Women's Muay Thai

Women Muay Thai
Women's boxing

Superstitions about female boxers
Promoting Women's fights
Young female Thai fighters
Women's Muay Thai bouts


Superstitions about female boxers


Traditionally, women were banned from entering the Muay Thai boxing ring and there was no women’s boxing in Thailand. This fact originates from long-held superstitions that a female presence may destroy a Muay Thai boxer’s skill, making him vulnerable to injuries. The belief is that female boxers (Nak Muay Ying) will jinx any Muay Thai ring they fight in. At Horizon Thai Boxing Camp we encourage men, women and children to train alongside one another. Women’s boxing competitions now take place all over Thailand and we promote women's boxing matches at our Muay Thai fight nights. Women who train at Horizon Thai Boxing Camp can compete in a women’s boxing match if that is their aim. Under no circumstances are men and women allowed to compete against one another.


Promoting Women's fights

In the 1960s current president of the Muay Thai Institute (MTI), Amnuay, a former fighter himself, tried to popularize women's Muay Thai in Thailand by holding female bouts at Bangkok's famed Lumpinee Stadium. He soon gave up as the predominantly male Thai fans refused to watch, or more crucially bet on, the women's matches. In the following decades, the only place to see women boxing has been at provincial temple fairs and festivals. Things are gradually changing and different stadiums in Thailand now work to different rules. Lumpinee and Rajadamnoen, the two big Bangkok Muay Thai boxing stadiums, still ban women from entering the ring, and do not promote women’s boxing. Some Thai boxing arenas have separate men and women’s boxing rings. Many Muay Thai training camps in Thailand now accept women, and female fighters these days wear the mongkon (head circlet) and prajed (woven armband) as the men do. Some Muay Thai fighters still object to the idea of a woman touching their mongkon, while others are more liberal.


Young female Thai fighters

The Muay Thai Institute (MTI) is located on the outskirts of Bangkok. Teenage girls train there six days a week. The ground floor of the building houses Rangsit stadium, which boasts Thiland's first officially sanctioned boxing ring for women. It was essentially impetus from abroad that created a resurgence of interest in Muay Thai kick boxing for Thai women. Over the last decade, women throughout the world have been taking up Muay Thai boxing as a form of exercise and self defense. Wanting to test their skills in the martial art's home country, these foreign female boxers came to Thailand only to discover there were few qualified local opponents. Thai women weren't being properly trained. Under pressure to even up the Thai boxing scores MTI president, Amnuay rethought the idea of promoting women's fights. He decided to provide women with an on-site Muay Thai school and in conjunction with the World Muay Thai Council (WMC), he turned Rangsit stadium into a certified women's Muay Thai training facility.


Women's Muay Thai bouts

Once inside the ring, Thai women fight just as intensely as the men. The only difference between the five-round matches is that men fight three-minute rounds with one-minute breaks, while women go for two minutes with two-minutes breaks. As in men's Muay Thai, each match begins with the ceremonial Ram Muay ritual dance. Like the men, the women fight barefoot and wear no protective gear apart from a padded bra and crotch guard. (Amateurs cover the head, elbows, knees and waist with padded guards.) Rangsit's fortnightly matches attract female fighters from all over Thailand, Australasia and Europe. Compared to matches held at Rajadamnoen and Lumpinee Stadiums, the events rarely pull in a large crowd. But the low turnout doesn't deter the contenders. The current crop of Thai women fighters are mostly teenagers who come from low-income, rural backgrounds. Boxing offers them a full-time career with good travel and money-making opportunities. But most plan to quit the profession in their early 20s to get married. On the other hand, the realities of life outside Thailand mean few foreign women can devote themselves full-time to a career of Thai boxing. They are often considerably older, sometimes by 10 years or more, than their Thai opponents. In a society like Thailand, where age correlates with experience, the older foreigners are assumed to be stronger fighters. To even out the perception of the odds, women sometimes subtract a few years from their age. Win or lose, each young proffessional woman boxer gets paid enough to sustain a sense of pride and accomplishment. It seems women's boxing is now to be a permanent feature of Muay Thai boxing in Thailand.