Thais posture vs westerners?

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Boxer123

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Since training muay thai for the past few years ive noticed that many people do not carry themselves as the thais do when sparring, fighting anything. My question is why do the thais look different compared to non thai people when thai boxing (no im not referring to race clearly lol), but rather the posture of the fighter. Can anyone explain what they think the difference is in stance or hand position or what is it! thanks, hope this made sense.

example: do they tuck their chin more? shoulders up? lazy guard? etc.
 
You can tell who western fighters are just because they fight more like boxers than thai fighters do. Thais just go in and bang shins, knees, elbows, whatever.
 
Ya I know that ive been training for 2.5 years in thai boxing, my style is more traditional as in I like to clinch more and throw kicks rather than punch or bob and weave. The question is what is it about their body language which is different, neck looks much lower with chin tucked..its just the way they stand which differs from westerners, just curious if anyone knows the difference.
 
Thais stress different things in training, that'd be the only reason I could think of.
 
OronoMT said:
Since training muay thai for the past few years ive noticed that many people do not carry themselves as the thais do when sparring, fighting anything. My question is why do the thais look different compared to non thai people when thai boxing (no im not referring to race clearly lol), but rather the posture of the fighter. Can anyone explain what they think the difference is in stance or hand position or what is it! thanks, hope this made sense.

example: do they tuck their chin more? shoulders up? lazy guard? etc.
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Personally, there is a lot of difference amongst the thais. Very few of them have a boxer's stance unlike some in the west. But Yodseanklai's stance is nothing like Buakow's and Pajunsuk has a real retro stance....Anuwat favors is hands, so his stance is like a lot of western fighters.

Another aspect to think about is that most fights outside of thailand do not allow elbows....and in thailand, punches don't seem to score as highly as in the west...so, I think that fighters make accomodations for these rulesets
 
From what I have learned, seeing as how I train with boxers and Muay Thai fighters:

western (boxer-like) stance tends to be more square in feet, the weight is forward in the upper body, and the arms are tighter around the head.

Thai stance is more straight, the weight is carried more in the back than wester, which can be observed when they moved the lead foot up and down, the arms are more open, carried more at the same height of one another, as opposed to western, where the power hand covers high and the jab hand lower...

One is not better than the other, the thing is that the western stance with weight forward will give you more powerful punches and prepare you for faster punch defense, and the thai stance will give you more powerful kicks with the weight the way it is carried and the fighters are in a position to block kicks faster. Since I train with both types of fighters, I work hard to be aware of throwing my weight forward like a boxer when I punch and bringing it back like thai when I want to kick. I make a concious effort to be aware of where my weight is when I am working.

hope that helps.
 
ForeverFiending said:
From what I have learned, seeing as how I train with boxers and Muay Thai fighters:

western (boxer-like) stance tends to be more square in feet, the weight is forward in the upper body, and the arms are tighter around the head.

Thai stance is more straight, the weight is carried more in the back than wester, which can be observed when they moved the lead foot up and down, the arms are more open, carried more at the same height of one another, as opposed to western, where the power hand covers high and the jab hand lower...

One is not better than the other, the thing is that the western stance with weight forward will give you more powerful punches and prepare you for faster punch defense, and the thai stance will give you more powerful kicks with the weight the way it is carried and the fighters are in a position to block kicks faster. Since I train with both types of fighters, I work hard to be aware of throwing my weight forward like a boxer when I punch and bringing it back like thai when I want to kick. I make a concious effort to be aware of where my weight is when I am working.

hope that helps.
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very informative post, thanks again pretty much clears it up.
 
i think its because the way they is diffrent they stress the thai clinch and throws very much over there aswell as knees and elbows as of over here its more boxing and alot les clinch and throws
 
the moving the foot up and down is a remanent from muay boran where they would move the foot forwards and backwards and side to side to confuse the opponent, thais keep less wieght on their front foot so they can block quicker and teep quicker
 
Weight on the back leg in Muy Thai, that is necessary.

But I believe that the way they hold their hand has proved to be a weak defense against good punchers.
 
