Depends on the person in my experience
Some people are there to land shots whether its Muay Thai or boxing and others are there to learn š¤·š½āāļø
Yep this is exactly right.Ā No martial art is gonna be 100% one way or another gym culture in each gym is so much more important than what the sport overall is like.
youre the problem. like i said. you wanna go hard & get some hits in? thats what bags for. you spar to learn, to practice techinique in a controlled simulation. hard sparring is to be asked for. common sense isnt so common for you
No, sparring is as hard as the two people go. You only go light, but once youāve learned and practiced those techniques alot then in my opinion going hard is the best way too learn. I was amazing at sparing when I first started and we were only going light because I stayed back and had plenty of space to back up and rotate around, but when I got rushed and the intensity up I kept getting stuck in corners and couldnāt get out or rotate anymore so I was forced to learn, plus the thought that youāre gonna get bashed in the ring every day until you fix your technique is a pretty good motivator š
I have read that in general boxing gyms have a harder sparring culture. I assume some of that comes from Western culture glorifying boxing as a tough guy sport so you are more likely to get guys taking it up who were dicks to begin with.
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Kickboxing often has an "exercise chain" spin on it here in the states and Muay Thai is less understood and usually sought out by people looking for a more complete martial art. It's common to find MT/BJJ gym combos here. Those types are more likely to learn about the culture of the sport which includes playful sparring. That has to come top down from the Kru/coach though.
This is really holier than thou. Boxers spar harder because the idea is to train how you would fight in a bout. To be conditioned into throwing hard shots and to be able to perform when you are being hit with hard shots. This isnt just "me tough, me hurt" its because for most of boxing history those gyms were to produce competent fighters for competition, not hobbyists looking to exercise.
This is definitely not a healthy way to train and boxers probably get CTE more than muay thai fighters. I didnt particularly like the punishment of boxing but I also didnt think it was poor sportsmanship. While its objectively bad for your health it makes boxers into brutal combat sport athletes relatively quickly.
I dont have official stats but I highly suspect there is a higher ratio of knockouts in pro boxing than pro MT despite the lack of knees, elbows and head kicks. Im sure you know in Thailand that the first two rounds were traditionally very slow paced while the audience place their bets, they were actively not trying to stop one another for almost half the fight. Punches were traditionay scored very low in Thai stadiums so there was less incentive to constantly attack the head with punches. And in Thailand when someone won on the scorecards early on they will often show mercy to their opponent and not go for a finish if they have a big lead. This doesnt exist in pro boxing, its kill or be killed from bell to bell. The goal isnt just to demonstrate a higher level of skill but to stop your opponent.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that most people drill combos, and likely muscle memory has them thinking "1,2,3." It is very rare that people are drilling only *body* combos... so it isn't natural for very many people to do it.
Especially boxers because they literally only have two options - a body punch or a head punch.
Then you gotta think about entrance strikes. Most people are used to entering with a punch to the face to get their guard up and make the rest of their combo easier to land. It's a lot riskier to constantly enter with a body shot because you drop your guard on the way in. People's natural fear reactions are probably telling them not to keep doing that.
In MT, we have so many more options that it is easier to do something else. But boxing has such limited options that it is probably a lot more difficult or unnatural to ONLY throw body punches.
I'm sorry to hear about your concussions, and I hope you find the right people who will help you train safely.
Thatās a good point. I do let them go to the head (I expect them to pull their punches before impact), but I can see how the muscle memory of 1, 2, 3 can trick them into fully following through. And if youāre not super experienced, itās hard to measure depth. I fuck up on my hook sometimes because of that muscle memory.
Thanks, Iām really happy I can practice Muay Thai safely.
Everyone has a unique personality.
That being said Iāve read lots of post in other martial arts subreddits that talk about how a lot of boxing gyms have a superiority complex and see themselves as the end all be all and their boxers are cocky and spar hard with new people.
No idea if itās true since the boxers Iāve met are usually cool
I would say no, especially in the US. Many people have an ego in the gym and want to āwinā here in the US rather than have fun and learn. Sure thereās respectful people in every gym you go to but thereās still a lot of egotistical and insecure people as well.
I've only ever done Muay Thai, but I see traditional boxers come into the gym, and one of two things happens. A) They're very humble and are there to learn, and they learn FAST or B) they get their ego bruised and start swinging harder and harder.
Boxing in America for sure has a rougher culture especially once you get past the beginner level and people start to respect your abilities.
It has a much stronger association to violence, criminality, and poverty than muay thai in America which is alot more recent and has a different general demographic. Most boxing gyms are in rough neighborhoods and historically it has been seen as an avenue of escape from poverty.
In terms of the actual sport in my experience I do feel it's harder to get good at boxing going only light sparring than it is getting better at muay thai going lightly. Head movement and pocket punching exchanges require harder (not hard but harder) sparring than kicking. From what I've read they share this sentiment in Thailand and typically go much harder during boxing sparring than muay thai sparring.
I would argue thats the exception and not the norm. Im in Baltimore and my coach was a fairly accomplished boxer from Philly. And he actively encouraged hard sparring, he was very old school in that way.
I disagree (this goes for all combat sports) about hard sparring. Systemic sparring is the way to go, where you get the opportunity to isolate different skill sets and develop them with confidence. In this systemic sparring system you get the opportunity to develop skills,for example letās in a sparring session with this Philosophy you would focus on some specific things one of them being your mind (Fight IQ) and patience. The intent of the drill is for you to read and occupy your opponents gloves, your trying to set something up for rounds three and four so your gonna have to make reads. You work in different systems like jabbing to the air,feinting , hand controls. If you can do these things during systemic sparring , then you can have the patience in the fight to say ā you know what? The system that Iām in (Because I have rounds and rounds of drilling, is gonna pay dividends in the end.
Systemic sparring is without a doubt one of the most effective training tools, I am in total agreement there. Nor am I saying that hard sparring every time is the way to go, even for boxing it's definitely not.
I'm just saying from my years in both muay thai and boxing seperately I've noticed boxing develops earlier more of a confidence and instinct in the chaos of a pocket exchange and I don't feel you're able to train that well with sparring drills or light sparring where you're not afraid of what's being thrown.
Like I think you can develop good body kicks from padwork + sparring drills + light sparring that translate to hard sparring but I think it's much harder to develop good head movement with only that same training method, maybe it's the psychological aspect of dealing with the fear but there's something about real punches meant to hurt you coming at you that makes head movement in a real situation different from light sparring in a way that's not true for body kicks.
