Thread: America: Does it have good Muay Thai fighters and Kickboxers?

Originally Posted by Tom Yum

Yeah....ok, North American. My guess is that America produces good kickboxers, but not the best. The sport isn't popular enough to attract the best talent. Japan and Europe have a sizeable following in kickboxing.

US and Mexico tend to produce the best boxers. Russia and the Phillipines come up with world class fighters too.

I agree with tom. The reason why we are behind:

1) Its fairly new to this country. When I first began MT in 1982 there were only a hand full of gyms and no one had ever even heard of Muay Thai. In Asia and parts of Europe it was already a booming sport and it had been for sometime.

2) Here fighters have to work jobs, some full time, and some even have families. They train and fight on the side. Those who do MT full time all the time are few and far between. The money isn't good and the caliber of fighters seems not to be necessarily the cream of the crop.

So we are left playing catch up to the rest of the world. But I think we are on the right path. MT in North America has come a long way since I began in it. Everyone knows what it is now and there are schools popping up everywhere. There are more events popping up all the time too, giving our fighters more and more experience, and showcasing the sport for all Americans (Canadians too) to see. The day is coming when we will be a force to be reckoned with.

darrianation is very correct.

Personal example:

I began training in '92 on the East Coast and started fighting the next year. Muay Thai had started to take off, but fights only occurred every few months. I fought every possible opportunity in '93 & '94, and only managed to get 8 fights. Twice I had to fight up in weight (TWO weight classes!) just to have the chance to fight at all.

After my 8th fight, the fight scene completely dried up. There were no more fights. I tried shopping myself around to get fights, even in the midwest, but there were no takers. So I ended up "retiring" prematurely at the end of 1994.

There were a few scattered fights here and there in 1995, but there was no one in my weight class near my fight experience for me to compete against. I had 8 fights (and held a title) vs. everyone elses zero to 2 or 3 fights.

By the time Muay Thai started to take off again in 1999 and 2000, I was so far out of shape and had started a career, so I was not prepared to step back into the ring. It has taken me the better part of the last 4 years to get back into fighting shape, but I've finally done it! I am fighting again! I had my first fight in TEN YEARS back in March, and I'm fighting again tomorrow night!

But, to be totally honest, the competition is definately better than it was in the early 90's, but I don't believe we (as Americans) are all that great yet. We're getting better, but we still suffer from lack of competition and quality opponents.

For instance, in my own weight class, most of the good fighters have gone pro now. It makes finding fair matchups for me difficult for promoters. Its not that I'm better than anyone, its just that I have more fights than most within my weight class. I'm kinda at the point where my best option may be to go pro also. I intend on fighting amateur at least through this summer, then evaluating my performance to decide whether or not to go pro, or quit fighting again for good (yeah right!).