Myth:Supplementing your MT with boxing gives you great hands!

"In his day, one of the best in the world. Benny "The Jet" defined what it meant to be an American Kickboxer and went on to level many Muay Thai fighters. His family has a huge background in boxing."

I've heard that Western Fighters from the US and Europe went over to Thailand and beat most of the guys there by Knockout with their superior hands. Even though they don't get credited with as much points on the scorecards then it dont matter if it dont go the distance.

I've heard and I really believe this is true- (Lets just generalise MT and KB for this) That a Boxer Beats a Kickboxer in a Boxing Match.
Then Beats a Kickboxer in a all kickboxing matches.
e.g. 1. Just Punches and Kicks to the head and Body.
2. The Same but with knees.

The Kickboxer only takes over winning against the boxer when leg kicks are allowed.

Anyway abit off topic.

"and when i practice punching at home, i don't know whether to take a textbook boxing stance, or a traditional upright Muay thai stance, or whether i should hold my hands up like a boxer or traditional palms out MT style."

If its a MT fight then take the MT stance. Maybe you could switch stances in close to trade punches with someone and vary it on the situation. I would also use the boxing hands position though, I really almost hate the palms out muay thai or "mummy" as it's called in Boxing style.
 
I wouldn't go so far as to say a good boxer could whoop a good MT fighter. I don't buy that. Boxers hate kicks and are open to knees like crazy. I depend on my boxing because it's one of my strongest points, but sometimes I can't get within range of a kicker.

I think what it boils down too is that if you are going to fight you train to prepare for the worst. Train for the rules you will be competing with. Good hands are important in any fight, so naturally you would want to develope them. Put some trust in your boxing instructor, learn their ways and take what you feel you could use.
 
A good boxer wouldn't fight under Muay Thai rules. Both would beat each other under each other's rules.

It's common sense that practicing boxing will give you better hands. Even if you can't use all the same techniques, your hands will be more deft from the practice.
 
Jesus will people stop saying what good Boxers or good Muay Thai Fighters would do? We don't know, and it's absolutely silly to insinuate.
 
It's seems simple to me. If you're going to wear boxing gloves in a competition, you should learn how to box.
 
I disagree completely X infinity! That is pure garbage. There is no better art or style for punching than boxing. So if you want to learn to punch well, practice boxing. It is combat tested for centuries in it's own surroundings and has had time to develop. Unlike muay thai which allows elbows, knees, and kicks, that causes for fewer fighters to use much punching and also there are less proficient punchers there so there are really none that can really teach everyone their adjusted punching style for muay thai. boxing also covers good footwork for offense and evasiveness. If boxing is not good for supplementing hands in muay thai, why are more and more thai fighters and their camps incorporating pure boxing training and getting work done with boxing coaches? some are even fighting regular boxing matches to improve their hands for muay thai. they are also now evolving from their traditional thai style by adding to it. samart has extensively trained and fought in boxing even winning a WBC title. Anuwat has only surfaced recently and has trained boxing for awhile and is not a very prominent kicker with mid or high kicks. you didnt see much thais like them more than 3 decades ago.

I understand you cannot use every boxing techniqueto the book as you are taught by a pure boxing trainer as you will have to adjust yourself to what your strengths are and a couple of other things
 
ForeverFiending said:
Agreed. I know pro boxers with world titles who work full time. There are a tiny pool of fighters who do nothing but train. They are either working as trainers (and good luck training soley fighters, most of the time it's just people looking to get fit), or they are famus. Either way, it took a lot of training on the side of work/school/etc. to get to be there. No one just quits their day job and makes a living fighting. I'll be happy if I can earn enough from fighting to support my habit! :icon_chee

It's putting your hours into it that matters. You do what you can. What little time you DO have to put into training, just train extra hard and see the improvment.
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very true :icon_cry2
 
Use boxing to build up your hand speed and head movement. I find that these skills can carry over to muay thai.
 
Perhaps splitting your MT training with boxing isn't as benefiial as many would have you believe, but as someone who has traned in both styles, I did find that there was something of a crossover.

Personally, I think one's better concentrating a lot of effort on mt. But, by attending boxing seminars, one can pick up very useful tips that can help your mt to no end
 
I agree that learning boxing will not compliment your muay thai training since they are so different. I train in boxing myself because that's what I've chosen. But muay thai guys also train punches and it's up to the individual to do the work required to be good with your fists as well as your legs. The practice material you need is there. All you have to do is apply it. I think the problem may be that too many muay thai guys simply don't work on their punches enough. They focus too much on their kicks and their hand skills kind of suck. Have some workouts where all you do is punching but in the stance and body positioning of muay thai, and practicing it with the defensive techniques which are quite different from western boxing. Western boxing techniques work great for boxing and in addition to certain martial arts styles, but muay thai is just too different.
 
