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Whilst still very much a sport based in Thailand, Muay Thai Boxing is now gaining acceptance in America and the rest of the western world, with local and international tournaments hosted a lot more frequently. The Thai fighters are very tough opponents to beat due to their technique and conditioning, however the rest of the world is catching up, claiming victories against some of Thai's best.

Modern Muay Thai fights are fought in a ring, very similar to the western boxing matches. Perhaps the most attractive and interesting aspect of Muay Thai is the crowd of spectators that gathers to see a match. With techniques including kicks, punches and the extensive use of knees and elbows, Muay Thai is often referred to as the science of 8 limbs.

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand and it dates back 3000 years Muay Thai was used by the Thai military for unarmed combat training. Many modern Muay Thai fighters have taken up the sport as a career path. I think it has gained such popularity, especially in Thailand, because many Thai national people saw it as a way to make a good living if they were successful at it. You have to remember the average income in Thailand is pretty low, so the attraction to earn a lot more money doing something they love and are good at was strong.

Fighting Strategies of Muay Thai is the first book to reveal actual fighting strategies and tactics as taught in the boxing camps in Thailand. As you may expect, the conditioning regimen in Muay Thai is legendary for its intensity and rigorous demands. This is an age old question; which fighting style is better? Everyone who practices Muay Thai will say Muay Thai is better and the same with Karate.

Muay Thai kickboxing is no longer a man's sport, with many women nowadays coming to boxing gyms to train for fights, get fit, tone up and learn self defense. Muay Thai is not about throwing wild punches. It teaches crisp strikes that are fast and dangerous. If you have watched a Muay Thai fight in real life or on TV, you would know that while Muay Thai is famous for its leg kicks, the great fighters turn to the neck kick for knockout power. The key to beating the opponent in a Muay Thai fight is shin kicks, delivered in roundhouses to the legs, ribs, and head.

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In America there is definitely a fighting art that rules. This art/sport is known as title boxing. Sometimes I hate to simply refer to boxing as a sport, because this automatically makes some individuals dismiss it's techniques as fake. Oh it's just a sport; there fore it's not real. Fair enough. On some level anyway. On the other hand, title boxing is a great fighting art as well. Trust me; I knew a couple amateur boxers and they could hold their own in a street altercation. There was nothing fake about their explosive right hook. It's all in how you train and learn. I am into Chinese boxing a little more than I am title boxing, but I appreciate both. At home I like to hone my boxing skills on a B.O.B. No, this is not some poor guys name, who I keep in my cellar for routine beatings. A B.O.B. is a training aid for title boxing or any martial art. It's a punching bag of sorts. It's actually a step up in my opinion. It looks like a man's upper body, but without the arms. It's made of a rubber-like material that's very durable. Then the base is a heavy duty plastic container you can fill with sand or water. It's perfect for folks who like to train martial arts at home.

One thing you should always remember about title boxing or any fighting art is that they're useless without practice. You will get nowhere if you're a slacker. Your body needs a routine. It requires a memory of skills and applications. This only comes from practicing. So stick those gloves on or tape those hands. It's time to get busy with your title boxing training or whatever art you prefer. This is also a great way to stay fit.

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Part of it was just my natural impulsivity. In some ways, it was as simple as one night deciding that I wanted to learn how to box. Of course, there were more complex motives lying beneath my desire to learn boxing. One of them was the fact that I was a little bit sick of being picked on at school. One kid in particular would always challenge me to fight. He was smaller than me, but much more vicious. I knew that if I could learn boxing, I could take him in a match. That way, I would have more respect at school.

I'm sure that my parents suspected that this was part of my motivation for learning boxing, but nonetheless they supported me. They even bought me a boxing punching bag and gave me Junior boxing lessons. Truth be told, the desire to learn Boxing wasn't just about defending myself and my honor. I wanted to learn boxing because I wanted to be in shape. I wanted to look tough. I wanted people to look at me and understand that I was an unbeatable force.

Most of all, I wanted to learn something that no one else did. A lot of people in my school decided to learn martial arts – it was one of the most popular activities. Nonetheless, few of them ever tried to learn boxing. It had fallen out of favor. It was too brutal, too inelegant, and it required much more training. You could learn martial arts by training an hour or two every week, but if you wanted to learn boxing, you had to be in the gym at least three or four times each week. To me, boxing seemed like a great American sport. It turned out to be a lot of fun too!

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Perhaps one reason why the boxing has continued to draw fans is that there are no boundaries to the sport. Any nation can have their hero to cheer on. And with these, the fan base of the sport is worldwide.