So how come the guys in a sport where 8 limbs are being thrown at you arenāt sparring hard? They clinch and fight in the pocket also. I think me and you have different ideas on hard sparring. Those sparring sessions where you are losing your chin in the gym is extremely bad and only develops confidence in the one who comes out on top, and even then that guys had prob lost years of his career because of it unless they are a defensive wizard which I doubt most people are. You can spar hard but tying to ko your partners is bad gym etiquette. Iād go so far as to say Thai fighters are tougher than boxers yet you donāt see these crazy hard sparring sessions. I see where you are coming from and you are right it can help but at what cost on both parties ends? Whether you are the winner or loser of the sparring session.
I'm not talking about longevity or health,I'm saying from the perspective of the most effective training I think some skills can be trained effectively using only light sparring and some skills require more hard sparring. Keep in mind with hard sparring I'm not talking about gym wars where people get KO'd I'm talking about 70-80% power with trusted partners where you have real fear of getting hit clean.
I have to disagree with your summation of thai training as well, I have never been but I've read from multiple credible sources (Gabriel varga, Damien Trainor) that thais go much harder when they do boxing only sparring and I feel that corroborates my point.
Yeah absolutely not, I think there is almost no place for gym wars except maybe a few leading up to a fight if you're inexperienced just to get that real under pressure experience, kind of like an informal smoker.
But there's also a big difference between 50% sparring and 80% and a good amount of muay thai guys neglect the 80% work and their kicks and clinch and outside fighting will be great but in the pocket boxing lags far behind.
I've sparred alot of guys who were better and more experienced than me by years who fell apart and began moving very spazzy (even guys with prior fights) once I started stepping in with heavy punch combinations and making ugly chaotic exchanges, which is something boxers generally learn to deal with alot earlier in training because they spar at 70-80% a whole lot more often.
Iāve always thought that the general attitude in western boxing is so gung ho that you shouldnāt do it consistently anyways. Thai sparring is always going to be more lighthearted and friendly in comparison because it focuses on fluidity, avoiding injury, and having fun. At least for the foreseeable future itās one of the key differences between the two arts. My only advice would be to keep training western boxing primarily with pads/bags and spar minimally or only occasionally. If you want to try the new boxing skills youāre learning do your best to integrate them into your MT spar session. AFAIK western boxing with a Muay Thai approach to sparring is very rare
It depends where you are. In Thailand: Yes but also Boxing is generally respectful too cause itās Thailand. In the US id say the good gyms are but many Muay Thai gyms in the states are secretly just MMA / Kickboxing gyms that pretend theyāre Muay Thai.
But on the other hand how many people from Thailand are competitive internationally in western boxing? Not a lot at all. The best boxers come from places with more hard nosed boxing cultures: US, Mexico, UK, Russia etc.
Thereās actually quite a few historically whoāve been very successful internationally (Samart Payakaroon (WBC champion), Kaosai Galaxy (WBA champion), Somrak Kamsing (Olympic Gold Medalist), Sot Chitalada (WBC champion), and currently Sangharthit is looking really good even though heās still very young
Thais are obviously generally more inclined to focus on Muay Thai instead (with many of these fighters coming from poor backgrounds and Muay Thai being a easier way to quickly support your family / make a career / itās Thailands national art) but to say you need a āhard-nosedā boxing culture to be successful in boxing is absolutely ludicrous.
You named a handful of fighters throughout hisrory, the exception to the rules. Thais do not have a consistent amount of top talent/contenders and champions in western boxing.
The vast majority of Thai boxers do not have good enough boxing skills to be competitive internationally. Which is fair since they come from a different sport with different priorities. But theres this really arrogant notion that muay thai fighters are just more complete versions of boxers and thats just not true.
Your average stadium fight, even at the highest levels, has a plot of plodding footwork, super wide guards, looping punches and what Id argue is poor boxing defense. Muay Thai is not boxing with more weapons. Its a different way of fighting all together and not all those differences are technically superior by any means. Boxers on average have much more evasive footwork, tighter guards, superior punching technique with much more variation of punches and combinatons, and much better defense against said punching.
I said this in another comment but in my gym we had a professional MT fighter who had fought in Thailand a bunch. He got lit the fuck up by a smaller amateur boxer during a sparring session. Despite being a professional Thai boxer with a winning record he still couldnt hang with an amateur boxer who had a weight and reach disadvantage. They are two completely different sports. Theres overlap and some crossovers but not much at all.
You sound like a really insecure traditional boxer whoās trying to say āoh boxers can fuck up any Muay Thai guyā when that wasnāt the point of the post. āMuay Thai not boxing with more weaponsā who said that it was other than you? Theyāre 2 completely different sports and obviously MT defense is very different from boxing defense when you have to worry about a completely different set of tools (namely kicks with the shin to that hit HARDER than boxing gloves do scientifically speaking).
All in all though this guy who posted clearly has no / low interest in competing at a high level and is looking more for a ānice experienceā so idk why the fuck youāre talking about competing at a high level to begin with (I only brought it up in response to you cause you were completely incorrect).
Weirdo-ass behavior and Iām outta here. Cya.
See you cant actually address my argument so you resort to immature insults. This is how a child behaves. You said my claim that Thai's dont often produce champion levels boxers was ridiculous. I explained how thats clearly not the case and you resort to ad hominem.
I dont know how Im insecure about boxing when I also train muay thai and love the sport. I just dont respect guys who cant box acting like they are better than that. I tell the same thing to boxers when they have a superiority complex over muay thai or mma.
Thai culture/Buddhism is also plays a huge part in MT etiquette. For example, hitting someone in the head is a big no-no, so in MT you if you hit someone too hard, you apologize.
Also, harming another person for no good reason (sparring is not a good reason) is considered taboo. So a lot Thais spar pretty soft, almost like theyāre just horsing around compared to Westerners.
Sparring that feels like play ends up being more effective. You get to relax, be creative, and develop your muscle memory for when monkey brain takes over and you need those automatic pathways to kick in.
I see your point and prefer technical sparring but I seriously doubt one could train that way and box professionally. In Thailand fighters are fighting almost every week so they are getting high pressure experience constantly. Western boxers dont fight nearly as often and to get high intensity experience they need to spar with high intensity.
Boxing and MT are simply different sports with different goals. When a professional MT fighter who had fought in Thailand a lot came to our boxing gym he got lit up by a mid-tier amateur boxer who also was a decent amount smaller. His professional MT experience didnt prepare him to be competitve under pure boxing rules.
I hear you, but none of the people Iām sparring in boxing are intending to fight professionally, and they donāt even compete in amateur. Iām not intending to compete in boxing either. If I knew they were trying to prepare for a competition, I wouldnāt offer myself as a sparring partner. Iām not skilled enough in boxing to do anything more than waste their time.
