Muay Thai/Kickboxing
The skill and speed involved in kickboxing makes it a popular sport
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Tuesday, 26, Jun 2007 04:56
With football off the radar for a few months, InTheNews takes the opportunity to look at some of the sports you may not know so much about - this week it's the turn of martial art Muay Thai, better known as kickboxing.
The game
Muay Thai, the national sport and martial art of Thailand, is widely regarded as one of the most effective fighting systems in the world. Its history can be traced back around 2,000 years and some of the most famous champions were active in the 17th century. Practitioners of the art use punches, kicks and throws in conjunction with knee and elbow strikes to defeat their opponent.
Fights take place in a ring, the same as with western boxing. The number of rounds and the length of rounds varies. At professional level, fights are for five rounds of three minutes duration. This may seem short compared to the 12 rounds that make up heavyweight boxing matches, but it is because the techniques used in Muay Thai require so much energy. It is estimated that it takes four times as much energy to throw a kick as it does to throw a punch.
In the amateur ranks, fights generally are scheduled for three rounds of one and half minutes each. Amateur rules usually also restrict the use of elbows and prohibit knees to the head, as these are considered some of the most dangerous techniques of Muay Thai.
Fights can be won by knockout, technical knockout - where the opponent suffers an injury that prevents him from continuing - or on points. Three judges sit ringside and award points based on various factors, such as delivery of technique, domination of the opponent, aggression and skill.
The spread of Muay Thai
Muay Thai was little-known outside Thailand for a long time, but knowledge of the art began to spread slowly in the 20th century. Some Thai masters emigrated to Europe in the 1970s and in 1984 the World Muay Thai Association was founded in Amsterdam. The art gradually spread across the world and by 1994, there were more than 25 nations represented in the King's Cup, a prestigious Muay Thai tournament that takes place in Thailand every year.
The various forms of kickboxing
It should be pointed out that Muay Thai is not the only form of kickboxing, although its exponents argue that it is the superior form. There are other varieties, such as the Korean art Tae Kwon Do and the US-created Full Contact Karate. However of the various kickboxing systems, Muay Thai has by far the most permissive rules and participants are free to engage in a number of techniques that are prohibited in other forms of kickboxing competition.
The big event
Nonetheless, there has been almost continuous argument between kickboxing stylists as to which style is the best. Partly as a result of this, the K-1 competition was born. The K-1 tournament could be described as the World Cup of kickboxing, as it brings together stylists from all over the world under a unified set of rules in order to determine who has a legitimate claim to be the declared the world's best.
Participation in a K-1 event is open only to fighters that have already proved themselves at national and international level. The tournament is a meeting of the world's elite - the prize money offered to champions is unrivalled and popular fighters gain huge publicity through participation.
In the run-up to the event, announcements of who will be competing are eagerly anticipated. Each new addition to the line-up is assessed for strengths, weaknesses and potential to lift the title belt by an army of fans worldwide. In the UK, the sport is popular with a niche audience, drawing in just over one million viewers when televised on the Eurosport network, which broadcasts in more than 20 European countries.
Kickboxing worldwide
In countries such as Japan and the Netherlands, kickboxing is more of a national sport - the record attendance for a live event was set at a Japanese K1 event in 2002, which brought in over 70,000 spectators and set a thus far unbroken record for crowd attendance at any fight event. For the 2007 K-1 European Grand Prix event on June 23rd, the promoters booked the Amsterdam Arena, an 18,000 capacity venue home to Ajax, one of Europe's premier football teams.
The world's best - Thai masters. and Dutch dominance
There have been many superb champions over the years, but it can be argued that the greatest have tended to come from Thailand and the Netherlands. The Thais - being naturally smaller than their European counterparts - tend to dominate the lighter weights. One of the best of the current crop is Buakaw Por Pramuk, who fights in the K-1 middleweight division, K-1 Max.
An extremely technical and gifted athlete who had his first professional fight at the age of eight, he is so far the only person to win the K-1 Max title twice, in 2004 and again in 2006. Another champion Thai fighter competing on the K-1 circuit is Kaoklai Kaennorsing. A champion fighter in Thailand, he became the lightest person in K-1 history ever to compete against super-heavyweights. Despite weighing only 170 lbs - less than 13 stone - Kaoklai has defeated opponents of up to 260 lbs in weight.
The Dutch have produced a long line of heavyweight supremos. Thai boxing is a popular sport in the Netherlands and the country has produced a number of athletes who have gone on to dominate the world stage.
