[steve@thaib]

Bryan.

If I struck the wrong note then I apologise, I've gotten pretty tired of personal arguments around here and don't want to get into another one, So I will ignore the personal stuff. I don't agree with you though.

Do I know what I'm talking about? Well, I trained in kickboxing for several years and fought competitively at a decent level. I was runner-up in the North West (UK) Open Championship in 1990 (lost to one of my instructors in the final) and also trained in Muay Thai under one of Master Sken's fighters.

I didn't last long at the Muay Thai but I do believe that I have at least something of an understanding of the sport. I also believe that I have earned the right to an opinion so, surprise surprise, I have one.

I should also say that I'm a boxing fan, not a critic. It takes some balls to step into any fight arena and I admire all that do it, irrespective of whether I agree with them or not.

To your actual points:

Amateur boxing is super safe, they wear massive head guards and comedy gloves. I can't see how anybody could possibly get hurt in amateur boxing. Thai boxing is a different world and just doesn't bear any comparison at all.

Western boxing, particularly over the last couple of decades, has become a pretty safe sport as well. The medics at ringside get oxygen to KOd fighters almost instantly, and as I understand it it's the lack of oxygen that causes the damage to the brain at those times. There just is not that kind of facility ringside in Thailand.

I don't believe that we will ever see a Gerald Mclellan or a Michael Watson again, and boxing is all the better for it. If two guys want to beat the crap out of each other you can generally sell me a ticket, but I don't want to see one of them beaten to death you know?

Your idea is 'abstract' in that, whilst in an obscure set of circumstances you may have a point, the reality is different. If two guys are stood side by side and pummeled into unconciousness then the one who gets knocked out clean could well suffer less long term damage; I can see that.

But, if he then goes and fights again next week and the same thing happens, and the week after and the week after that it happens too, then his long term prospects diminish. The point I am making is that the lack of medical supervision, brain scans and enforced layoffs after KOs etc, puts them at a much higher risk in the long run regardless of the short term benefit of a clean KO.

I don't believe that the notion that Thai boxing is safer than Western boxing can be supported.