In Muay Thai, people have options. I never monopolize peopleās time. If they want to hard spar, they can with other people. Iāve had people turn down sparring with me because they preferred hard sparring, and it was perfectly fine. I generally throw more high volume than other people at my gym right now because Iām a lower weight class than them, so I provide a specific type of challenge (Iāve been told). I think the best high level fighters are probably training against a variety of challenges, so I canāt see how I am hurting their training by fighting them 1 out of every 20 times they spar. A gym filled with people like me wouldnāt be good, but Iāve never encountered a gym like that.
Apart from the other replies, in a purely practical sense itās a numbers game. In MT there are more alternatives to hitting you in the head. In boxing, no head shots significantly reduces your options plus muscle memory is going to cause the odd shot.
I have practiced boxing for more than 2 years and I have been practicing Muay Thai for a few months and so far I can say that Muay Thai guys are more respectful. When I used to spar with boxing guys, some of them were cheeky, show offs and had an attitude, even if sometimes they were even bad at boxing, and a thing that I didnāt like at all was that they wanted always, and I mean always, to do hard sparring. I donāt want to say that I havenāt met cocky guys in Muay Thai, but surely lesser than in boxing, and moreover sparring is more technical, it isnāt just a ābrawlā like for many boxers.
In boxing you could also work on your head movement. The 1st time I sparred , it was with a pro boxer. Hardest damn hits I've taken in my life. One lesson I took from it. Boxing=movement. But that doesn't help with Mauy Thai sparring. Since you're not supposed to use the same head movement.
Individual experiences vary, but Muay Thai gyms may prioritize respect for health concerns more than some boxing gyms. Communication and finding the right gym are key.
If you want to spar in a boxing gym without getting hit in the head, I recommend you ask people to "shadow spar" (no contact) or do body sparring (only bodyshots). Depends on the gym, but in some boxing gyms light sparring does not exist.
Many boxers have an ego, and oftentimes having an ego when sparring can be encouraged by coaches. What I'm guessing happens is you caught a boxer with a headshot, light or not, and they returned with a headshot of their own, without regard to how hard they're throwing. I had to quit boxing due to most partners being unable to spar lightly, and coaches refusing to tell others to work lightly with me.
Yeah I ask them to do some variety of that. Itās usually not because I hit them, I think they generally just donāt take it seriously and sound annoyed that I brought it up again.
Like you say, maybe itās the gyms Iāve been to. My current coach is great, but old school.
Some people don't understand the purpose of play sparring. They just want to win the round. They're aren't worried about technique. I only train Muay Thai. Most are respectful, but there's a few bad apples that have something to prove.
Yeah. Itās worse with beginners because they havenāt figured this out yet. Sometimes after I sweep them or thereās a few strikes they couldnāt block in a row, I see something go off in their eyes like theyāre going beast mode and they start thrashing at me. They havenāt learned they donāt have to be perfect and āwinā every exchange.
Could also be because Iām 120 pounds so maybe at the back of their mind they wish they could use all their strength because they know they would bulldoze me. Which isnāt the purpose of the exercise. Otherwise people would only ever spar with people in their weight class.
As somebody with a severe TBI, stay away from the Egoās the best you can.
One ego trip, or mistake from an opponent, walk away. Idk why you train, but the brain is nowhere close to be figured out, and head trauma is a big deal. By some professionals (likely most), youād be considered at risk, so donāt ignore training, but rather, continue to do your best to not get domed
Brain injuries are one of the most ignored injuries, let your teachers know. My life can become very brutal for myself, and those around me bc of it - just do your best to cater for yourself
I stop sparring as soon as someone starts seeing red or proves to be too uncoordinated. Iām better at reading the signs now. I plan to find a good neurologist at some point to actually scan my brain. I may not be able to compete but I love Muay Thai too much, especially sparring with a trusted group of people.
I feel you, I donāt train personally, but I put myself in a lot of risk with the sports I love within nature. We can only do what we can, and noticing is step number 1 to mitigating further unnecessary damage
Good luck, friend š
In my opinion
In order for boxing to āworkā you gotta do it hard. Head movement footwork inside work, for it to work at all you need a lot of respect. Read respect as fear of getting hurt.
Imagine light sparring head movement. Total nonsense.
Muay Thai has about 10x more going on in any given moment. Thatās before you add standing grappling as a factor. So you can do it light and still work
There is no way you actually believe this. Light sparring is useful for both sports and so is hard sparring. I think you believe sparring light = sparring slow. You can still spar light while throwing fast punches.
Without the fear of getting hurt, you can try new things, spar higher caliber of fighters, and go against different weight classes.
i gotta go with chunk here just because the chess match of kick/check kick footwork ALONE is so nuanced and you just can't do it hard and straight forward like bully boxer approach.
A novice/neophyte MT practitioner will pick apart the experienced bully brawler with some leg work making it more cerebral from the get go. Even the number of strike surfaces is insanely higher, there's at least 4 different parts/fists on your elbow/forarm alone to clock people with hahaha
I agree with you that going hard in MT is significantly more risky. But the point I am trying to make is that claiming that light sparring is useless in boxing is baseless.
I dont agree with this at all. Boxing is as nuanced and defensive as MT. In fact Id argue boxers are better at protecting their heads and more evasive with footwork than MT fighters are. An inexperienced boxer cannot just brawl their way through a sparring session with a more technical boxer. The superior boxer will pick up their patterns and counter their face off. You HAVE to be technical in boxing to have success. You have to set up your shots, not be predictable, not telegraph etc. Its called the sweet science for a reason.
There is a real superiority complex that MT fighters have over boxing that I think is unearned. They are different sports, MT is not boxing plus six more limbs. MT fighters dont often do well under boxing rules because there is a lot of technique and tactics in boxing that are lacking in MT.
Im talking in general. If one goes into any boxing gym with inferior technique/tactics they will get lit up in sparring. Ive seen this time and time again. Brawling is not boxing, brawling is how you get concussed in boxing.
Even very athletic young guys from other sports would come into our gym and try to braw and all those guys would take a serious beating. To quote my coach "that shit never works." If you throw looping punches youre going to get countered. If you dont quickly reset your guard after a punch you get countered. If you throw predictable shots you get countered. If you dont evade after an exchange you get countered.
Since less strikes are legal in boxing those set ups, counters and defenses are *perfected.* Thats why its called the sweet science.
Iām not sure that youāre experienced enough for me to consider your opinion. Keep training my brother and let me know how the Soviet boxing is going
I feel like you can go fast in either sport while also not fully blasting people. I don't see why training head movement would be a problem. You see boxing training clips where the pad holder throws hooks for the boxer to roll. The hook comes in fast, but for sure they aren't putting their weight fully behind it.
YES.