It is also the doing of the marketing geniuses of promoters and organizers of building up the hype on pre-fight periods. This builds up the tension not only between the boxers involved, but to the fans of each side as well. The drama behind an event will surely help in boosting audience attendance, as these fans will be interested on who will eventually win.

With the different weight classes, a boxing fan’s preference can be catered to. Whether one likes to watch the small guys fight, there are the lightweights and featherweights. If one wants to see big men slug it out, toe to toe – we have the heavyweights. And at each division, there is not one that lacks the boxers who can command the attendance of a large crowd.

Certain boxing personalities do give more color to the sport. They make the sport more interesting and at times, more controversial – that many are caught by the charms of such boxers. Such boxers are Ali, Hearns, Hagler, Hollyfield, Tyson, Lewis and lots more. Their personalities have captivated many fans to follow them and their career. And these boxing greats have not failed to please their following.

Perhaps boxing is so popular because of the fact that it never ceases to give quality entertainment to the audience. Sure, there are also those mediocre fights, but such have been classified by fans because of their sound knowledge of the game – because they are able to compare the fight from previous quality and truly entertaining boxing matches. This goes to show, that the sport has not been lacking as well to come up with big time matches that are jaw dropping.

Boxing matches up to these days still have the same charm as these have before. Many are still enjoying the quality of boxing entertainment they see around. Though great boxers in the past could be considered of prime quality than today’s best bets, it would be understandable as they are legends after all.

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Both the men and women have appreciated the boxing events that feature women fighters. These women’s boxing events are a product of the efforts of many who support and believed on the sport – and especially to the Father of Women’s Boxing – Bill Dickson. He gained this title in a featured story by Boxing Illustrated in an October issue in 1980.

The beginnings of women’s boxing can be roughly traced in the 1720s in London where various exhibition matches were held. It was also in the 1970s when some states started to lift the bans for women’s boxing events. There was then issuance of boxing licenses for women and the sanctioning of the bouts.

The first female boxer to have her fight televised was Barbara Buttrick in 1954. Other women’s boxing participants who were the first few to receive licenses were Caroline Svendsen in 1975 in Nevada, Pat Pineda in 1976 in California and Cathy Davis, Jackie Tonawanda & Martin Trimiar in 1978 in New York.

In the year 1979 the original 4 rounds for women’s boxing bouts was increased. In 1987 Marian Trimiar staged a hunger strike, fighting for the rights of women boxing. There was a case in a federal court against USA Boxing’s policy, which eventually went for the benefit of Dallas Malloy to be able to box. In October of 1993, USA Boxing implemented new policies for women’s amateur boxing.

All these, and many more events and efforts in the history of women boxing in the ring, have paved the way for what the sport is today – and how it has grown since then. Perhaps, one of the most popular women’s boxing fights was that of Laila “She-Bee Stingin” Ali versus Jacqui Frazier. The fathers of both were also archrivals during their times. Ali won the 8-rounder bout and was found to be entertaining by many.

Women boxing inside the ring are considered to be normal in these days and times – and such bouts have been accepted by many. Many of the women’s boxing bouts have proved to be exciting and entertaining – proving to the world that women definitely deserve a place in the boxing world.

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1920’s boxing also saw the most colorful characters in history. Almost everyone then has heard of William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey and how he dominated both inside and the outside of the ring with an explosive attitude and a relentless skill in the ring. And Filipinos have reason to rejoice with their cult icon Pancho Villa, who stood only 5 feet tall but was regarded as the best flyweight puncher in the whole world. Of course, with the recent film Cinderella Man by Miramax, many have known who James Walter Braddock was.

1920’s boxing really have shown a wealth of superstars, who, barring natural circumstances (like age and death), can make a substantial challenge with today’s superstar. That is because unlike soccer football, unlike basketball, unlike any other sport, boxing has centuries to evolve, and even still, the latent skills that every boxing legend has displayed on the ring, in his time are purely his own. As much as technique and team play is critical in other team sport, boxing is a test of character, of personality, of gritty determination. And the 1920’s boxing has wealth to show on that.

For the personalities of 1920’s boxing, here’s a few of the best known:

“Jack” Dempsey
(June 24, 1895 – May 31, 1983)

Jack Dempsey was a showman in every sense. Just like Muhammad Ali, Jack loved attention, and he matched it with a heavy hitting fist and a colorful personality. He was an American boxer who, during his prime held world heavyweight title from 1919 and 1926, known then as the “Manassa Mauler”, for his love in initiating bar brawls where everyone would place a wager on any fighter.

Jack Dempsey was one of the 1920’s boxing great, and one of the most loved athletes during this era. And his book, written post boxing, was praised as being the finest treatise on boxing. The title is Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defence, which was published in 1950.

