Brightfight

Posting this footage from the 1920's. I recon its the oldest footage of Thai boxing in the world. The style is alot different than I've seen in Thailand. The clip has an ad for the film Fight or Flight in the middle and then shows the remainder of the fight at the end. The "Hands" style of the older stuff seems a bit closer to Queensbury boxing. They also seem to jump around a bit more. What do you think? - Enjoy

the tick

Thais aren't exactly known for their pugilism skills.

Little Apple

well also remember how much Muay Thai has changed in the last 50 years even. It's adapted a lot and absorbed a good deal of western boxing technique as it's made the transition from a weapon art to a bare knuckles art to the gloved ring sport it is today.

fire cobra

Thanks for the footage brother.

seany85

thanks for posting that.

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george stando

I think there is older footage than that. That is in a ring. There is footage with bare knuckle outside if I am not mistaken I have to check.

Brightfight

Does anyone know of any other early ninteen hundreds thai boxing / boxing / fighting footage. Be nice to see other stuff !

lorenzodamarith

hello,

at this time, two european powers ruled southeast asia to either side of thaliand; england to the west and france to the east. at this time, european fighters still competed against the thai on a fairly regular basis (mostly impromptu contests). there was no doubt a "cross pollenation" of techniques.

thanks

Figaro

Cool, I can see this thread going all political.

Liberty

Man, I just love the historical/evolution of a martial art suff - thanks!

lorenzodamarith

hello,

figaro, while political in the direct sense (2 powers occupied), there is no attempt to moralize.

simply put, you had a massive number of fighters on both sides fighting in the same matches and likely many of them trained together (at least briefly). as the fight industry would become more commercialized over time, the rules would change a bit, and the sport would evolve.

these days, many camps are teaching jiujitsu (muay brasil) as more and more MMA fighters attend the camps to improve thier striking. eventually, muaythai may very much resemble sanshou or mma.

again, no politics, just pragmatism.

thanks

lorenzodamarith

hello,

any time! you know, it will be interesting, 50 years from now, we will be telling "modern fighters" about the good old days...

"there was a time when we didn't even have lightsabres or power armor!"

hahahahahahahahahaha!!! combatives make a lot more sense in with the historical context to help explain them.

thanks

Mike Brewer

Liberty,
We agree completely! The evolution of arts and sports is awesome in almost any context. I mean, did you ever watch old footage of basketball before Hank Lusetti? Or high jump contests before Dick Fosbury?

Boxing from the John L Sullivan era changed radically by the Jack Dempsey era, and underwent another evolution by the time Ali made the scene.

This is one of the first times I've seen Thai Boxing's early years as a sport shown, and I thank you, Brightfight, for a great thread!

Brightfight

Thanks Mike,
Didnt that happen in boxing in the 50's. They didnt really allow black boxers compet professionally until then and then the sport changed dramatically. Who was that guy that was big then?

Cheers

Mike Brewer

No, black boxers have been around a lot longer than in most sports. Jack Johnson was the undisputed Heavyweight Champ way back in 1908, and he held onto it until 1915 if memory serves. Black boxers certainly weren't as prominent in those days, but they were certainly there, and a force to be reckoned with.

In the 50's you had a lot of great, great black fighters. Some of my all time idols of the ring, in fact. Joe Louis is the obvious superstar that comes to mind, but he was trailing off in the 50's. His decade was really the 40's, when he was both heavyweight champ, Nazi-killer, and a sergeant in the Army during World War II. Ezzard Charles was a phenom and a half back in those days (the 50's), and Jersey joe Walcott was no slouch. He beat Charles for the title in what many considered at the time a pretty unimpressive fight. Be that as it may, Walcott was a tough, tough fighter. Of course, the all time great from that era would have to be Ray Robinson - Ali's major inspiration and still in my opinion the best pound for pound champ ever. Robinson was big even before the 50's, though, making his name and establishing his following in the decade prior.

Really, the 1940's were probably considered by most as the Golden Age, when boxing really made it mainstream. TV no doubt helped later on. After that, the 60's and 70's really stand out, with superstars like Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, and virtually all of the top heavyweight contenders.