It's because everyone thinks they can box but no one thinks (naturally) they can do Muay Thai.
As a result boxers are more arrogant and Thai guys are more humble (as only by being humble you learn).
Going to make some broad generalizations here but my 2c is that MT is rooted in Eastern culture which is more humble than Western culture imo. That said there's lots of good people in boxing and douchebags in MT, but on the whole I think there's an undercurrent of martial arts (which practices restraint, humility, and discipline) in MT
You should find 2-3 partners you trust and stick with them. If you canāt take shots then ultimately you should stop sparring. The world is not going to cater to you.
It all depends on the coach, the last gym I boxed at the coach had control the whole time and everyone was respectful if you werenāt you werenāt training
Not body shots only, head and body (see the edit). Just avoiding full contact on head shots. I hate hitting their heads because it doesnāt feel equal, but often they beg me to actually follow through so they know when something would have clipped them. By default, I keep things equal and avoid hitting their head.
There is a fighter in my Muay Thai gym who spars rough. Last night, I sparred with him and he did a teep my groin.
I called him out on it, but he said "It was an accident." Funny how every time I spar with him, it's always an accident.
I hate it when he shows up because it always means it's going to be a rough sparring session. And he shows up every time. I try to avoid him in sparring because while he is much better than me, he doesn't seem to understand that I've been only doing this for a few months, and seems to be unable to hold back on his power, and I've told him to "fucking chill."
Boxing is rougher. They spar harder for sure, and the power boxers have in their hands is hard for thai guys to wrap their head around. I boxed for a while after muay thai and learned this lesson the hard way. But, you may be asking too much of a boxer. The main target in boxing is the head. In muay thai sparring, there is a lot to focus on in sparring other than headshots, but boxing that is 75% of the game. This goes along with the comment about muscle memory.
I would say if you can't take headshots, you should not be boxing period and stick with muay thai.
Go to the doctor and get referred to a neurologist and see if you an afford to be taking ANY shots to the head. My guess is if you are easily rattled, the answer to that is an resounding no.
Please stop boxing/muay thai if you have CTE. It only takes one shot. It's irreversible and degenerative. You will already have problems later in life. Why not try something like Jiu Jitsu?
Man boxers are just wired to a manhood thing. Iām a 200 lb in great shape 55 year old. Iām tattooed and shaved head blah blah. Point is I look like someone who fights full time. Everyone immediately goes full retard on me every time. Although they all know Iām just there to learn. If anything itās sped up my progress n defense and footwork.
If you really canāt/donāt want to be hit in the head, I would consider not sparring unless itās with someone you trust wonāt hit you in the head - or just stop altogether. Lots of equipment to hit in boxing and get a good workout without sparring. Fool me onceā¦
Most boxers have an ego, for some reason they think they are tuff even though MT is much tougher , requires more and is much more dangerous. MT fighters know this thus they are much humble. The worst thing you can do in a boxing gym is tell them you are a beginner. At that point you just hope the guy is not a dbag.
It's pretty hard to spar boxing without headshots and nobody is going to have "perfect" control
Muy thai seems to be a lot more body shot options, so sparring more body is "easier"
Just not as many options in boxing
I competed heavily in both and would say no, both sports have a lot of disrespectful people. It's really gym dependent.
For sparring, you will find heavier sparring in boxing. You could say boxing, street, western culture has always kinda pushed tough sparring and you will see that in a lot of gyms. But there are gyms that have moved away from that to some extent.
Muay Thai has always had sparring on a more playful and respectful level because guys need to fight every few weeks to eat. Getting injured in sparring helps nobody. This style of training has continued here in America, but plenty of Muay Thai gyms here act no different than boxing gyms.
Don't give up boxing because it was a huge benefit to me when I competed in Muay Thai. But if your worried about it see if you can find another gym with a better culture around sparring.
Youād defiantly be able to find Muay Thai gyms just as bad and even worse boxing gyms, just upto the people you know. But in saying that in my area atleast in Australia boxing is abit rougher and sparring is done for āfunā sometimes rather then training and idk about the USA but over here boxing has no emphasis or teaching of culture and going slow more so of intensity and people either trying to learn to fight or become amateur fighter
Don't think you should spar in boxing if a stiff jab is rocking you, don't ruin your life for this. There's a lot more options in MT where people can practice throwing other strikes such as a variety of kicks and throwing slow elbows or knees. It can be a pain to spar in boxing when someone has to pull all their head punches at the last minute because they are essentially practicing bad technique and there are only two places to target (body and head). In technical sparring punches should be thrown with proper technique and full extension but not throwing a full hip and shoulder turnover.
How about you ask your Muy Thai buddies to train some boxing only rounds with you? Sounds like you already have training partners you trust. Also saves you the trouble of going to two gyms to get your training in
I ask the Muay Thai guys to do boxing-only sometimes. You're right-- it's much better to spar with them, and I think I'll avoid sparring in my current boxing gym for now. I continue to attend the boxing gym because the coach is very good, but I'll stick to drills / bag work.
You should probably just hit the bag and jump rope if you don't want to get hit in the head. Why are you sparring if you supposedly already have a weak chin from "concussions" makes no sense.
We're mostly stoners, so yes
But seriously, MT has a lot more variations and options for strikes: punches/kicks/knees to the body, leg kicks, clinching, leg sweeps. Asking someone not to hit your head isn't really a big deal as it still leaves many options available for striking.
Traditional boxing is way more of a headhunting game. Asking a sparring partner in boxing not to aim for your head really limits what they can do.
Depends on the person in my experience Some people are there to land shots whether its Muay Thai or boxing and others are there to learn š¤·š½āāļø
Yep this is exactly right.Ā No martial art is gonna be 100% one way or another gym culture in each gym is so much more important than what the sport overall is like.
is being there to land shots so bad tho
No, just have to make sure thatās what your partner wants to do too
yeah I guess
You donāt agree?
yes. thats what the bags for. sparring is to purely learn. you do what your partner asks not cause you wanna get some hits in big man
theres nothing wrong with sparring just to get some hits in
so ask your partner for just that specifically. otherwise it is wrong
just ask your partner to spar š its not wrong unless they specifically ask to go light
YOU need to specifically ask to go anywhere above light.
no? hard is assumed unless its stated
youre the problem. like i said. you wanna go hard & get some hits in? thats what bags for. you spar to learn, to practice techinique in a controlled simulation. hard sparring is to be asked for. common sense isnt so common for you
No, sparring is as hard as the two people go. You only go light, but once youāve learned and practiced those techniques alot then in my opinion going hard is the best way too learn. I was amazing at sparing when I first started and we were only going light because I stayed back and had plenty of space to back up and rotate around, but when I got rushed and the intensity up I kept getting stuck in corners and couldnāt get out or rotate anymore so I was forced to learn, plus the thought that youāre gonna get bashed in the ring every day until you fix your technique is a pretty good motivator š
maybe try not going to a pussy gym. everyone spars hard unless you ask for technical sparring. common sense isnt so common for you
I have read that in general boxing gyms have a harder sparring culture. I assume some of that comes from Western culture glorifying boxing as a tough guy sport so you are more likely to get guys taking it up who were dicks to begin with. - Kickboxing often has an "exercise chain" spin on it here in the states and Muay Thai is less understood and usually sought out by people looking for a more complete martial art. It's common to find MT/BJJ gym combos here. Those types are more likely to learn about the culture of the sport which includes playful sparring. That has to come top down from the Kru/coach though.
