The Evolution Of Muay Thai And What It Takes To Be A Top Thai Boxer | CNA Correspondent 

Muay Thai is part of culture and life. It’s not a sport in Thailand. It’s a calling .

I love Muay Thai. It's an extremely difficult way of life for anyone if they decide to fully dedicate their lives to it. It is an old ancient sport immersed in tradition and ritual. There are aspects of Muay Thai that clash hard with modern life and ideals and Muay Thai itself is experiencing a lot of issues balancing to get the positives and negatives right.

One of the very best short documentaries I have seen on Muay Thai ! Covers quickly but accurately the sport's identity and promises but also it's salient issues. Thank you very much

Massive respect to the guys who train from the time they rationally know how to move. Can't imagine how tough this lifestyle and training can actually be. Edit: actually preparing to resume training Muay Thai very soon-even so, I KNOW my training will very likely not be this tough and rigorous

I've trained and fought Muay Thai for 40 years now. It's absolutely amazing to see how far it has gone.

That was great, thank you 🙏

This is a good documentary as is usually the case with CNA contents.

Muay is our culture same as football in Europe. It's way to union a group of boys to train and play and show their strengh. There are numerous Muay gym around our country same as football club in Europe. But to be a great Muay fighter you have to dedicate your life in it. It can bring you out of poverty same as football player in Europe. No rich boy become great football player or Muay fighter because they can not tolorant hard training. And culture means it is faverite gambling of our people. Thai people gambling with Muay, Chicken fight while Europeon gambling with football and horse or dog run. Someone think it is kid abuse but in my opponion Muay can bring kids out of drug. It might look brutal seeing kids fight to each other but if you look in football club in Europe it's not different. It's just way to express young man power in our way.

RWS has been killin it all year! They’re making all the right moves

Great piece

wow sir great reporting on our beloved Muay Thai. Krap koon mahk🙏🙏🙏

it is all about thai real life for the poor thai kids, no one could say it is right or wrong. it is pretty common here in thailand. highly respect them all

I went to the channel 7 stadium in Bangkok for muai thai, was AWESOME!

I loved thissss! Amazing content, we love muay thai we want Olympic level notoriety it's Time to go to the next level! 🍁

These dudes are crazy man they train in the ultra heat and humidity kicking trees and sh*t much respect!!!

Muay Thai ❤

9:15 Khaosai Galaxy. He held the WBA super-flyweight title between November 1984 and December 1991.

good to see the evolution of the sport. But it does need more ethical standards to protect future stars and still uphold the integrity of THE BOXER

Definitely a good exercise

THE greatest sport in the world

ONE dealing with Lumpinee is kinda worrying. The ruleset of ONE sure is not how I see traditional muay thai. For example, ONE is quick to break clinch. Another, Thais bring the heat in round 3 or 4 which makes it more exciting. I honestly prefer the old school vibes of the stadium with gambling, noise, humidity compared to the modern look.

I truely hope that in the future I can keep up with these legends 😂

Does anyone else think Charoenpon, the kid with the shaved hair and pink shorts, was insanely gifted? His kicks and knees are so aesthetic and a delight to watch. Technical ability for sure. Reminds me of the absolute legend Samart. Which is why it kind of broke my heart when you see him standing so small after the fight, looks like he's devastated and just wants to disappear. Then his coach is like "what are we gonna do with you?"... coach obviously meant well but to me it just looks like a kid who needs some support to believe in himself - not reminding that he 'has no heart' which he's just gonna think is his fault! Like he probably is well aware of his shortcomings and needs help with them not to be chastised for them or worse compared to his camp mate. What is that gonna do for his confidence? Take note that that's how you make insecurities worse, not better. I sincerely hope the kid can find his spark and come to see his own gifts.

It all started in Greece on the Island Crete

I really like Boon lanna muay thai style too ^^

Good to see Thailand is continuing Muay Thai, but also adapting to the realities we now understand about brain damage.

🎉 THAILAND ❤

15:39 the kid messing around is funny

Bangkok is quite possibly the boolest city on earth, What a great place and country!

