bakpao

Yes, I will expand on it, I didn't even write half of what I wanted to, I had all these good ideas and then when it came to writing it I was so tired it all came out poorly written. I'll finish it tomorrow. I also want to learn more about lethwei (Burmese boxing) since they've started to use gloves in some of their fights it seems. And there's even Muay Lao and Tomoi, but I don't know much about those haha. Yes Keo fights on Thai Fight, he got KO'd by Yodsanklai also, but the way he fights is just... relentless, big heart. He has a short highlight video on his IG https://www.instagram.com/p/5pOoM5jIoZ he's very powerful. I actually really want to see him fight Yodsanklai with gloves on, gloves can change a lot, I think he'd lose but... maybe not as badly.

So it's the 13th today, and I rewrote about the history of Kun Khmer to the best of my knowledge. I'll try to complete this soon, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. Kun Khmer History: The ancient art of Khmer fighting is called Bokator, which dates back to the 9th century and was used by the Cambodian soldiers in unarmed combat. Over the years it developed into competitions against other boxers which was known as Pradal Serey. The original Pradal Serey competitions were held in the dirt and surrounded by an audience whom would act as their ring. For these competitions the boxers would wrap their hands in rope, and of course some would put glass or other sharp objects in the rope wraps to give them an advantage. During the colonial period in Cambodia by the French (1863-1953) the Europeans decided to modernize the sport, which included adding a boxing ring, western boxing gloves, timed rounds and a ruleset, since the hardcore fights of the past had almost no rules. After the modernization by the French, Pradal Serey was growing strong, Cambodia's Boxing Federation (CBF) formed in 1961 and all referees/fighters/judges had to be licensed by them. Although village competitions were fought regularly without any licensing, any event held on TV had to do so under the CBF. So Pradal Serey was as well regulated as a sport can be in SEA. Khmers would fight regularly against the Thai's and from my understanding were at a similar skill level, so they were good fighters. This was all until 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came into power led by Pol Pot, and if you don't know about the Khmer Rouge Regime, I'll just write briefly about it... The plan was to completely destroy a modern society and replace it with an agricultural society, and in doing so they murdered anyone with an education/skills or even for just wearing glass's since that was a 'sign' of intelligence, the remainder population was put into hardcore labour camps and were set to be re-educated (brainwashed) into the new governments regime. Even though most boxers were uneducated and came from poor backgrounds, they had a skillset, which was seen as having an advantage over the society that the regime wanted to create, so they were also murdered. Any Pradal Serey teachers/boxers that were well known were the first to be murdered, so basically the less well known you were as a fighter or teacher, the higher chance you had of surviving, which meant that the most that did survive were low level teachers or fighters. Many Khmers fled to Thailand and other countries, and the Pradal Serey teachers/boxers worked in Muay Thai camps as padmen or would fight locally under a fake Thai name in order to make a living. The Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979 and afterwards the Vietnamese occupied Cambodia until 1993, and from 1979 until 1987 martial arts were banned. Although many teachers started teaching again after the Rouge was overthrown, it still wasn't safe. The reason being was that some of the population still supported the regime, which included the policemen and since they were under the Vietnamese occupation where martial arts were banned the Vietnamese police and the bad Khmer police caused problems for the teachers. So many of the teachers taught in complete secret and it wasn't completely safe until around 2000 in certain areas, although boxing events started again in the 1990's I believe. After the Khmer Rouge Regime, the Khmers tried to get rid of the horrible past, so they renamed it from Pradal Serey to Kun Khmer. Kun Khmer is basically what you'd see today, I believe the level might've been higher during the Pradal Serey time, but unless there's video footage its hard to know. Thailand vs Cambodia: There's actually disputes between Cambodia and Thailand about where the art originated. According to what I read online is that the Indochinese boxing arts came from India, I've actually read that a lot, but I personally don't know... Anyway, many Cambodians are angry/upset/annoyed with the Thais. In the Khmer's view the art originated in Cambodia and that the other countries developed their arts (tomoi, muay thai) from the Mon-Khmer people, that is how they believe Muay Thai originated - from the Mon-Khmer people. The reason they are upset is simply because the Thai's have made it famous and world-widely known as Muay Thai without giving any credit to the people/country from where they got the art from. According to wikipedia Cambodia proposed an offer to Thailand to rename it 'Sovannaphum boxing' or 'SEA boxing' in order to unite all the different variations (tomoi, muay lao, lethwei, etc) under the same name, but Thailand rejected. All of these points are basically leading to the point of why you won't see many Cambodians fighting in Thailand, but you will see a lot of Thai's fighting in Cambodia. For a Khmer boxer to fight under 'Muay Thai' is very shameful and it can really affect their reputation, but there is a lot of money to be found in Muay Thai... Cambodian promoters have found they can make a lot of money by bringing over (questionable) Thai's to fight the Khmer boxers, you will literally see the Cambodian audience go wild. If you look at the videos on YouTube with the most views, it is also the Khmer vs Thai ones and the Thai's name is often never in the title, for example 'Vong noy vs Thai' 'Keo Rumchong vs Thai', etc. Although you can find some really good competitive Thai vs Khmer fights. So most involved Kun Khmer fan/fighter/teacher/promoter seem to have a negative view on the Thai's because of Muay Thai, the only Thai boxer I've seen Khmer people support is Buakaw, and Buakaw has fought in Cambodia a few times (against westeners) and he's from Khmer descent, I think...? Kun Khmer vs Muay Thai: Uncomplete The differences, so I don't know how many people on this forum actually watch Kun Khmer, its actually very entertaining. The Khmer boxers tend to focus more on throwing a lot of strikes and being very aggressive, they tend to ignore the clinch and if they do clinch it doesn't last long. For me, a lot of Kun Khmer fights are like watching the golden era in Thailand, the fighters are relentless and I've never seen them dancing off round 5. The way they throw their techniques seem to be similar but, not the same. If you watch a lot of Kun Khmer you'll start to pick up on the differences, the judging is also different as is some of the clothing worn etc. Fighters, personal favourites at the moment: Keo Rumchong - famous for heavy punches and low kicks, Ot Phuthong vs Keo (Ot's kinda old in this). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuHxRrti5M Sen Rady - fought at lumpinee, fights a lot of thai's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgI0YBKluHQ Long Sophy Meun Sokhuch good stoppage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE39zh54I2E Past fighters: Bird Kham is probably the most famous Khmer fighter ever, he actually still fights now... but its sad to watch, better to watch him 10 years ago. Ot Phuthong he was on the fight quest I think it's called, as the final fight. He's very good, had a good fight against Keo Rumchong Eh Phutong or maybe he is most famous? Very good also, both brothers are. Meas Chantha fought a lot of foreigners. To write: add training/gym videos female fighters