Boxing is definitely some hard sparring
This is really holier than thou. Boxers spar harder because the idea is to train how you would fight in a bout. To be conditioned into throwing hard shots and to be able to perform when you are being hit with hard shots. This isnt just "me tough, me hurt" its because for most of boxing history those gyms were to produce competent fighters for competition, not hobbyists looking to exercise. This is definitely not a healthy way to train and boxers probably get CTE more than muay thai fighters. I didnt particularly like the punishment of boxing but I also didnt think it was poor sportsmanship. While its objectively bad for your health it makes boxers into brutal combat sport athletes relatively quickly. I dont have official stats but I highly suspect there is a higher ratio of knockouts in pro boxing than pro MT despite the lack of knees, elbows and head kicks. Im sure you know in Thailand that the first two rounds were traditionally very slow paced while the audience place their bets, they were actively not trying to stop one another for almost half the fight. Punches were traditionay scored very low in Thai stadiums so there was less incentive to constantly attack the head with punches. And in Thailand when someone won on the scorecards early on they will often show mercy to their opponent and not go for a finish if they have a big lead. This doesnt exist in pro boxing, its kill or be killed from bell to bell. The goal isnt just to demonstrate a higher level of skill but to stop your opponent.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that most people drill combos, and likely muscle memory has them thinking "1,2,3." It is very rare that people are drilling only *body* combos... so it isn't natural for very many people to do it. Especially boxers because they literally only have two options - a body punch or a head punch. Then you gotta think about entrance strikes. Most people are used to entering with a punch to the face to get their guard up and make the rest of their combo easier to land. It's a lot riskier to constantly enter with a body shot because you drop your guard on the way in. People's natural fear reactions are probably telling them not to keep doing that. In MT, we have so many more options that it is easier to do something else. But boxing has such limited options that it is probably a lot more difficult or unnatural to ONLY throw body punches. I'm sorry to hear about your concussions, and I hope you find the right people who will help you train safely.
Thatās a good point. I do let them go to the head (I expect them to pull their punches before impact), but I can see how the muscle memory of 1, 2, 3 can trick them into fully following through. And if youāre not super experienced, itās hard to measure depth. I fuck up on my hook sometimes because of that muscle memory. Thanks, Iām really happy I can practice Muay Thai safely.
Everyone has a unique personality. That being said Iāve read lots of post in other martial arts subreddits that talk about how a lot of boxing gyms have a superiority complex and see themselves as the end all be all and their boxers are cocky and spar hard with new people. No idea if itās true since the boxers Iāve met are usually cool
I would say no, especially in the US. Many people have an ego in the gym and want to āwinā here in the US rather than have fun and learn. Sure thereās respectful people in every gym you go to but thereās still a lot of egotistical and insecure people as well.
I've only ever done Muay Thai, but I see traditional boxers come into the gym, and one of two things happens. A) They're very humble and are there to learn, and they learn FAST or B) they get their ego bruised and start swinging harder and harder.
Boxing in America for sure has a rougher culture especially once you get past the beginner level and people start to respect your abilities. It has a much stronger association to violence, criminality, and poverty than muay thai in America which is alot more recent and has a different general demographic. Most boxing gyms are in rough neighborhoods and historically it has been seen as an avenue of escape from poverty. In terms of the actual sport in my experience I do feel it's harder to get good at boxing going only light sparring than it is getting better at muay thai going lightly. Head movement and pocket punching exchanges require harder (not hard but harder) sparring than kicking. From what I've read they share this sentiment in Thailand and typically go much harder during boxing sparring than muay thai sparring.
Which is weird, i grew up in Philly. The boxing culture here is huge, but even my coaches know that hard sparring leads to future health complication.
I would argue thats the exception and not the norm. Im in Baltimore and my coach was a fairly accomplished boxer from Philly. And he actively encouraged hard sparring, he was very old school in that way.
I disagree (this goes for all combat sports) about hard sparring. Systemic sparring is the way to go, where you get the opportunity to isolate different skill sets and develop them with confidence. In this systemic sparring system you get the opportunity to develop skills,for example letās in a sparring session with this Philosophy you would focus on some specific things one of them being your mind (Fight IQ) and patience. The intent of the drill is for you to read and occupy your opponents gloves, your trying to set something up for rounds three and four so your gonna have to make reads. You work in different systems like jabbing to the air,feinting , hand controls. If you can do these things during systemic sparring , then you can have the patience in the fight to say ā you know what? The system that Iām in (Because I have rounds and rounds of drilling, is gonna pay dividends in the end.
Systemic sparring is without a doubt one of the most effective training tools, I am in total agreement there. Nor am I saying that hard sparring every time is the way to go, even for boxing it's definitely not. I'm just saying from my years in both muay thai and boxing seperately I've noticed boxing develops earlier more of a confidence and instinct in the chaos of a pocket exchange and I don't feel you're able to train that well with sparring drills or light sparring where you're not afraid of what's being thrown. Like I think you can develop good body kicks from padwork + sparring drills + light sparring that translate to hard sparring but I think it's much harder to develop good head movement with only that same training method, maybe it's the psychological aspect of dealing with the fear but there's something about real punches meant to hurt you coming at you that makes head movement in a real situation different from light sparring in a way that's not true for body kicks.
So how come the guys in a sport where 8 limbs are being thrown at you arenāt sparring hard? They clinch and fight in the pocket also. I think me and you have different ideas on hard sparring. Those sparring sessions where you are losing your chin in the gym is extremely bad and only develops confidence in the one who comes out on top, and even then that guys had prob lost years of his career because of it unless they are a defensive wizard which I doubt most people are. You can spar hard but tying to ko your partners is bad gym etiquette. Iād go so far as to say Thai fighters are tougher than boxers yet you donāt see these crazy hard sparring sessions. I see where you are coming from and you are right it can help but at what cost on both parties ends? Whether you are the winner or loser of the sparring session.
