Im trying to combine my boxing with some muay tai....

[bushido_man96]

That would be a nice mix. Its hard to see that Boxing clinch without those big gloves on, but when I visualize it without those gloves, I do see lots of possibilities arise.

[scohen.mma]

the stances are similar, and they both use a lot of hip/shoulder movement. GREAT combination to have.

[chrissyp]

From what my knowledge and personal training, having fought both and trained in both Muay Thai and boxing is this: Train the ARTS seperately AND together. Here is why.

For the people saying "you don't need boxing, muay thai has boxing in it"...this statement isn't completely correct

What muay thai has(and im saying traditional style muay thai) is kicking, knees, elbows, clinches, with some PUNCHING, not boxing...the way they train and fight, has less focus on hands, and is TRADITIONALY fought in a more straight forward style...There is always exception to the rules, but i'll get to that in moment.

The ART of boxing, TRUE boxing, involves a LOT finess; head movement, footwork slipping, duck, bobbing weaving, as well as throwing combinations of hands in various, and more complex combinations, with all these fundementals in unison.

the problem with boxing, is that some of the finess and finer points of it, aren't practical for kickxboing. You can't slip, bob/weave/ ext in muay thai like you can in boxing do to knees, clinch and kicks....

BUT, as I said, you can't use those techniques JUST LIKE in boxing, but can be ADAPTED very well into kickboxing/muay thai.

One of my favorite fighters, Giorgio Petrosayn is a fantastic example of someone who uses those techniques perfectly with muay thai very effectively.

Now, on the other side of the coin, take Dutch kickboxing, which is what you see a lot of k-1 fighters use, they're heavy on boxing combinations and throwing legs kicks with them, ala Ernesto hoost, this is what I think most people see when they see kickboxing/muay thai. The reason they fight like this is cause of its origins of combining traditional boxing with kyokushin.

TRUE boxing can add a lot to your kickboxing/muay thai game... it's learning to use it and apply effectively is where the difficutly most fighters have.

[sensei8]

The fist is the fist no matter the labels we attach to them and/or how we use them.

Edited January 20, 2013 by sensei8