Well, time for me to stir the shit again I see. How you fight is very much determined by your opponent, although traditionally in muay Thai we try to do our thing and ignore what the opponent is doing. When he moves toward our back leg we can kick easier, when he moves toward our front leg (circling around us in each instance) we can box easier. But again, like everyone else has said, we can do either movement out of either stance. Your kicks are stronger from a kicking stance, which means our bodies are pretty much parallel with our opponent. Your punches are stronger when you are sideways and can push forward off your back leg for power. The crux is when you train. You practice kicking the pads and the banana bag from a kicking stance, which means if you lay a yardstick along the inside of your front foot and extend it, it should be outside the heel of your opponent's leg which is on the same side. This will keep you square to him. Likewise if you are kicking the banana bag, your front foot should point outside the bag before you begin your pivot. When you box you can have a variety of foot placements, but perhaps most easy is the stalker stance, which has the front foot pointing straight at your opponent and your back foot at a 90 degree angle. Many people then move to a more mobile stance with both feet pointing kind of 45 degrees, the lead foot pointing through the center of your opponent's stance; it is a matter of choice. But when you train you should train with perfect form for that movement, hence you should kick from a kicking stance and box from a boxing stance. A good boxing habit is to make sure your punch is shot in the direction of your foot when you jab, and the back heel will either turn or lift for the thrust when you throw your rear hand. And of course, practice shooting right down the barrel of the gun, protect yourself against the counterpunch by putting your head against your shoulder like you would while aiming a rifle. Also please note that zI have not addressed the tactics of range, which also will help to dictate your stance. Larger fighters many times will fight solely from a boxing stance, like Apidej Sit Harun or Maurice Smith or Dennis Alexio; but smaller fighters will use both. I have yet to figure this out. And does anyone know what the bartender said to the horse? Why the long face? Have fun
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