Jab

If you're looking to get in shape and learn to "lay someone out", boxing is the way to go. I know you don't want to get hit, but in reality, no fighting discipline you can train in for years and never take flush punch to the face can really do you a whole lot of good in the streets. You have your odd 80 year old sensei that can do push-ups on one finger, but no Martial art will get you in to the kind of shape that boxing will. As for street fighting, it's not so much the technique that will help you, but being used to being in a fighting situation and being strong and in shape. Also, you never know how good you'll be until you try and apply yourself. You may have talent, and be able to have a serious career. Don't get your hopes up tho.

Often times you hear people make fun of martial arts and their lack of practical use. I have a theory as to why Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu etc, don't appear to be as useful as they were made out to be in "ancient times". I've read that when those dirty Spaniards invaded South America, the average height of a conquistador was around 5'1. This leads me to believe that the average height of a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean martial artist 300-500 years ago was around 4'8 at the most. Asians also are known to have light thin bone structure that isn't made to carry excess muscle. So they probably weighed somewhere in the area of 85 - 100 lbs with thin, 'ripped', Bruce Leesque physiques. Smaller people are more adept at balance and tend to have better technique at fighting than larger people. Look at boxing. Your average flyweight boxer is technically far superior to your average heavyweight. Martial artists of this time were also very dedicated. This leads me to believe fighters of this time were extremely quick with tight, economical movement in executing techniques. A persons reflexes and speed do not adjust accordingly with a persons size. Therefore, two of these smaller fighters are not as able to "see each other coming" as todays larger, slower, clumsier fighters. If a modern fighter were to attack some one on the street with some sort of spinning kick, he would leave himself wide open. Unless he has blinding speed (relative to who he's attacking) this is not a practical move. He would get cracked in the back of the head if his opponent was atleast as fast as he was. But the Asians of the past could get away with these tekniks because they were too fast to be countered as consistently. When people of today found these techniques difficult to use they wrote them off as being useless.

I read Veerapol Sahaprom was a 3 division Muay Thai champ. He's about 30 now, and he's the best bantum-weight boxer in the world.

What can you tell me about the following fighters Muay Thai careers? Veerapol Sahaprom Saman Sorjaturong Pichit Siriwat Chana Porpaoin I may be wrong about some of them being Muay Thai fighters. How good were they? What were their strengths and weaknesses? What Muay Thai fighter would you say has been the most successful boxer? Any response would be appreciated.