, yet the the one that focuses on the moves that give the highest percentage of damage inflicted from strikes and the moves that give the most KOs. That would be boxing. Stick with this for a year. Get GOOD at it. Whip yourself into the kind of shape that's necessary to take part in boxing and keep yourself in that shape. Then go into muay thai. When you do that, your muay thai will way easier to learn and you'll be way better at it than the other people your age who are just learning muay thai. Straight up fist fighting is a muay thai fighter's weakness, so you've taken care of that right off the bat just going into the style.

I second this Boxing is a great discipline to start off with.

 

[PwayzHardest]

no idea but i started with boxing and i love it

 

[Deleted member 196663]

Start boxing and don't throw anything but a jab and straight right for your first 6-12 months.

 

[FyouKantCme]

as much as I love Muay Thai, with the way mma is evolving boxing is probably better to start with. and like others have said you can always start Muay Thai later.

 

[Skurge187]

Start boxing and don't throw anything but a jab and straight right for your first 6-12 months.

The jab is king when it comes to striking. If your jab is shit, the rest of your striking will be equally shit. The one-two combo is a high percentage technique and it's very reliable. But realistically you can't just throw only this in sparring matches. You'd have to mix it up or you'd get whooped. To FOCUS on making this your bread and butter would be a better choice of words.

as much as I love Muay Thai, with the way mma is evolving boxing is probably better to start with. and like others have said you can always start Muay Thai later.

Sorry, but MMA hasn't had a major change in technique since 2000. True facts.

 

[kicker]

Go with boxing. Later u'll expand it if you even get to that point.

 

[Deleted member 196663]

But realistically you can't just throw only this in sparring matches. You'd have to mix it up or you'd get whooped.

"Get whooped"?? WTF?? Wow, you get a big fail for that statement. Forget sparring, you can win boxing matches with just those two punches. No offense, but you seriously have no fucking idea what you're talking about.

 

[ArchAngelos]

I've done both for a long time and I think that you should pick the one that is most accessible to you. If you have specific places in mind, go and check them out. Look at the instructor's background and find out if the gym is competitive and how their athletes do.

If both places are legit, choose the one that you like the best.

Don't get caught up in the arguments on this site about boxing -vs- muay thai and which one is better. They are both great in what they offer.

 

[wisdom blows]

i did about 9 months of boxing before i ever learned muay thai.

im glad i did, because my hands were better than a lot of guys, and my combinations were more fluid. a lot of people have strong kicks, but bad punches.

 

[Sprawla007]

i started boxing first, did boxing for 4 years and now am making the change too mma an d muay thai. I actually think i takes more skill to be good at boxing then muay thai, boxing requires more skills, more footwork, different angles which muay thai wont teach you, muay thai is more straight line fighting.

I think boxing is better for mma because you can use your footwork better to avoid take downs, using muay thai you will get taken down easier because your stance is more upright and feet are closer together.

but to be a good mma fighter you need both disciplines

the gym i train at now has a mma trainer, boxing trainer and muay thai trainer. So i am lucky still get to train boxing and muay thai.

 

[chino0503]

here in the states, the level of instruction in boxing is wayyyy higher than muay thai.

do boxing. if you do muay thai its like going to thailand to learn bjj....

 

[lts5025]

It depends on the gyms and their instructors. In my little town, aside from tae kwon do, there were only 2 real options for striking instruction: boxing and muay thai.

The boxing coach has training a few golden and silver glove winners and an Olympian. Plus, it was only $25 a month through the city's parks and rec department.

The muay thai coach was a certified instructor under a Lumpinee champ and was 47-0 in his fights in Thailand, plus had MMA experience.

The price was right for boxing, plus it was 3 hours a night, 5 nights a week, I could go whenever I wanted. But the boxing instructor told me I wouldn't spar for at least a year and he hated MMA/kickboxing/anything besides boxing. So I knew he'd never teach me boxing in an MMA context.

The muay thai instructor was more expensive and his classes were less frequent, but he was actively training fighters for MMA and allowed me to spar during my 3rd class.

If I wanted to train for boxing, the boxing gym would have been a great fit. But I was interested in MMA, so there was no question.

 

[thirteen]

TS, you're only young so try them both.
Both sports will give you great tools for MMA.
Good luck!

 

[Chappu]

Hmm I was actually wondering the same question, tell me what you end up doing please.