Bangkok: Muay Thai

To continue what I started in the Philippines (violent arena sports) I decided to go check out some of the famous Thai Boxing, a.k.a. Muay Thai, in Bangkok. A friend who I met volunteering in the Philippines is doing a work/study program in Bangkok, so he came along.

It was interesting…not as violent as say UFC. Fights were 3-5 rounds. No one got knocked out b/c refs would generally stop the fight before it got to that. However, knees and kicks are fully allowed as is grabbing (the Muay Thai clinch) and hitting. To prepare for this, the boxers train 12 hours a day everyday (from what I gathered). …not an easy life and the careers don’t seem to last too long. All fighters were quite young…teenages I’d guess. One of my tuk tuk drivers claimed to be a former champion…guess it didn’t pay off.