actixTim

Good fight! With only 3 years of training - GREAT FIGHT!!! Obviously your coach knows what he is doing, you are talented for the sport and you train hard. Your head guard is good, of course it will be better in future, as well as your boxing. Your midsection is pretty open and your opponent tried to take you down by attacking your breadbasket, but he failed - you have hard abs. I guess you intentionally focus on your head guard and therefore endure more hits in the stomach, which is fine. But some fighers kicks in the stomach are devastating, so keep hardening your sixpack. I like your offensive style. Good focus. Action packed fight. Everyone has to find his own style and not every strategy is perfect for every opponent. Just be yourself and it will be good.

Of course pads can protect your partner, but I think it is better so use less force when sparring. And you can take out some energie out of the game without slowing it down. And padded ellboys still hurt, but of course they are not as effective as without pads. But still hard enough for clinching.

Exactly as you said it, it's different, not worse. In addition to that each fighter has his own style and it depends on the school.

Full contact thaiboxing fights can be brutal. Face injuries happen very often, brain injuries are possible. Kicks, knees and punches to the body are pretty hard. Maybe in thaiboxing youth fights helmets should be mandatory. Some people argue that body protectors should also be mandatory. On the other hand kicks to the legs and in the midsection usually don't cause injuries. For example in one thai fight, a 12 year old boy could hardly walk after he took some low kicks. Then his opponent started to work on his midsection. He punched and kicked the boy in the gut a few times, clinched him and rammed a series of knees in his midsection until he went down. He came back on his feet in time and his opponent instantly attacked his stomach again with knees. After a punch to the head the kid stood half knocked out in the ring corner with the back to the pole, and his opponent kicked him 8 times with full force in the stomach, the kid just tightend his rock hard sixpack abs and endured 8 kicks until he went down. After a massage he went back on his feet and smiled again. Tough fight - no injury. In kyokushin karate boys punch each other in the stomachs without gloves and in mma and thaiboxing kicks and knees to the midsection are without protection anyway. With good training and hard abs boys and even some girls can endure many hard punches in the stomach, so thats no problem. In northern Thailand they had youth fights with helmets and without gloves. I would say the fights were more aggressive, because the heads were protected and the boys didn`t mind to take punches in their tummys. Sometimes they don`t even try protect their stomachs, they just tighten their abs and punch and knee each others midsections. So in my opinion the main danger in full contact youth fights are brain damages and face injuries aren't good either. So helmets or fights without strikes to the head are good in youth fights. But punches, kicks and knees to the body are no problem and wearing body protection would be exaggerated. MMA and Thaiboxing should be tough, but not with lasting damages. What is your opinion and experience about full contact youth fights and protective gear?

In our gym the rule is one month no sparring after a concussion.

I think it is very hard to fight under different rules. Sometimes I do sparring with boxers in our gym and I always want to use kicks and knees. I would have to train for a few months only boxing if I wanted to compete in a boxing fight. And I would have to do lots of sparrring.

I think the main reason why it is hard to beat thaiboxers in thailand, is usually start very young with training and competition. And they train more and harder. And even young boys fight for money to help their families, so the motivation is very high.