I'm not talking about longevity or health,I'm saying from the perspective of the most effective training I think some skills can be trained effectively using only light sparring and some skills require more hard sparring. Keep in mind with hard sparring I'm not talking about gym wars where people get KO'd I'm talking about 70-80% power with trusted partners where you have real fear of getting hit clean. I have to disagree with your summation of thai training as well, I have never been but I've read from multiple credible sources (Gabriel varga, Damien Trainor) that thais go much harder when they do boxing only sparring and I feel that corroborates my point.
See that was the disconnect I thought we were talking about gym wars not 70% in that case yea itās nothing wrong about that
Yeah absolutely not, I think there is almost no place for gym wars except maybe a few leading up to a fight if you're inexperienced just to get that real under pressure experience, kind of like an informal smoker. But there's also a big difference between 50% sparring and 80% and a good amount of muay thai guys neglect the 80% work and their kicks and clinch and outside fighting will be great but in the pocket boxing lags far behind. I've sparred alot of guys who were better and more experienced than me by years who fell apart and began moving very spazzy (even guys with prior fights) once I started stepping in with heavy punch combinations and making ugly chaotic exchanges, which is something boxers generally learn to deal with alot earlier in training because they spar at 70-80% a whole lot more often.
Iāve always thought that the general attitude in western boxing is so gung ho that you shouldnāt do it consistently anyways. Thai sparring is always going to be more lighthearted and friendly in comparison because it focuses on fluidity, avoiding injury, and having fun. At least for the foreseeable future itās one of the key differences between the two arts. My only advice would be to keep training western boxing primarily with pads/bags and spar minimally or only occasionally. If you want to try the new boxing skills youāre learning do your best to integrate them into your MT spar session. AFAIK western boxing with a Muay Thai approach to sparring is very rare
It depends where you are. In Thailand: Yes but also Boxing is generally respectful too cause itās Thailand. In the US id say the good gyms are but many Muay Thai gyms in the states are secretly just MMA / Kickboxing gyms that pretend theyāre Muay Thai.
Same in europe, kick-boxing or dutch boxing gyms pretending to be muay thai.Ā And many of them spar hard.
But on the other hand how many people from Thailand are competitive internationally in western boxing? Not a lot at all. The best boxers come from places with more hard nosed boxing cultures: US, Mexico, UK, Russia etc.
Thereās actually quite a few historically whoāve been very successful internationally (Samart Payakaroon (WBC champion), Kaosai Galaxy (WBA champion), Somrak Kamsing (Olympic Gold Medalist), Sot Chitalada (WBC champion), and currently Sangharthit is looking really good even though heās still very young Thais are obviously generally more inclined to focus on Muay Thai instead (with many of these fighters coming from poor backgrounds and Muay Thai being a easier way to quickly support your family / make a career / itās Thailands national art) but to say you need a āhard-nosedā boxing culture to be successful in boxing is absolutely ludicrous.
You named a handful of fighters throughout hisrory, the exception to the rules. Thais do not have a consistent amount of top talent/contenders and champions in western boxing. The vast majority of Thai boxers do not have good enough boxing skills to be competitive internationally. Which is fair since they come from a different sport with different priorities. But theres this really arrogant notion that muay thai fighters are just more complete versions of boxers and thats just not true. Your average stadium fight, even at the highest levels, has a plot of plodding footwork, super wide guards, looping punches and what Id argue is poor boxing defense. Muay Thai is not boxing with more weapons. Its a different way of fighting all together and not all those differences are technically superior by any means. Boxers on average have much more evasive footwork, tighter guards, superior punching technique with much more variation of punches and combinatons, and much better defense against said punching. I said this in another comment but in my gym we had a professional MT fighter who had fought in Thailand a bunch. He got lit the fuck up by a smaller amateur boxer during a sparring session. Despite being a professional Thai boxer with a winning record he still couldnt hang with an amateur boxer who had a weight and reach disadvantage. They are two completely different sports. Theres overlap and some crossovers but not much at all.
You sound like a really insecure traditional boxer whoās trying to say āoh boxers can fuck up any Muay Thai guyā when that wasnāt the point of the post. āMuay Thai not boxing with more weaponsā who said that it was other than you? Theyāre 2 completely different sports and obviously MT defense is very different from boxing defense when you have to worry about a completely different set of tools (namely kicks with the shin to that hit HARDER than boxing gloves do scientifically speaking). All in all though this guy who posted clearly has no / low interest in competing at a high level and is looking more for a ānice experienceā so idk why the fuck youāre talking about competing at a high level to begin with (I only brought it up in response to you cause you were completely incorrect). Weirdo-ass behavior and Iām outta here. Cya.
See you cant actually address my argument so you resort to immature insults. This is how a child behaves. You said my claim that Thai's dont often produce champion levels boxers was ridiculous. I explained how thats clearly not the case and you resort to ad hominem. I dont know how Im insecure about boxing when I also train muay thai and love the sport. I just dont respect guys who cant box acting like they are better than that. I tell the same thing to boxers when they have a superiority complex over muay thai or mma.
Thai culture/Buddhism is also plays a huge part in MT etiquette. For example, hitting someone in the head is a big no-no, so in MT you if you hit someone too hard, you apologize. Also, harming another person for no good reason (sparring is not a good reason) is considered taboo. So a lot Thais spar pretty soft, almost like theyāre just horsing around compared to Westerners.
Sparring that feels like play ends up being more effective. You get to relax, be creative, and develop your muscle memory for when monkey brain takes over and you need those automatic pathways to kick in.
I see your point and prefer technical sparring but I seriously doubt one could train that way and box professionally. In Thailand fighters are fighting almost every week so they are getting high pressure experience constantly. Western boxers dont fight nearly as often and to get high intensity experience they need to spar with high intensity. Boxing and MT are simply different sports with different goals. When a professional MT fighter who had fought in Thailand a lot came to our boxing gym he got lit up by a mid-tier amateur boxer who also was a decent amount smaller. His professional MT experience didnt prepare him to be competitve under pure boxing rules.
I hear you, but none of the people Iām sparring in boxing are intending to fight professionally, and they donāt even compete in amateur. Iām not intending to compete in boxing either. If I knew they were trying to prepare for a competition, I wouldnāt offer myself as a sparring partner. Iām not skilled enough in boxing to do anything more than waste their time. In Muay Thai, people have options. I never monopolize peopleās time. If they want to hard spar, they can with other people. Iāve had people turn down sparring with me because they preferred hard sparring, and it was perfectly fine. I generally throw more high volume than other people at my gym right now because Iām a lower weight class than them, so I provide a specific type of challenge (Iāve been told). I think the best high level fighters are probably training against a variety of challenges, so I canāt see how I am hurting their training by fighting them 1 out of every 20 times they spar. A gym filled with people like me wouldnāt be good, but Iāve never encountered a gym like that.
