Does Muay Thai have a clear GOAT?

Cocakillbana said:
Not a clear goat. Everything before the 1970's is pretty much a blur. Who knows if there were some badasses in the 40's and 50's that were better than the guys of the last 30 years. Even in Thailand I'm not sure a ton is known about the early days.

From what we can know my vote goes to Saenchai. Ability, longevity and quality of opposition are all 10/10. He beat Thongchai Tor Silachai when he was 15! 20 years ago!
You can take three of the best golden era fighters and combine their time as top level fighters, and that's how long Saenchai has been top level. And it's not like he's eroded and just hanging on for some paydays. He's still fucking great. I doubt anyone in the history of Muay Thai has had a run like him. Some guys stay around for 20 years, but not at the top the whole time like Saenchai.
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agreed with you,a lot of guys took attention on muay thai,but it dont have one like saenchai,who compete in high level for almost 20 years and with a huge dominance especially 10 years ago.
 
Samart and Somrak are definitely the most perfect thai fighters of all time. The general consensus is that Samart is the greatest but let's not forget Somrak was never allowed to fight for a title because he was too good.

Somebody already posted a Samart highlight so here's a Somrak video. They had pretty similar styles and even looked alike.


[YT]8VcBUJmP1F0[/YT]
 
Readybodisready said:
Can you make a valid, objective argument for both and compare them. I'm looking to learn here since I don't know much about the greats of MT.
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Samart

Pros

Fought in an era that many consider better
4 division Lumpini champion
Won fighter of the year twice and switched to boxing
Won WBC super bantamweight championship
Came back to Muay Thai and won fighter of the year a third time.

Cons

Only had about a half dozen years as an elite Muay Thai fighter
Retired at 26

Saenchai

Pros

5 division Lumpini champion
2 times fighter of the year
Ironman
Completely unique skill set
Fights up in weight

Cons

mmm, maybe doesn't give a great effort sometimes

Also, the way Samart looked certainly helped with his fame in Thailand. If he's just an average looking guy does he become as famous in Thailand and as mythical in the Muay Thai community? He's obviously great, but I think there's something to that.
 
Namsaknoi had quite a high level skill set too, among the GOAT contenders.

Pol Prapradang sometimes gets mentioned in the GOAT talks too, but there aren't any videos of his fights, he fought in a time when you pretty much had to judge stuff by word of mouth and actually being there.
 
I think you're always going to run into the problem that older fighters would probably have it harder adapting to the changes in the game. Apidej is known for his devastating kick, but he probably would have had a lot more trouble landing it in todays day and age with more technical fighters, because of the amount of effort he put into swinging it.

My vote goes to Samart Pakayaroon. There wasn't really anything he couldn't do, and he beat basically everyone with a level of dominance that isn't normal against the level of competition he was fighting.

Dieselnoi could be number two but it's hard for me to know because I've not been able to see a lot of his fights.

I think there's definitely an argument for Saenchai, he would at least be in my top 5.

Every time someone brings up Buakaw I get a bit sad though.
 
I just realised my first comment was ignorant and stupid.

The GOAT is clearly Joe Schilling:

Joe-Schilling-Chad-HIll-edit-2-glory-19-hampton.jpg


He and Kevin Ross taught me that all them Thai's are scared of the 'muricans and won't fight them. Completely legit.
 
There's a long list of Nak Muays who deserve this honor. Unfortunately, quite a bit of the pre-1960's fighters lack footage or widespread recognition. Like Sakchai Nagpayak who was the premier Nak Muay of the 1950's. He fought practically everyone in his division before he was murdered in a brothel.

Sakad Petchyindee's uncle, the infamous Suk Prasarthinpimai was arguably the greatest fighter in the 1940's. What's amazing is that he was already in his 30's (spent time in prison for murder) and beat quite a bit of younger fighters when he got out thanks to a reduced sentence.

In terms of accomplishments, Chamuekpet Harpalang has the rare distinction of gaining 9 stadium belts; 5 Rajdamnern and 4 Lumpini. Truly one of the greatest fighters of his era and he could give any of the historical Thai legends a run for their money.
 
Cocakillbana said:
Not a clear goat. Everything before the 1970's is pretty much a blur. Who knows if there were some badasses in the 40's and 50's that were better than the guys of the last 30 years. Even in Thailand I'm not sure a ton is known about the early days.

From what we can know my vote goes to Saenchai. Ability, longevity and quality of opposition are all 10/10. He beat Thongchai Tor Silachai when he was 15! 20 years ago!
You can take three of the best golden era fighters and combine their time as top level fighters, and that's how long Saenchai has been top level. And it's not like he's eroded and just hanging on for some paydays. He's still fucking great. I doubt anyone in the history of Muay Thai has had a run like him. Some guys stay around for 20 years, but not at the top the whole time like Saenchai.
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watching Saenchai fight is definitely special, he is very talented and still very active as well.

IMO probably the highest fighting IQ i ever seen, IMO he could very well be GOAT.

but then again i don't like watch below 2000 MT fight, because the poor quality of the video.

and for TS, GOAT is very rarely to be clear.
 
craziest thing about Saenchai is that he still has the best reflexes in the sport. He also doesn't look like he's gonna slow down anytime soon.
 
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