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So, I’m currently planning on going to Thailand for 2 months next year to live at a gym and potentially fight once, and I’m wondering what gym/s y’all would recommend for me given my background and the fact that I’m quite new at Muay Thai. I was a competitive boxer at my university for 2 years, getting 5 fights under my belt and 3 wins, and for the past 4 months I’ve been doing some kickboxing at an mma gym. On the one hand, I’m a southpaw with great boxing and a love for low/lower kicks (I never kick above the body) so Sitmonchai comes off as a chance to capitalize on my current skills. On the other hand, a clinch-heavy gym like Kem would let me become worthwhile in the clinch, where I’m currently useless. Any input would be greatly appreciated; be it what I should look for in a gym or specific recommendations, anything’s welcome!!

I'm new here, and I'd love to get some reactions to my post on "Good toughness and bad toughness. Why combat sports are fun and good for you". (Emma kindly posted it on her blog.) It's my attempt to rationalize my love of combat sports with my dislike of violence. Although military metaphors are common in combat sports (and I've been known to wear camo shorts myself), the big difference is that you are fighting in the ring because that's what you really want to do. All thoughts are welcome.

Hi everyone. What do you think about dedicating a part of the training to western boxing? When I train on my own muay thai skills on the heavy bag I always split every type of shot. For example I do 20 minutes only roundhouse kicks, 20 minutes teeps, 20 minutes knees and elbows. I prefer to do like that due to a better focus on every single shot. I think Boxing is usually underrated and undertrained in muay thai. So do you think that making some boxing lessons would be good? Of course you can't do everything you do in a boxing fight like weaving, but I think punches would become better right?

This is the original post from 2010. Putting the content here because it is awesome. Her blog The Glowing Edge 9 Reasons to Start Boxing After 40 By Lisa Creech Bledsoe in Boxing, Over 40 1. Street credThink about the difference between saying, “Yeah, I play a little basketball,” versus “The stitches don’t bother me. I have another fight next month; you should come.” C’mon, it’s just cool. And when was the last time you had legitimate Cool Points, when you downloaded the Zippo lighter app to your iPhone? Puh-leeze. 2. Business smartsIf there is one thing you must do to thrive in the ring, it’s develop the ability to think clearly under massive pressure. That translates really nicely to the business world. Mergers and acquisition? Hostile takeovers? High finance? Forty-seven third graders? Bring it. 3. Get your mind off of workForget business smarts, if you’ve been racing your career motorcycle this long, you might want to ease up on that throttle and get off the bike now and then. It feels great to unsuit and pound the crap out of something. And taking a few good hits will definitely clear out the last of your desire to work 24/7, I promise. 4. Increase your bone densityOk, you’re over 40 and it’s time to lay off the loaded potato skins at T.G.I. Friday’s and get under that bench press bar. Your bones aren’t going to get stronger unless you bring them some game, and weightlifting — a boxer’s primary tool for building muscle — is just the way to do it. 5. Muscle is sexyAll that weightlifting and other training is going to pay off in terms of the way your body looks, feels, and delivers. You’ll like what you see in the mirror, and so will whoever’s looking at you when you step out of the shower. Hubba hubba. 6. Me timeIt wasn’t so long ago that you couldn’t take your eyes off the kids for a second or they’d eat all the buds of the neighbor’s peonies and you’d be on the phone with Poison Control. These days, they’re a little older and you only have to worry about paying the extra car insurance, who they’re dating, whether they’re texting and driving, and… whoops, sorry about that. My point was going to be that you can get away some nights and have “me time” without them. Boxing fits the bill. 7. Mentor someoneOk, if you just don’t get enough with the kids, you’ll find some at the gym. They will be faster and have a higher punch count and they will bring a serious press to you in the ring, but you’ll be able to outlast and out think them. And you have the maturity to see a much bigger picture than they do. Why not be a good influence and also kick their butts (in the later rounds) too? Now that’s what I call a satisfying mentoring relationship. 8. Get out of your comfort zoneLet’s face it, you’ve been trying to find a place of comfort and ease for years. Stop that, it’s not good for you. Get off your butt and out of your rut and learn something new. Growing means risks, and boxing has just the right balance of risk and safety to give you a jolt and still send you home in one piece. Mostly one piece. 9. Eat betterBelieve me, you are not going to work hard enough to go a few rounds and then sabotage yourself with crap eating. If you take to boxing, you’re going to want to support it every way you can, and that will spur you to make positive changes to the way you fuel your body. You’re sick of sports bar food anyway. This is gonna be purely delicious. There’s never been a better time than now. - See more at: http://www.theglowingedge.com/9-reasons-to-start-boxing-after-40/#sthash.pmKrBm92.dpuf

Found this video and article via Muay Thai on The Brain's facebook page. "Boxing journeymen: sport's biggest losers or unappreciated artists?" Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "professional" fighter and what records really mean.