The Cinderella Man
(June 7, 1905 – November 29, 1974)

He was called the Cinderella Man because he was, unlike most boxing greats, a relative failure at the start of his pro career. His record then was 34-5-7 and when he lost to Tommy Loughran. He went further into decline, following the Great Depression he had to stop fighting to support his family since winning only a handful won‘t be enough to support his family.

On 1934, he had a second chance to redeem his status, though many didn’t see it that way. James Braddock won the greatest upset victory on June 14, 1934, which would culminate to numerous winning achievements including the World Heavyweight Champ Max Baer.

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But to give credit to an awe-inspiring character, Don King was the face of boxing in the 1970s and 1980s. No other promotions was as successful as he, that even the sanctioning body on which Don King worked for was, some would say, ready to bend rules. And again, the WBC boxing history shows several credence to such charge.

Like when Leon Spinks won the WBC Heavyweight Championship Belt from Muhammad Ali on 1978 in one of the greatest upset in WBC boxing history. He was, after the victory, slated to fight another WBC contender Ken Norton. But Leon Spinks opted to go for a rematch against Ali for the WBA title defense, of which he had stripped Ali prior the defense. Of course it was only natural for WBC to strip Spinks of the title, but when one considers that Norton was a Don King promotion, and the fight between Larry Holmes versus Ken Norton was another Don King promotion, it wasn’t hard to guess where the strings lead.

Don King had an unmatched eye for talent. And not only that, he can foresee the future hype. Maybe that’s how he managed to convince WBC to give his fighters freedom from the mandatory defense title, because he knows that his fighters would be winners for years to come, not in terms of boxing matches but of promotions and advertisements.

It seems that those boxers that flourish under Don King are lucky than most, because King would be there to take care of them. And it happened so many times in the course of the WBC boxing history: from Ali to Tyson, his influence on the sanctioning body was felt. Just like Mike Tyson’s battle and controversial loss to James “Buster” Douglas, whom many have considered one of the biggest upsets of WBC boxing history. Due to the ‘long count’ incident, the WBC refused to hand Buster Douglas the title. Later, amidst intense media scrutiny, WBC would give Buster Douglas the title.

The most atrocious foul committed in the WBC boxing history was without Don King however, it was of corruption. Roy Jones, Jr. was a boxing hero around the 90s, and he punctuated it with wins. It was in early 1998 when Roy Jones, Jr. would decide to give up his WBC Light Heavyweight Title. Soon to follow were splurges of lucrative championship matches to fill the vacancy, until at last it was Graciano Rocchigiani who won the WBC belt.

It was surprisingly short lived, when in a climatic turn of events, WBC rescind the title when Jones rethink and requested to be reinstated as champion. And to the astonishment of all, WBC granted the return, due to a more lucrative defense matches that were to follow.

And came WBC’s near dissolution when Rocchigiani filed a strong lawsuit that would cost them $31 million in damages, though Rocchigiani had to settle for an undisclosed sum.

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Thai boxing has certain rituals before a fight. It has the Wai Kru and the Ram Muay – these are done prior the actual fight. The Thai boxing fighters also wear armbands called Pra Jiad. They believe it gives them good luck and will gain confidence by wearing one.

The sport of Thai boxing is very exciting to watch as the fighters here are very well conditioned and will make full use of their body to unleash a devastating blow. Traditional Thai boxing was even fiercer than today’s competition - as in the past, each would exchange devastating blows until one bows done to the much stronger opponent. In contemporary fighting events, these have now become less popular and have evolved to a game of technique and strategy.

Such events are very pleasing to watch with the many striking options available. They have the knee strikes as Kao Dode (jumping knee strikes), Kao Loi (flying knee strike), Kao Tone (straight knee strike), etc. These knee strikes would perhaps amaze the audience and even other practitioners of other forms of martial arts - so would the elbow strikes that can be used in around seven ways.

Some would even consider Thai boxing as a brutal and fatal sport. Not many are able to stand up to such a sport and are willing to engage in such, which many consider to be dangerous events.

Thai boxing practitioners focus heavily on conditioning to become extremely strong, gain high endurance levels and transform into effective fighters for such high level events. With such excellent body conditioning, these Thai boxing fighters are able to show a good fight to the audience and strike fear in the eyes of other martial artists.

Some who are involved in mixed martial arts competitions make it a point to train in the art of Thai boxing as they believe this will give them the edge over the other competitors. This training will improve their stand up skills and will be able to give their opponent a good beating.

Especially those who are good in ground combat as judo, wrestling and jiu jitsu will try to improve their over-all fighting skills with some form of training in Thai boxing or a mellowed-version in kickboxing - making them the total and ultimate fighter in mixed martial arts events.

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