Ya I realize the weight on the back leg, I didnt really ask my question properly. I know the differences in style from western vs thai and the weight on the back leg..its just there stature looks different, like if you watch samart, orono, jongsanan, buakaw, samkor anyone, its more their upper body which im interested in. I cant tell if they are just tucking their chin really low or lifting their shoulders up or leaning forward thats more my question. thx guys sorry for the stupid thread just really curious..
 
OronoMT said:
Ya I realize the weight on the back leg, I didnt really ask my question properly. I know the differences in style from western vs thai and the weight on the back leg..its just there stature looks different, like if you watch samart, orono, jongsanan, buakaw, samkor anyone, its more their upper body which im interested in. I cant tell if they are just tucking their chin really low or lifting their shoulders up or leaning forward thats more my question. thx guys sorry for the stupid thread just really curious..
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Yes, the upper body is very different. They BOTH should have their chins tucked well, but the hands are held differently and the weight of a western stance would be pushed forward while a thai more upright. Thai stances have much weaker punch defense than a westerner. A western fighter could blast a thai with punches in a bad way, but he'd have to get past the thai kicks first.
 
If you watch a lot of fights between thais and americans, you see a lot of americans dominating the fights just because of their superior boxing.
 
woogie12 said:
If you watch a lot of fights between thais and americans, you see a lot of americans dominating the fights just because of their superior boxing.
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I have not seen any fights of a MT vs. a boxer, but I know that in my gym, the boxers HATE getting kicked. They won't spar unless it's straight boxing. The KB's and MT's can't handle punches like boxers can. It's not that one is better than the other, they are just different. A boxer will out box an MT, and an MT can really hurt and boxer at a distance... or in a clinch... actually, boxers push their weight forward and will lean into you a lot, which is a perfect invitation for a good knee, but they don't play like that.
 
I think a lot of the thai's fight slightly hunched over and suck there abdominals in, this acts as a defense against knees and kicks.
If you've ever clinched with a guy who fights hunched over an they hold their abs far away you will know it is very hard to land a good knee on them to the body, but they can still knee you.

But as everyone else has pointed out, it all comes down to thais favouring knee's,kicks and elbows before punche's.
 
woogie12 said:
If you watch a lot of fights between thais and americans, you see a lot of americans dominating the fights just because of their superior boxing.
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Oh, nevermind I missunderstood you.. I see what you are saying... but some thais are smart and will take time out to learn good boxing skills too. :icon_chee The smart ones are not close minded.
 
woogie12 said:
If you watch a lot of fights between thais and americans, you see a lot of americans dominating the fights just because of their superior boxing.
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name me some fights like this. do u even know what you are talking about? and dont tell me youre talking about a "muay thai" fighter who is not even thai

in alot of the thailand vs (another country) type fight events the thais always do pretty well
 
Boxers lose to Muay Thai often, just because they can't take leg kicks. However, that doesn't say anything about Muay Thai guys who have good boxing.
 
and to the thread starter u should post a video of what differences you are trying to figure out (since i noticed you mentioned upper body differences)

thai fighters are always ready to check kicks but at the same time they get teeped a lot to the stomach. if they are standing on one leg in defense of a round kick for a check, they have to still be able to have balance in case they get push kicked. thai round kicks also get caught a lot in thailand since getting the opponent to the ground is what the audience likes to see. here too they have to maintain balance if their leg is caught and being held on to. and a lot of having that balance can be related to how they stand. one more thing is that thai fighters are always ready to clinch for example when they need to neutralize their opponent's boxing. this might again involve how they stand for example they might have to reach forward to grab for a clinch but at the same time have to be ready to check a leg kick if they cant get it

this might be why u see differences in how their posture is different but u should put up some videos if im wrong about what youre seeing
 
The Thai stance can like stated above can help to attack with kicks and knees, even though your right punch weakens. Also defend against kicks(checking etc), also they do a lot of clinching tactics so that might also be a factor. Thais style can also be more helpful with a sprawl in MMA. Thais tend to also aggressively rush eachother and kick, knee and elbow eachother instead of bobbing/weaving type stuff. Both stances have their advantages.
 
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