With apologies to over worked moderators for getting involved in an old thread that has been dredged up......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryan
Muay Thai fighter chiming in here:
The risk of brain damage in Thai boxing is lower than in Western boxing (keep in mind Westerners put their kids in hockey, American football, etc, which have higher career ending injury incidence rates than boxing). The reason is that Western boxing has larger gloves and restricts the fight to the waist and up.
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Sorry Bryan, but that just doesn't wash.
Muay Thai is a brutal sport, and the thin gloves plus coconut shell box really don't make it safe.
I kind of, sort of, take the point that it's better for the brain if a fighter is knocked out cleanly rather bashed around repeatedly over a period of time but your argument that it's safer just doesn't stack up.
1 What about the fights that go the distance? Plenty of them do.
2 Elbows and knees are just connections for limb extremeties in western boxing. How much damage is inflicted by an elbow or knee to a head in Muay Thai?
3 At all the shows I have been to in Thailand I have never seen any sort of medical staff or facilities. I've seen guys knocked spark out and carried out 'leg-and-wing' style, and the only medical equipment is a slap round the face and a cold sponge.
In western boxing matches there are good medics on hand instantly, get knocked out in Thailand and you had better be a tuk-tuk ride away from the hospital and have a mate around to take you.
There is a bit of sense in what you say, but only in the most abstract way.