Subjective Look at the top 12 Muay Thai fighters

[george stando]

Any thoughts on the list?

A subjective look at the 12 best Thai boxers in the world. | LiverKick.com

[sportmuaythai]

Brent's article is excellent, but a bit bias in favor of some Thai fighters. Saenchai and Sam-A are inarguably the best pound for pound fighters Thailand has to offer. More importantly, they have stood the test of time. Unlike Queensbury Boxing, muaythai involves several weapons (the art of eight limbs muay thai). Therefore, it's not unexpected for a good fighter to be exhausted against a strong clincher. Saketdow and Chomthong are good examples. They will never be regarded as memorable greats. Kongsak and F16 Rajanont need to be tested more, like Nong-O who burned out. Several of the younger fighters listed will need to show their mettle, as some of them are showing more guts and endurance. Finally, please give the heavy foreign fighters some encouraging appreciation.

[george stando]

Nice thoughts, sportmuaythai. I agree there should have been more inclusion of deserving fighters regardless of weight. To discount yodsenklai is ridiculous because as a lighter weight fighter he was tremendous if people know his earlier career i think he was way better than he is now during his time at fairtex, he wasnt developed nor trained by fairtex in his early days.and what about saiyok who battled many different type of challengers? I think taking more diverse opponents counts for a lot in my book and people like buakaw, yod and others do that.

[sportmuaythai]

To discount yodsenklai is ridiculous because as a lighter weight fighter he was tremendous if people know his earlier career i think he was way better than he is now during his time at fairtex, he wasnt developed nor trained by fairtex in his early days.and what about saiyok who battled many different type of challengers? I think taking more diverse opponents counts for a lot in my book and people like buakaw, yod and others do that.

Even for many young Thais, they are totally unaware of local ring scene. Buakaw and saiyok are exceptions. They entered the international arena with their natural body weight. Yod and most other Thai fighters only appeared internationally after their local career has terminated. Yod was "sold" to Fairtex when his future on local stadium was deemed a dead end. Fairtex moved him to a much heavier division. Yod fought for the Toyota championship at only 128lbs, and he now fights arounf 143-147lbs. A lot af agility has to be sacrificed at this new division for Yod. I believed that he also found heavier blows more difficult to contend with. I will ramble on later. Gotta get ready for my training session.

[george stando]

Good stuff! Thanks for those insights. I love it.