1. Work on my clinch, big time. 2. Learn trips and be able to use them (I feel this is separate to the first). 3. Train in Thailand 2x a day for as long as possible. 4. First Muay Thai fight in Thailand, and have a minimum of 3 fights, hopefully 10 but depends if any injuries occur so I'll keep my goal low. 5. Volunteer at an orphanage, I've seen some orphanages that teach the kids Muay Thai so even though I'm not a master or anything it would still be good to help them with the basics or just hold pads. 6. Make friends using Muay Thai. :smile:

Shadow boxing in the mirror, if you know you're supposed to do the technique, even if you're doing it incorrectly then this is really helpful because you can basically make adjustments to yourself at your own pace. A trainer I had said the reason one of his fighters was such a successful fighter in a short period of time was because he was a perfectionist, he would shadow box in the mirror tweaking something the trainer had told him until it was correct. You don't have to go that extreme over it, but I really think shadow boxing in the mirror helps technique, its similar to when you watch a video of yourself training and you notice everything you did wrong. I don't really have any other suggestions, as I can't motivate myself enough to train at home I really need someone there. If you find any cool ideas you use then please share, might be useful to others who want to train at home. Actually, to add onto this, I'm not sure if this is any help but I saw a pretty hardcore homemade gym in Myanmar and maybe you can steal some of the things, or maybe not, still a good watch.

Hello & thanks. I think a welcoming gym is also very important as it can help you feel really comfortable, and of course having good instructors that actually want you to improve is the best; as that is the main reason we go to Thailand, haha. I will have a look at the gyms you suggested and appreciate your time and response, thank you. I wouldn't say I'm trying to avoid the people there, rather just I settle into places with less people easier. I was raised in a small village, and I'm not really used to meeting new people so it is hard for me, and the more people the more uncomfortable I am. I think that makes sense. So I was just trying to look for a gym with less people to make me more comfortable, then I can transition more smoothly into the new environment. I'm kind of like a cat, cats are pretty introverted. Thanks Kevin, really helpful response. Not many people Thai's included, I don't mind people trying to talk to me since they're probably trying to be polite, I just don't adjust well to many people as I just mentioned above. I will have a look Petchrungruang, its a good idea to start with the morning actually, as for me it just takes a long time to adjust into new places. I think a lot of introverts feel the same (?), so if I got comfortable in the morning sessions it would be a lot easier to transition into the afternoons since I would be comfortable with some people there. I appreciate all the responses, I'll probably be going to Thailand in a couple months so I'll update the gym(s) I decided to try.

As long as its fair then who cares what gender they used to be...

I used to hate sparring bigger people and so I'd be afraid of hitting them really light, as I was scared if I hit them hard by accident they'd hit me hard back and it'd escalate. I think its normal though, when I used to get my friends to come training and we'd spar at the end I use to have to tell him "hit me, I don't mind" and his punches would always fall short of my face and I'd have to beg him to hit me. I think once you start to hit people and you realise it doesn't hurt them, then maybe it'll be better for you? I'm not sure, keep sparring and practicing.

Hiii, I want to go over to Thailand this year and get some training in, but since I'm very introverted I kinda just want a gym with not many people I know this is kinda hard since less people = less business... but there is probably some gyms with less people? Or maybe in low season (which time period is low season) the gyms are less busy? IDK. I don't mind about the area/province either. I'm male, 18 from England... :) Thankssss, Bakpao