difference between thai boxing and muay thai

whats the difference? which one would have good focus on punching and still have good kicks, knees, and defence/guard?

 

Two different names for the same art.

 

As has already been said, just the name.

As for the techniques, that just depends on your coaches teaching style or even the syle you choose to adopt yourself. You have some that like to use their hands a lot, some who love the clinch/kness etc and some who mainly focus on kicking and working at a longer range.

 

Kinda depends on people's interpretation.
Basically thai boxing is what you see in ring, while muay thai in it's original form refers to couple of different styles such as muay kochsan, mae mai muay thai, krabi krabong, etc. which were used in combats and such.
These days thai boxing and muay thai have pretty much same meaning to people...heck they even call kickboxing a muay thai

 

Muay means "box" or "boxing" in Thai so muay Thai is "Thai boxing"!
Same thing, same meaning. The terms refer to the same sport.

There is no "muay Thai kickboxing" or "Thai kickboxing" because muay simply means "boxing" not kickboxing.

Some people will argue that "Thai boxing" refers to the modern ring sport you see today whereas "muay Thai" refers to the "traditional" style practiced exclusively in Thailand. The truth of the matter is the terms mean one and the same any way you cut it. "modern" or "westernized" version may seem different (not much extended clinching, absence of elbows and throws perhaps?, more emphasis in boxing) but its not. Its merely a subset of what muay Thai is or was. It wouldn't make it "modern" because the core techniques and distinct character are still there.

 

As a few others have said, MuayThai, Thai Boxing, MuayThai Kickboxing, Thai Kickboxing... they all mean the same thing.

MuayThai is actually the OFFICIAL & MODERN term for the ring sport that is Thailand's national sport. As I understand it, the term "MuayThai" has only been in use for approximately a century, which is about the same age as the ring sport.

MuayThai is also used as a generic term to refer to ALL of Thailand's martial arts. The individual arts each have their own names, but the term MuayThai is often used generically to refer to them all, much like the term KungFu is generically used to refer to Chinese martial arts.

Thai Boxing is merely the English interpretation of MuayThai. The word Muay has a few different meanings, including singularity and a reference to how Thai's arrange long hair.

MuayThai Kickboxing or Thai Kickboxing are kinda redundant ways to refer to the sport. These terms are used mostly to help identify at a glance what the sport or martial art is about to the uninformed masses. The term MuayThai might mean nothing to your average layman, but if you tell them MuayThai Kickboxing, they will at least have a basic idea of what its about even if they have never seen it before.

I think too many people read too much into the different terms used. They are all just interchangeable terms used to refer to the sport.

 

Well thai kickboxing does exist. It is a discipline in kickboxing and it's often confused for muay thai.
But WAKO sorted that in their unique way recently by renaming it to K1-style and forbiding all thai features during tournaments.

 

In Thailand its reffered to as Muay,thats good enough for me

 

I think IMHO that WAKO should just call it "watered-down muay Thai" instead of "Thai Kickboxing" LOL. Or maybe muay Dry? Lol ok ok enough of the lousy jokes. But seriously, even though competitors use A LOT of muay Thai techniques, K1-style just isn't muay Thai so why bother disguising it under some new name? Call it something like MSA (Mixed Striking Arts) or USC (Ultimate Striking Championship).

As Kru Brooks (Khunkao) stated before, the term "Thai Kickboxing" is a marketing term used to describe to the uninformed masses what the style is about. It tells a newbie, if you will, that it's a "thai" style of kickboxing. In actuality "muay Thai" simply means "Thai boxing". There's no "kick" in there. Although yes as Khunkao also pointed out, "muay" has other interesting meanings like "togetherness" and a reference to the Thai hairstyle. Some of the technical names like "len muay" and "taad mala" even use a touching of the hair or head in its movement.

 

Well, 'Taad Mala' (I always spell it "tut mala") & 'taad mala wai' actually refer to the motion of a woman putting a flower behind her ear.

 

Yes! Ur right!

 

Hey, since we're talking about those movements, I've never gotten a good answer for what "Len Muay" actually means or refers to. I mean, the motion obviously is a reference to touching the hair, but apart from that, what specifically does "Len Muay" translate to?

Thx!

 

"playing with the hair". "Len" is play.
Also I think you mean "taad mala kwai" where your arm stretches to the opposite side of the head?

 

kwai?

OK, that makes sense. I thought I was able to hear the hint of something else.

What does "Kwai" translate to in this instance? I know "Kwai" as "water buffalo"

 

Doh, I'm Chinese not Thai but I've dabbled a tiny bit into some Thai so I hope this helps.
The thing with Thai words, lots of them are homonyms so they sound almost the same. If you study the Thai alphabet that create the sounds you'll see what I mean.

Ta't = wear or place behind the ear
Maa Laa = flower
Kwai = crisscross or alternate


Kwai is pronounced with a short "i" tone. Almost like "hi" but "khwy" where the end tone rises slightly

Buffalo is kwaai (you were thinking Bridge on the River Kwai) where the "aai" is like a longer "i" sound so it's "khwaai. The tone is flatter. Sort of like when you groan to your mom and dad when you were a kid - "but Mom, WHYY??" Just don't groan like that when you say it...

 

The way it was explained to me by my Thai coach....

Kwai - Water Buffalo
Kway - the River
Kwoy - your dingdong

LOFL.

But he also mentions that the dialect across Thailand changes the pronunciation. Northern Thai's pronounce "Kwai" (water buffalo) more like "Kwoy" (your dick), so the joke in Bangkok is to ask a northern Thai how he plows his fields...

"With my Kwoy."

....and that's why fighters from Northern Thailand are such tough sumbitches!

 

HAHAha, that's funny, didn't know that. Wonder if it means something else in the other dialects...

 

He he awesum KhunKhao,i didnt know that either,i know i have problems saying beckham(footballer!) and bacham!

 

Dear Khun Kao, Mala is a hat, while malai is flower. When flower is placed behind the ear, it's called "tud dorkmai". A boxer getting kicked just above the ear is said to have received kick at tud dork mai. I believe that tud mala is the military salute by touching the cap, except in muaythai, the elbow is pointed ahead.

 

Thanks sportmuay