Not everything will be transferable from boxing, but alot will and i'll be specific since you think a lot of people aren't.

Learning these things is especially helpful when you are competing in K-1 type rules.
(no long clinch, no elbows)

-Head movement(Don't dismiss this, it is important, even if they have you ducking and weaving, learn it, you could definitely use it in a kickboxing match, not all the time, but when it counts)

-Footwork (90% of Muay Thai lacks good footwork for K-1 kickboxing rules, yes i pulled that number out of my ass, and yes it is probably accurate)

-Effective Combinations (these combinations are meant to knock someone out, unlike MT where most combinations are meant to distract the opponent and set up kicks)

-Attacking & Defending at Angles (watch the Dutch)

-Countering (my absolute favorite)

-Body punching (fukkin awesome.)

Why didn't you want to take some boxing again?????
 
RJ Powell said:
-Attacking & Defending at Angles (watch the Dutch)

Why didn't you want to take some boxing again?????
Click to expand...

Which dutch fighters should I watch primarily for this?

RJ Powell said:
-Body punching (fukkin awesome.)

Why didn't you want to take some boxing again?????
Click to expand...

I agree alot with this. I love the way aerts, hoost, and kraus used to throw their body left hooks followed by that low kick. I like how souwer combos his left hook/uppercut to the body also
 
I agree. It simply doesn't make sense to train in one sport while preparing for different one. For example that time could be better spent doing a training exercise where your sparring partner can use kicks and knees but you cant (as someone else suggested training in boxing would be useful to fall back on if one or both of your legs were injured.) but why would you train without having to worry about kicks and knees from your opponent? IMO thats just not smart.
 
RJ Powell said:
Not everything will be transferable from boxing, but alot will and i'll be specific since you think a lot of people aren't.

Learning these things is especially helpful when you are competing in K-1 type rules.
(no long clinch, no elbows)

-Head movement(Don't dismiss this, it is important, even if they have you ducking and weaving, learn it, you could definitely use it in a kickboxing match, not all the time, but when it counts)

-Footwork (90% of Muay Thai lacks good footwork for K-1 kickboxing rules, yes i pulled that number out of my ass, and yes it is probably accurate)

-Effective Combinations (these combinations are meant to knock someone out, unlike MT where most combinations are meant to distract the opponent and set up kicks)

-Attacking & Defending at Angles (watch the Dutch)

-Countering (my absolute favorite)

-Body punching (fukkin awesome.)

Why didn't you want to take some boxing again?????
Click to expand...

there is nothing stopping you from practicing these things when sparring under muay thai rules and if you dont already you need a new coach or gym. like i said in my previous post, why would you train fighting someone who isnt allowed to use kicks, knees, or elbows, when they will be throwing all of those in your next fight. It's a good way to get KTFO IMO.
 
kupo1 said:
there is nothing stopping you from practicing these things when sparring under muay thai rules and if you dont already you need a new coach or gym. like i said in my previous post, why would you train fighting someone who isnt allowed to use kicks, knees, or elbows, when they will be throwing all of those in your next fight. It's a good way to get KTFO IMO.
Click to expand...

Because if you can beat the opponent doing all that to you with just punches then your pretty badass. Were not saying its completly neccessary (sp?) :) to train Boxing to supplement your Muay Thai but people do it to be World Class and to develop themselves more as a fighter. If your happy being content then yes just do MT and youll probably do OK in Muay Thai matches, But if you want to develop yourself asmuch as you can as a fighter then why not do Boxing as most of the elite Strikers out their incorporate pure Boxing.
 
^^^Wandy needs to work on his boxing. It's horrid. So does shogun. But those guys have MT based striking. Nothing wrong with that, but they definitely could sharpen up the hands.
 
Well I'd say Shogun has quite good Boxing but your definetly right bout Wandy's punches although alot of his defence does come from Boxing, The Bobbing and Weaving against Liddell and Head movement on the mat in Pride various times.

These guys train Both MT and Boxing under different Trainers and they still are not considered complete Strikers so why wouldnt someone want to develop themselves more as a Striker??
 
Would you consider A. Silva a complete striker? I'm a little skeptical because there aren't too many top tier strikers in his division, so it's not his fault he hasn't fought any. But i think it would be a real test.
 
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