Modern Muay Thai

The high incidence of death and physical injury led the Thai government to institute a ban on Muay Thai in the 1920’s, but in the 1930’s the sport was revived under a modern set of regulations based on the international Queensberry rules.  Bouts were limited to five three-minute rounds separated with two-minute breaks.  Contestants had to wear international-style gloves and trunks (always either red or blue) and their feet were taped – to this day no shoes are worn.

There are 16 weight divisions in Thai boxing, ranging from mini flyweight to heavyweight, with the best fighters said to be in the welterweight division.  As in international-style boxing, matches take place on a 7.3 sq meter canvas-covered floor with rope retainers supported by four padded posts.

In spite of these concessions to safety, today all surfaces of the body are still considered fair targets and any part of the body, except the head, may be used to strike an opponent.  Common blows include high kicks to the head and neck, elbows to the face and head, knees to the ribs and low kicks to the calf.  A contestant may even grasp an opponent’s head between his hands and pull it down to meet a knee. Punching is considered the weakest of all blows and kicking merely a way to ‘soften up’ one’s opponent; knee and elbow strikes are decisive in most matches.

The training of a Thai boxer and, and particularly the relationship between boxer and trainer, is high ritualised.  When a boxer is considered ready for the ring, he is given a new name by his trainer, usually with the name of the training camp as his surname. The relationship is perhaps best expressed in the Ram muay (boxing dance) that takes place before every match.  The Ram muay ceremony usually lasts about five minutes and expresses respect to the fighter’s instructor and Master, as well as to the guardian spirit of Thai boxing.  This is done through a series of gestures and body movements performed in rhythm to the ringside musical accompaniment of Thai oboe (pìi) and percussion.  Each boxer works out his own dance, in conjunction with his trainer and in accordance with the style of the particular camp.

The woven headbands and armbands worn into the ring by fighters are sacred ornaments; the headband is removed after the Ram muay ceremony, but the armband, which contains a small Buddha image, is worn throughout the match. The musicians continue to play throughout the match and the volume and tempo of the music rise and fall along with the events in the ring.

Coloured belts denoting training ranks, such as those issued by karate schools, do not exist in Muay Thai.  As one well known Muay Thai trainer has said, “The only belts Thai boxers are concerned with are the Lumpini Stadium and the Ratchadamnoen Stadium championship belts”.  Lumpini and Ratchadamnoen, both in Bangkok, are Thailand’s two main Muay Thai venues.

As Thai boxing has become more popular among Westerners (both spectators and participants) there are increasing numbers of bouts staged for tourists in places like Pattaya, Phuket and Ko Samui.  In these, the action may be genuine but amateurish, and the judging way below par.  Nonetheless, dozens of authentic matches are held every day of the year at the major Bangkok stadiums and in the provinces (there are about 60,000 full time boxers in Thailand), and these are easily sought out.

Several Thai Boxers have gone on to win world championships in international-style boxing.  Khaosai Galaxy, the greatest Asian boxer of all time, chalked up 19 World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight championships in a row before retiring undefeated in December 1991.  At any given time Thailand typically claims five concurrent international boxing champions – usually in the bantamweight and flyweight categories.

Meanwhile in some areas of the country, a pre 1920’s version of Muay Thai still exists.  In North-Eastern Thailand muay boraan is a very ritualised form that resembles tajitquan (t’ai chi) or classical dance in its adherence to set moves and routines.  In pockets of Southern Thailand, fighters practising muay katchii still bind their hands in hemp, and a more localised southern style in Chaiya known as muay chaiya uses the elbows and forearms to advantage.  Each year around the lunar new year (Songkhran) in April, near the town of Mae Sot on the Thai-Myanmar border, a top Thai fighter challenges a Burmese fighter of similar class from the other side of the Moei River to a no-holds barred, hemp-fisted battle that ends only after one of the opponents wipes blood from his body.