For example, Ernesto Hoost is the only person ever to have won the K-1 heavyweight title four times, while countryman Peter Aerts has claimed the belt three times - and recently declared an intention to capture it at least twice more over the next three years. Another Dutchman currently making waves on the world scene is Badr Hari, a 21-year-old of Moroccan parentage who has already fought and beaten some of the world's best.
In fact, of the 14 Grand Prix tournament heavyweight titles that have so far been contested, the belt has been lifted 11 times by a fighter from the Netherlands. The other nations to have been represented on the winner's podium are Croatia, Switzerland and New Zealand.
However, the lighter weight divisions and regional heats present a more mixed list of champions, representing countries as diverse as Brazil, Greece, Portugal and of course Thailand.
What it takes to reach the top
Kickboxing attracts a wide variety of people, who all take different things from the sport. Many people all over the world practice kickboxing, for self defence and fitness as well as competition. However, those that are in it to compete tend to share one key personality trait - they are all incredibly determined. Not for nothing is it widely held to be one of the toughest sports in the world.
To reach the top, arguably the most important asset a fighter can have is a good gym and training team. Certain gyms regularly produce top level fighters and champions and it is no surprise that the most highly-regarded instructors are to be found here.
Peter Aerts is a product of two of the most famous Dutch gyms - Chakuriki and Meijiro - while fellow Dutchmen Ernesto Hoost and Remy Bonjasky learned their trade in the Vos camp. All three are in Amsterdam, further cementing that city's status as a capital of European kickboxing.
Stereotypical fans
It is difficult to pigeonhole Muay Thai fans, although it is interesting to note that the character of attendance changes from nation to nation. In Thailand, it is the national sport and so is as universally popular as football is in the UK. In Japan, the sport enjoys wide mainstream exposure, particularly the K-1 fighters who grace the back pages of the sports sections. Interestingly K-1 has a large female following in Japan and some of the better-looking participants enjoy undeniable heart-throb status.
Continental Europe has a strong kickboxing scene, but it not as prominent in the UK, which has traditionally looked to boxers and boxing for its fight-sport entertainment. That said, the following that the sport does have in Britain is fanatical and the fanbase is growing all the time. The growing profile of Mixed Martial Arts - colloquially known as Ultimate Fighting - has also prompted some people to investigate other fight sports such as kickboxing and K-1.
Celebrity fans
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that his canon of work includes Kickboxer and Bloodsport, actor Jean-Claude van Damme is a huge fan. He was a successful kickboxer himself in his younger years, having competed at both national and international level. In the US, tennis ace Andre Agassi and film star Nicholas Cage are both seen regularly at ringside. Agassi is often accompanied by his wife Steffi Graf, herself a famous tennis player with 22 Grand Slam victories.
Why should I watch or try it?
As with all professional sports, kickboxing looks easy, because the athletes involved are highly trained and have years of experience. On initial exposure to the sport, many people are bewildered by the speed of exchanges between the fighters and find it difficult to 'read' a bout. The casual fan tends to appreciate the more aggressive encounters and hopes to see a knockout.
More knowledgeable fans have acquired the ability to appreciate all aspects of the fight. To the true aficionado, defensive skill is admired as much as, if not more than, attacking skill. An appreciation of strategy is also important. Fights are often as much about psychology and deception as anything else.
A sharp mind is required to anticipate the opponent and simultaneously to deceive him about what attack he will be faced with next. The skilful fighter uses tricks and psychology to create openings that can be exploited.
Where do I go from here?
British viewers will mostly likely come across K-1 events on the Eurosport channel. Muay Thai events were until recently broadcast on Channel 5, in a Friday-night magazine show entitled Now Is The Time. The latest run of this program ended last year but it is rumoured to be returning soon.
A lot of British fans follow the scene through the internet, watching fights on video-sharing websites such as YouTube, or through specialist fansites devoted to the sport. There are also a number of magazines that cover the sport, the most prominent being Fighters. These magazines carry interviews, fight reports and training tips for enthusiasts.
But it is the internet that presents a true goldmine for the kickboxing and K-1 fan. Several websites carry at least some coverage, but the main ones - links to which are provided below - are visited daily by thousands of fans from all over the world.
As well as carrying news on fighters and events, a lot of these sites - such as k-1fans and fansofk1 - also have an online forum where fans can post messages to each other and discuss the latest developments.
The World Boxing Council, long regarded as the pre-eminent boxing body, has also recently started to sanction Muay Thai bouts. The WBC Muay Thai website features news from all over the sport, as well as announcements and previews of forthcoming fights.
John O'Regan