Im trying to combine my boxing with some muay tai....

Himokiri Karate · Member of the Month

I have been boxing for sometime and although striking wise I am primarily a boxer I am trying to incorporate some muay thai kicks and eventually karate/kungfu ( but thats a different story)

anyway back to the main topic

How many of you have had success combining boxing with the muay thai kicking technique.

You see in boxing conventionally speaking you have your weak side forward sideways and some space open for the back leg to open up for powershots.

So I am wondering how do you incorporate them kicks,knees and them elbows in there?? Do you modify it? or do you switch back and forth from a boxing sideway stance to squared up muay thai kickboxing?????

joesteph · Black Belt

We had a survey of our preferred sides/stances a while ago, Dan, and most of us said we were working on a balance, that we'd switch what I'd guess can be called orthodox and southpaw. There's so much kicking involved in the martial arts that relying on one side/stance could be a weakness, in that it might not just affect the arm strikes but the foot ones as well.

I think you're going to find that, in training, elbows and knees are trained equally. Side/stance preference has nothing to do with using those weapons when you're close enough to infight.

I started taking Jeet Kune Do, and the strong side is the lead side, with the "jab" not called that at all, but the straight lead instead. We practiced popping one another a bit with the lower shin, as Muay Thai does, rather than the instep (or ball of the foot) as in other arts.

I think you'll find that the particular art you study has certain preferences, as I've realized studying Soo Bahk Do, and it may be as simple as how traditional or non-traditional the art is. You strike me as a "striking art" guy, which is what I'd call the arts I'm studying, but don't be surprised if joint locks and takedowns pop in there. The newest form I'm studying for Soo Bahk Do has takedown after takedown in it, which I realized by poking around YouTube and asking my teacher.
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bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

I think that you might be better served by checking out a Muay Thai gym, if there is one around. They work combinations of legs and hands, elbows and knees; the whole package.
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Mistassailant5 · Orange Belt

Well Muay Thai is already a form boxing. My advice would be to train in solely Muay Thai, but incorporate some of your old boxing punches.
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Kuma · Black Belt

Muay Thai already has the basic boxing punches and combinations so you'll already be off to a strong start. Having recently begun training in Muay Thai myself to supplement my Kyokushin training, my boxing skills gave me a big advantage over many of the other beginners. The gym I train at also has one day devoted strictly to boxing for their fighters as according to what they've seen and experienced statistically most Muay Thai knockouts are via hand strikes.

MMA_Jim · Blue Belt

Muay Thai with boxing is a beautiful combination. I too would find a reputable Thai boxing gym to learn it. After a few minor changes, you'll find you'll be able to apply your punches quite well.

Some things from boxing that dont translate well:

Sugarfooting as you mentioned- If you have more of a closed stance it becomes very difficult if not impossible to check kicks and deliver kicks of your own. Open up and be more square to your opponent.

Deep stances- some boxers prefer to have a really deep stance. This again will make it difficult to check kicks or deliver kicks of your own. Thai boxers tend to have a more upright closer stance. This way, you can bring one foot up to check or kick and still maintain balance. In that sense, a deep stance isnt wrong, but perhaps Im better off saying deep WIDE stances.

Bobbing and weaving- not utilized very often since it is within the rules to clinch the head and knee there as well.

CLEANS-HIGH · White Belt

I have studied poekoelan, Tang Soo Do , boxing and am currently in Muay Thai and it blends boxing with legs, elbows, knees and they go very well together

ps1 · Black Belt

I personally, don't do much boxing. However, a gentleman I train with is aptly nicknamed "Boxer Ray." This is because he's spent 24 years boxing. When he first started doing MMA with us, he would get kicked all over the place. After just one year, he was able do adjust to the angles and add all the kicking elements into his style of movement. So yes, it can be done with a little attention to detail. You already understand your angles. You just need to learn how the kicks fit into them.
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Liver Punch · Green Belt

What I find to give most Muay Thai strikers trouble when working with a boxer is that if the two individuals have trained an equal amount of time and have gained an equal amount of skill in their respective disciplines, their skill set in regards to punching is a little different.

For example, if each fighter has been training for 6 months, and during each individual month learned one technique and a basic mastery of it, they might end up looking like this:

Boxer: Jab, Cross, Hook, Uppercut, Slipping, and Bobbing
Thai Fighter (not to be confused with Tie Fighter): Push Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Knee, Elbow, Jab.

If the thai fighter is dividing his time equally between techniques, he has roughly 1/6 of the punching skill that a boxer has. The secret to blending boxing and anything else is to bring the skill, speed, timing, and fluidity of the punches boxers have to that respective art.
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JusticeZero · Black Belt

As an aside, I have been told by one training friend that Boxing combines very well with standard Judo training; the clinch in boxing is, at least as he learned them, identical to the clinch that Judo players train to start from.
This would give you some extra options once you get to a clinch and a wider variety of force levels, with virtually zero style confusion.
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