Ppl here crying its child abuse. In north America, this would have been banned. Instead, poor children are provided social services, broken foster care system which most often lead the kids to ultimately become drug addicts or thugs that get jailed or killed later in life.

Any sport promotion needs to evolve or risk being obsolete. The 5 rounds and gambling make the match slow as heck. You typically would see 2 fighters standing and dancing to the rhythm of the music and make like 3 kicks in 1 round lol. The 3 rounds makes it more fast pace and entertaining. 5 rounds is for championshipm match

Soccer players are earning millions, yet fighting is so demanding and only a few people can make a career

Toughest sport in the world without a doubt, the most honorable as well

I hope the west and the pursuit of money doesnt destroy the muay thai culture and sport

Say goodbye to traditional Muay Thai. So happy i was able to move to Thailand and fight before all of this. New rules and no gabbling makes this not real Muay Thai. Its just one more tradition that will die and will be missed and remembered by those of us lucky enough to have experienced it. Breaks my heart 💔

mma gloves & octagon = a very different kind of muay Thai.

Like all things, the decline of Muay Thai has been caused by greed. Pre-pandemic, the growing popularity and the pay-to-train tourism dollar caused the rise of soft gyms giving soft training to keep people paying. When it came to fighting, promoters didn’t care about the standards of fights so long as the tickets sold and the gamblers paid their kickbacks. You didn’t have to be exceptional to train and fight there anymore - you just had to show up and pay….. This post-pandemic restructuring with the likes of One Championship and RWS taking over the old stadiums, having shorter fights, getting rid of the gamblers, 10-point-must scoring etc, has given the sport a chance at survival, but they are still commercial organisations who care way more about money than having the best fight the best and regaining the high standards of the golden eras. Muay Thai will continue to be watered down and will continue to decline until the quality of the practitioner is held in the same regard as making money off of them.

Why do muay thai fighters even the top ones have so little knockouts

Start at the age of 5-10 and 100+ fights before the age 20 years. Meanwhile you can get the Black Belt in Taekwondo, without every have been in a fight…

At what price? It's an irrelevant question to ask by CNN. They are asking why Thai boxers live the way they do? The answer is simple. It's simply how warriors are, they are born as warriors they will die as warriors. It's like asking why old Western white man travels to Thailand and Phillipines to find 13 year old Thai or Filipina wife. It's what pigs do. You can't question a lifestyle. Just like birds fly, fish swim, Thai warriors fight. Thai boxing is Thai cultures, it's in their blood.

So are we not going to talk about the issues with ONE?

Where is Claimbodia?New china province.

Suck it up and train harder. Train to win, not to compete.

That fight with buakaw is so rigged wtf. He didnt even hit him???

Vgvv

Future is MMA, Be nice to see some Thai fighters crossing over to challenge.

Like boxers and rugby players, Thai boxers will suffer damages to their brains due to the blows to the heads. Some Rugby players even have early onset dementia. Children should not be allowed to fight in the rings.

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*RWS* could dramatically increase its business by taking a couple minor steps: 1) Hire *Michael Schiavello* to do English commentary. 2) Stop playing the music during the rounds.

Gambling is ruining the art and sport of Muay Thai

Not a fan of One Championships they have shown to be a bad organization and not a good ambassador for Muay Thai abroad, $383 million in debt and moving to Cayman Islands to avoid debt being seen and buying their own company rights and claiming to make money that way. Then claiming to have billions of fans. I live in Thailand and hope to get them out.

Combat sports are the best thing anyone can pick up. Teaches you physical toughness, mental toughness, humility, discipline, respect, emotional control and so much more! It's a game changer 🥊🥊🤼🥋

Went to Lumpinnee prior to covid. It was a big disappointment. Boring matches. Saw better ones in Phuket. Hopefully better now.

Omg!! Hopefully won't end up as a bizarre piece of crap like UFC.

Having a problem with children fighting ? Why ? In this incarnation they are fighters. If they rise above this level, they will be scientists or scholars in the next.

Grotesque to let children fight. Over 15 ok. Most make little money, end up with long term injuries. Sad.