Most Records of Thailand’s history have been destroyed by the Burmese, in 1769. Even though many historical records have been lost, Thai Boxing is such a major part of Thai culture, that the stories will never die.

Thai Kick Boxing originated from Krabi Krabong, an ancient Thai weapons art, roughly translated in “stick and sword”. When the Thais lost their weapons or fought close quarters with weapons they used their knees, elbows, feet, fists and head butting. They soon became famous for their toughness on battle fields in the constant wars with their long term rivals and neighbors, the Burmese

By the end of the 13^th century, King Ramkamheng (1275 - 1317) wrote the ‘The Book of War Learning’, the “Thamrab Pichei Songkram”, about the Thai art of war. The basis of weaponless fighting was born. For example, one of the techniques is called “Throwing Buffalo Punch” because it can defeat a buffalo in one blow.

Thai Boxing had become a substantial part of the social life in Thailand. This went so far that a whole kingdom could be won or lost on a Thai Boxing Fight. The annals of Chiang Mai, for example, tell the story of King Sen Muang Ma, who died in 1411. After his death. his two sons, Yi Kumkam and Fang Ken, fought for the throne, after many years of conflict neitherof the two could get the upper hand. Fang Ken suggested settling the issue by single combat where ach side had to select a champion boxer. The end of the fight was set when blood was drawn. The loosing party would forfeit his claim to the thron. The fight must have lasted for several hours before Fang Ken’s fighter received a tiny scratch on his foot which just showed a trickle of blood. That meant the fight was over and Yi Kumkam became the new king.

Muay Thai was quickly included in military training and became famous by King Naresuan (1560). The story is telling that during one of the many battles between Burma and Siam, the original name of Thailand, he was captured and thrown in prison. The Burmese, who knew of his name as the best unarmed fighter, gave him a chance to fight for his life and freedom with their own champion. Kink Naresuen is said to have won the fight and became a national hero in his homeland.

There are hundreds if not thousands of stories telling about the heroism of the Thai war heroes The biggest Thai boxing hero of Thailand is for sure the ‘Black Prince’ Nai Khanom Dtom. The legend says that he was captured by the Burmese and had to fight against 12 of the best Burmese fighters before he was released. Against all odds the burmese crowd themselves had forced the King of burma to set him free. Upon his return to Thailand he was hailed as a hero and Siamese-style boxing, the original name of Thai boxing, was soon recognized as a national sport. Still today you will hear his name on many Muay Thai fight nights where he gets honored. Annual Thai Boxing tournaments are still hold in his name today.

At the end of the 18th century King Pra Chao Sua trained religiously in the art of Muay Thai. He was said to have trained six hours a day with his soldiers to perfect the art of Muay Thai. All villages of this time organized prize fights where everyone could compete. No matter if his was rich or poor, young or old,. The king disguised himself as a peasant and sneaked out, wandering from village to village entering the tournaments and defeating all opponents. He has spend hours by himself perfecting his techniques. The village tournaments had become his ‘test ground’ and he was soon known as the “Tiger King”. His legend was so great that even today his techniques are still practiced and are well known as the “Tiger King Style”.

The original Thai Kick Boxing fights lasted until one of the fighters was dead or so seriously injured that he was unable to continue. Fighting rounds where unknown at this time and the fights lasted sometimes for many hours. There was no protective gear but the opposite.

Often Muay Thai fighters wore rope over their knuckles and glued some broken glass on top of it.

It took until 1929 that Thai Boxing was slightly reformed with a few rules to help protect the fighters. The government had become concerned about the high number of fatalities in the ring and forced some rules to be used. From this time on the Muay Thai fighters gave up their groin shots and eye pokes and started to implement weight classes and boxing gloves. Fighting rounds of three to five minutes where applied. The Thai spectators and even the Thai boxers themselves felt that this watered down their most beloved sport. Therefore nowadays Thais place more emphasis on kicks, particularly to the legs, knee strikes and grappling. These skills score higher points than hand strikes in Thai matches. Thai Kick Boxing is lately discussed to become an Olympic discipline of martial arts. We all hope for this to come; better sooner than later.