In this article Clarissa talks about her very difficult childhood and ultimately about her repeated abuse: "A turning point came when she spent a week at her Aunt Mary's home. When it was time to go home, Shields pleaded not to be made to go. Her aunt asked what was wrong. Shields was reluctant to say because if her own mother didn't believe her, why would anyone else? She just wanted to stay where it was safe. Her aunt knew something was seriously wrong, so she gently quizzed her niece. And slowly, Claressa let it slip. She couldn't vocalize exactly what it was, but made her points when Aunt Mary handed her a baby doll and asked her to show her what the men did to her. Her aunt told her mother, but Shields said it still didn't resonate with her mother. Before long, Shields was shipped off to live with her grandmother. In her grandmother, she found a friend, a confidante, a sympathetic ear." also about how she took custody of her cousin's baby after the 2012 Olympics: "Her cousin, whom she refers to as "Remmi Savage," had two children when she became pregnant with a third. But she didn't want the baby. She was trying to have an abortion. She needed roughly $500, but didn't have it. She approached Shields. "I told her I didn't believe in abortion and so I wasn't giving her any money to do that," Shields said. The cousin, though, didn't give up. She cobbled together $400 and met with Shields one more time, pleading for the final $100. At that point, Shields made her a proposition. "I really wanted a baby myself and I wanted to have one when I turned 18 right after I won the Olympics [in 2012]," she said. "But if it would have happened, it would have messed up my body going into the 2016 Olympics. I couldn't get pregnant because of that. So I said to her, 'You have the baby, and I'll adopt her.' " Shockingly, her cousin agreed. Shields took custody of the child and began raising her as her own. She said she's in the process of a formal adoption, though she hasn't completed the process yet. But she has had Klaressa living with her, and on days when she couldn't find a baby sitter, she’s skipped going to the gym to train and worked out in her home. "I'd shadow box for an hour-and-a-half with the baby right there," she said. Being responsible for a young life gave Shields an epiphany of sorts. She thought of the woman she'd heard speak at the University of Michigan-Flint. She recalled her own difficult childhood. She looked at her baby. And she knew more than anything that she didn't want what happened to her to ever happen to anyone else. Shields knew she couldn't completely prevent that, but she also knew that her story could serve as motivation for others who might feel trapped, helpless and have nowhere to turn. She decided to present her story to the world."

This is a small, but big deal. Shorter female rounds are linked to all sorts of ideas about the difference between female fighters and male fighters, stamina concerns as well as economic consequences. Lots of details about the struggle for longer rounds in sanctioned boxing in the US. "The issue of three-minute rounds has been a crucible for women’s boxing, and lies at the heart of legitimizing the hard work and effort that goes into professional boxing contests between female fighters including such matters as television time and the pay checks female boxers receive, which are paltry compared to their male counterparts. The “joke” is that women are told they receive less pay because they only fight two-minute rounds! It is also part of a continuing argument on issues of female stamina and even whether the monthly menstrual cycle affects the ability of women to fight longer. The latter was part of the argument used by the World Boxing Council (WBC) sanctioning body, which in supporting championship belts for women, has also waded into the fray by stating they would only sanction two-minute round, ten round bouts for women." and "Boxing trainers also agree that holding women to two-minute rounds is arbitrary at best. Veteran Lennox Blackmoore who has been training female champions since the late 1990s including Jill “the Zion Lion” Mathews the first woman to win a New York Daily News Golden Gloves contest in 1996 said, “I think that’s great. When a woman trains, she trains three minutes a round like anybody else. I don’t see why she shouldn’t fight that way. There are a lot of good women boxers, and it’ll show people what they can do. Jill Mathews fought ten rounds for a championship belt, but it could have three-minute rounds too, she had the experience and the endurance to do that because she trained that way.” The article is here: Three Minute Rounds for Female Boxing In New York State In Thailand it remains either 5x2 minute rounds or less often 3x3 minute rounds, though we thought for a moment in one of Sylvie's recent fights that 5x3 had been negotiate between parties. I think that is Susan of the documentary Fight Like a Girl.

Fightland article on New York's first gay boxing club. http://figh tland.vice.com/blog/velvet-gloves-is-new-york-citys-first-and-only-boxing-club-for-gay-men