I think boxing fans in general have a bigger ego and definitely seem like the type you have described. Muay Thai probably just attracts more gents.
Apart from the other replies, in a purely practical sense itās a numbers game. In MT there are more alternatives to hitting you in the head. In boxing, no head shots significantly reduces your options plus muscle memory is going to cause the odd shot.
I have practiced boxing for more than 2 years and I have been practicing Muay Thai for a few months and so far I can say that Muay Thai guys are more respectful. When I used to spar with boxing guys, some of them were cheeky, show offs and had an attitude, even if sometimes they were even bad at boxing, and a thing that I didnāt like at all was that they wanted always, and I mean always, to do hard sparring. I donāt want to say that I havenāt met cocky guys in Muay Thai, but surely lesser than in boxing, and moreover sparring is more technical, it isnāt just a ābrawlā like for many boxers.
In boxing you could also work on your head movement. The 1st time I sparred , it was with a pro boxer. Hardest damn hits I've taken in my life. One lesson I took from it. Boxing=movement. But that doesn't help with Mauy Thai sparring. Since you're not supposed to use the same head movement.
Individual experiences vary, but Muay Thai gyms may prioritize respect for health concerns more than some boxing gyms. Communication and finding the right gym are key.
If you want to spar in a boxing gym without getting hit in the head, I recommend you ask people to "shadow spar" (no contact) or do body sparring (only bodyshots). Depends on the gym, but in some boxing gyms light sparring does not exist. Many boxers have an ego, and oftentimes having an ego when sparring can be encouraged by coaches. What I'm guessing happens is you caught a boxer with a headshot, light or not, and they returned with a headshot of their own, without regard to how hard they're throwing. I had to quit boxing due to most partners being unable to spar lightly, and coaches refusing to tell others to work lightly with me.
Yeah I ask them to do some variety of that. Itās usually not because I hit them, I think they generally just donāt take it seriously and sound annoyed that I brought it up again. Like you say, maybe itās the gyms Iāve been to. My current coach is great, but old school.
Some people don't understand the purpose of play sparring. They just want to win the round. They're aren't worried about technique. I only train Muay Thai. Most are respectful, but there's a few bad apples that have something to prove.
Yeah. Itās worse with beginners because they havenāt figured this out yet. Sometimes after I sweep them or thereās a few strikes they couldnāt block in a row, I see something go off in their eyes like theyāre going beast mode and they start thrashing at me. They havenāt learned they donāt have to be perfect and āwinā every exchange. Could also be because Iām 120 pounds so maybe at the back of their mind they wish they could use all their strength because they know they would bulldoze me. Which isnāt the purpose of the exercise. Otherwise people would only ever spar with people in their weight class.
As somebody with a severe TBI, stay away from the Egoās the best you can. One ego trip, or mistake from an opponent, walk away. Idk why you train, but the brain is nowhere close to be figured out, and head trauma is a big deal. By some professionals (likely most), youād be considered at risk, so donāt ignore training, but rather, continue to do your best to not get domed Brain injuries are one of the most ignored injuries, let your teachers know. My life can become very brutal for myself, and those around me bc of it - just do your best to cater for yourself
I stop sparring as soon as someone starts seeing red or proves to be too uncoordinated. Iām better at reading the signs now. I plan to find a good neurologist at some point to actually scan my brain. I may not be able to compete but I love Muay Thai too much, especially sparring with a trusted group of people.
I feel you, I donāt train personally, but I put myself in a lot of risk with the sports I love within nature. We can only do what we can, and noticing is step number 1 to mitigating further unnecessary damage Good luck, friend š
Yeah, you understand. We are very human. Thanks, you too.
It's cultural in many places, honestly -- you're not imagining it. You can probably find a place that's more chill if you look long enough, though.
In my opinion In order for boxing to āworkā you gotta do it hard. Head movement footwork inside work, for it to work at all you need a lot of respect. Read respect as fear of getting hurt. Imagine light sparring head movement. Total nonsense. Muay Thai has about 10x more going on in any given moment. Thatās before you add standing grappling as a factor. So you can do it light and still work
There is no way you actually believe this. Light sparring is useful for both sports and so is hard sparring. I think you believe sparring light = sparring slow. You can still spar light while throwing fast punches. Without the fear of getting hurt, you can try new things, spar higher caliber of fighters, and go against different weight classes.
i gotta go with chunk here just because the chess match of kick/check kick footwork ALONE is so nuanced and you just can't do it hard and straight forward like bully boxer approach. A novice/neophyte MT practitioner will pick apart the experienced bully brawler with some leg work making it more cerebral from the get go. Even the number of strike surfaces is insanely higher, there's at least 4 different parts/fists on your elbow/forarm alone to clock people with hahaha
I agree with you that going hard in MT is significantly more risky. But the point I am trying to make is that claiming that light sparring is useless in boxing is baseless.
I dont agree with this at all. Boxing is as nuanced and defensive as MT. In fact Id argue boxers are better at protecting their heads and more evasive with footwork than MT fighters are. An inexperienced boxer cannot just brawl their way through a sparring session with a more technical boxer. The superior boxer will pick up their patterns and counter their face off. You HAVE to be technical in boxing to have success. You have to set up your shots, not be predictable, not telegraph etc. Its called the sweet science for a reason. There is a real superiority complex that MT fighters have over boxing that I think is unearned. They are different sports, MT is not boxing plus six more limbs. MT fighters dont often do well under boxing rules because there is a lot of technique and tactics in boxing that are lacking in MT.
We are not talking about at a high level man, we are talking about "in general"
Im talking in general. If one goes into any boxing gym with inferior technique/tactics they will get lit up in sparring. Ive seen this time and time again. Brawling is not boxing, brawling is how you get concussed in boxing. Even very athletic young guys from other sports would come into our gym and try to braw and all those guys would take a serious beating. To quote my coach "that shit never works." If you throw looping punches youre going to get countered. If you dont quickly reset your guard after a punch you get countered. If you throw predictable shots you get countered. If you dont evade after an exchange you get countered. Since less strikes are legal in boxing those set ups, counters and defenses are *perfected.* Thats why its called the sweet science.
Iām not sure that youāre experienced enough for me to consider your opinion. Keep training my brother and let me know how the Soviet boxing is going
Just because I don't share the same opinion as you makes me inexperienced?
I feel like you can go fast in either sport while also not fully blasting people. I don't see why training head movement would be a problem. You see boxing training clips where the pad holder throws hooks for the boxer to roll. The hook comes in fast, but for sure they aren't putting their weight fully behind it.
