Afghan Boxing

[JIM KELLY]

where are the polynesian folks? There are thousands of david tua's about..

[Taylor2010]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

Um...thought the fight was on Afghanistan with no Afghan boxers....am I wrong?

Afghan fighter (German born or German linked) against a teak tough guy from Tanzania

[ishy]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

UFC is tapping up India. MMA will be the sport of choice for India, Afghanistan and loads of Asian/Middle Eastern countries I bet (Singapore as well)

Originally Posted by Uncle Rico

But it does make you think, though. The talent pool in that part of the world could be ridiculously good if tapped.

There was an Indian guy who won a bronze in the boxing at the Beijing games and he became a massive celebrity at home cos of that. Usually in India it's all about cricket and other sports are pretty much ignored but this guy crossed over. So I'd say the interest is there.

Like Rico says there could be so much talent hidden away over there. Just needs someone to take a risk and pump some money in, set up gyms, get good trainers across etc. and you could have a whole new market for boxing.

[boranbkk]

Originally Posted by scotchpieirnbru

Yeah its usually the Vietnamese and Thai and other Indo-chinese that are the smaller people. Chinese are a bit bigger usually.

Speaking of finding tough people from obscure parts of the planet, are there any fighters from Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam worth their salt? Surely some tough Vietcong Characters from these parts? The Vietnamese have been fighting with every c*** since their history began.

Sorry to the thread opener for digressing a bit...

Thais are the regions official badasses due to the MT conveyer belt and long history of combat sports, "the Mexicans of Asia". Most North East Thais are ethnic Laos anyway (Issan), so there isn’t much of a “toughness” difference the same goes for ethnic Khmers that sit on both sides of the Thai borders. However, the Cambodians all though very durable on the whole are taking time to catch up skillwise with the Thais, the Burmese due to Leth Wei have produced some real nut jobs here's the Burmese No 1 badass Tway Ma Shaung ( the smaller fighter in the 1st clip), his spirit and durability are insane……

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR1NNSw1KDo[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAZ7IPC_zgw[/ame]


The Vietnamese aren't really noted for thier combat skills, although there is no doubting thier durabilty a la the vietnam war. They've become too Sinofied.

[scotchpieirnbru]

Thanks for the vids boran, used to do Mauy Thai myself for about 4 years, good sport. What Leth Wei? is it endemic to Burma? I've never heard of it before....

[boranbkk]

Originally Posted by scotchpieirnbru

Thanks for the vids boran, used to do Mauy Thai myself for about 4 years, good sport. What Leth Wei? is it endemic to Burma? I've never heard of it before....

Lethwei is Burma's traditional answer to MT, although on the whole it fails miserable against MT. It's very different and not as effective as Muay Thai. It tends to be abit wild and scappy with a whole mixture of stuff including takedowns. Tway's style is not traditonal, it's very Muay Thai influenced, I reckon he was schooled and fought across the border in Thailand for many years.

Lethwei is usually no gloves and traditionally no weight classes. The sports recently been modernised in Burma, there are now two strands of Lethwei fights that currently take place regulalry. The newer more international version has I think around 10 or 12 weight classes, but the old skool version has none. Both strands are popular.

[Abertawe]

Well the only Afghan I know personally is a right tough bastard, therefor Afghan boxing future world contenders...

[scotchpieirnbru]

Originally Posted by boranbkk

Lethwei is Burma's traditional answer to MT, although on the whole it fails miserable against MT. It's very different and not as effective as Muay Thai. It tends to be abit wild and scappy with a whole mixture of stuff including takedowns. Tway's style is not traditonal, it's very Muay Thai influenced, I reckon he was schooled and fought across the border in Thailand for many years.

Lethwei is usually no gloves and traditionally no weight classes. The sports recently been modernised in Burma, there are now two strands of Lethwei fights that currently take place regulalry. The newer more international version has I think around 10 or 12 weight classes, but the old skool version has none. Both strands are popular.

Interesting stuff, the wee man really whips those leg kicks in, does real damage with them. Was it a Thai he was fighting in the first vid?

[HeavyT]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

UFC is tapping up India. MMA will be the sport of choice for India, Afghanistan and loads of Asian/Middle Eastern countries I bet (Singapore as well)

Although not a "sport", I heard there was a very successful wrestling show over in India that started recently, and most of the people in the audience thought it was legit!

Here it is in fact:-
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjAYxMhby2A[/ame]



It's good to see pro boxing spreading anywhere, growth is growth and this could inspire a future great to lace up.

[boranbkk]

Originally Posted by scotchpieirnbru

Interesting stuff, the wee man really whips those leg kicks in, does real damage with them. Was it a Thai he was fighting in the first vid?

No a Burmese, that fight was in Burma. A good Thai would have too much for him, but Tway would make it tough that's for sure.

[The Chameleon Boxer]

Originally Posted by dannyboy147

As a whole, Afghans are scrawny in build and short in height. They have cracking beards though so that should stand them in good stead.

Take it you haven't met many Pathans DannyBoy? Afghanistan is a country with many ethnic groups from Tajiks, Turkics, Pushtuns, Indians, Baloch etc.

Do a bit of research about other groups before making silly generalisations that make you seem like a simpleton.

[Big Ears]

Originally Posted by boranbkk

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]


The Vietnamese aren't really noted for thier combat skills, although there is no doubting thier durabilty a la the vietnam war. They've become too Sinofied.

and to bring things full circle and back around to boxing, I'm guessing this Thomas Hentzberger is the same guy that has fought both Yuriokis Gamboa and Andy Lee among many others. If so it seems he'd handier at certain martial arts than he is at boxing (of course being in decent shape helps).

[boranbkk]

Originally Posted by Big Ears

and to bring things full circle and back around to boxing, I'm guessing this Thomas Hentzberger is the same guy that has fought both Yuriokis Gamboa and Andy Lee among many others. If so it seems he'd handier at certain martial arts than he is at boxing (of course being in decent shape helps).

Sorry Big Ears, I don't know anything about the European guy, but nice connection if it's same Thomas Hentzberger.....

[Lilo]

@BoranBKK @Fleaman

Have you heard of Ekapol Yothinpanawet? Was he fighting in Muay Thai/Kickboxing or anything?

[boranbkk]

Originally Posted by Lilo

@BoranBKK @Fleaman

Have you heard of Ekapol Yothinpanawet? Was he fighting in Muay Thai/Kickboxing or anything?

I've never heard of him, but it's possible he has had different names in his career as most Thais have multiple names depending on sponsers, gyms etc. It is almost 99.9% certain he was a Muay Thai fighter before he was a boxer. Almost all Thai fighters start their fighting life at around the age of 8 in one of the thousands of Muay Thai gyms and proabaly have up to 60 pro fights before they are 16.

Western boxing gyms are very very rare and almost totally inaccesable to the average Thai unless it's through a military cadet program or they've been spotted and poached by one of the few pro boxing gyms. On occasion you'll get a convert that stays in his MT gym out of loyalty and cuts a lonley figure going through his western boxing routine next to his MT brothers.

Some fighters flip between both sports depending on success or finacial oppurunity. It looks like this may be the case with your man as he seems to have had a 10 year gap, which suggests he's been training guys in an MT gym or fighting MT, but no doubt at all he started his fight career as an MT fighter not a boxer.

The Atlanta olympics gold medal winner Somluck Khamsing just had a Muay Thai comeback in a big stadium fight just last month in his 40s.