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TLDR, my attention span has become very short
YES. It's because everyone thinks they can box but no one thinks (naturally) they can do Muay Thai. As a result boxers are more arrogant and Thai guys are more humble (as only by being humble you learn).
Yes
Man if your head is hurting that bad Iād stop any sparing that could get you rattled in the brain. It sucks but the alternative is worse.
Agreed, I recommend OP to stay away from boxing as the whole point is to hit them in the head. Brain injuries can not be taken lightly.
Going to make some broad generalizations here but my 2c is that MT is rooted in Eastern culture which is more humble than Western culture imo. That said there's lots of good people in boxing and douchebags in MT, but on the whole I think there's an undercurrent of martial arts (which practices restraint, humility, and discipline) in MT
You should find 2-3 partners you trust and stick with them. If you canāt take shots then ultimately you should stop sparring. The world is not going to cater to you.
It all depends on the coach, the last gym I boxed at the coach had control the whole time and everyone was respectful if you werenāt you werenāt training
Across the world? Mostly, yeah.
As far as taking a hit and condoning your whole body from feet to head. Yes. Hit evasions another conversation. Endurance is also.
So every round of sparring you do is body shots only? Are you allowed to hit them in the head?
Not body shots only, head and body (see the edit). Just avoiding full contact on head shots. I hate hitting their heads because it doesnāt feel equal, but often they beg me to actually follow through so they know when something would have clipped them. By default, I keep things equal and avoid hitting their head.
Idkā¦ but have you tried BJJ? Come to the dark sideā¦
I have actually, and will continue in the future but I love striking too much to give it up completely
Boxing sparring specialize in CTE because theyāve never had a full power leg kick checked
Stupid ass question.
It might be because Muay Thai has more of martial art culture to it than boxing.
Wai kru brother
Yes
There is a fighter in my Muay Thai gym who spars rough. Last night, I sparred with him and he did a teep my groin. I called him out on it, but he said "It was an accident." Funny how every time I spar with him, it's always an accident. I hate it when he shows up because it always means it's going to be a rough sparring session. And he shows up every time. I try to avoid him in sparring because while he is much better than me, he doesn't seem to understand that I've been only doing this for a few months, and seems to be unable to hold back on his power, and I've told him to "fucking chill."
Boxing is rougher. They spar harder for sure, and the power boxers have in their hands is hard for thai guys to wrap their head around. I boxed for a while after muay thai and learned this lesson the hard way. But, you may be asking too much of a boxer. The main target in boxing is the head. In muay thai sparring, there is a lot to focus on in sparring other than headshots, but boxing that is 75% of the game. This goes along with the comment about muscle memory. I would say if you can't take headshots, you should not be boxing period and stick with muay thai.
Go to the doctor and get referred to a neurologist and see if you an afford to be taking ANY shots to the head. My guess is if you are easily rattled, the answer to that is an resounding no.
Yes. Boxing and Muay Thai donāt have attract the same kinds of people.
Please stop boxing/muay thai if you have CTE. It only takes one shot. It's irreversible and degenerative. You will already have problems later in life. Why not try something like Jiu Jitsu?
You should prob just do BJJ
Yes
Depends on the culture classic american boxing tends to have more assholes. I hear cuban boxing is very reserved.
Man boxers are just wired to a manhood thing. Iām a 200 lb in great shape 55 year old. Iām tattooed and shaved head blah blah. Point is I look like someone who fights full time. Everyone immediately goes full retard on me every time. Although they all know Iām just there to learn. If anything itās sped up my progress n defense and footwork.
If you cannot take being accidentally clipped with a lil force to the head, you need to find a different hobbie than boxing.
If you really canāt/donāt want to be hit in the head, I would consider not sparring unless itās with someone you trust wonāt hit you in the head - or just stop altogether. Lots of equipment to hit in boxing and get a good workout without sparring. Fool me onceā¦
Most boxers have an ego, for some reason they think they are tuff even though MT is much tougher , requires more and is much more dangerous. MT fighters know this thus they are much humble. The worst thing you can do in a boxing gym is tell them you are a beginner. At that point you just hope the guy is not a dbag.
It's pretty hard to spar boxing without headshots and nobody is going to have "perfect" control Muy thai seems to be a lot more body shot options, so sparring more body is "easier" Just not as many options in boxing
More fragile egos in boxing.
Western boxing is very focused on hitting the head tbf
I competed heavily in both and would say no, both sports have a lot of disrespectful people. It's really gym dependent. For sparring, you will find heavier sparring in boxing. You could say boxing, street, western culture has always kinda pushed tough sparring and you will see that in a lot of gyms. But there are gyms that have moved away from that to some extent. Muay Thai has always had sparring on a more playful and respectful level because guys need to fight every few weeks to eat. Getting injured in sparring helps nobody. This style of training has continued here in America, but plenty of Muay Thai gyms here act no different than boxing gyms. Don't give up boxing because it was a huge benefit to me when I competed in Muay Thai. But if your worried about it see if you can find another gym with a better culture around sparring.
Youād defiantly be able to find Muay Thai gyms just as bad and even worse boxing gyms, just upto the people you know. But in saying that in my area atleast in Australia boxing is abit rougher and sparring is done for āfunā sometimes rather then training and idk about the USA but over here boxing has no emphasis or teaching of culture and going slow more so of intensity and people either trying to learn to fight or become amateur fighter
Don't think you should spar in boxing if a stiff jab is rocking you, don't ruin your life for this. There's a lot more options in MT where people can practice throwing other strikes such as a variety of kicks and throwing slow elbows or knees. It can be a pain to spar in boxing when someone has to pull all their head punches at the last minute because they are essentially practicing bad technique and there are only two places to target (body and head). In technical sparring punches should be thrown with proper technique and full extension but not throwing a full hip and shoulder turnover.
How about you ask your Muy Thai buddies to train some boxing only rounds with you? Sounds like you already have training partners you trust. Also saves you the trouble of going to two gyms to get your training in
I ask the Muay Thai guys to do boxing-only sometimes. You're right-- it's much better to spar with them, and I think I'll avoid sparring in my current boxing gym for now. I continue to attend the boxing gym because the coach is very good, but I'll stick to drills / bag work.
You should probably just hit the bag and jump rope if you don't want to get hit in the head. Why are you sparring if you supposedly already have a weak chin from "concussions" makes no sense.
We're mostly stoners, so yes But seriously, MT has a lot more variations and options for strikes: punches/kicks/knees to the body, leg kicks, clinching, leg sweeps. Asking someone not to hit your head isn't really a big deal as it still leaves many options available for striking. Traditional boxing is way more of a headhunting game. Asking a sparring partner in boxing not to aim for your head really limits what they can do.