Thread: One man’s fight to save traditional Muay Thai boxing

Wisarut Wat Suksiriwararak is an old Muay Thai fighter from Pai in Northern Thailand. He now runs his own gym in Pai, passing down his knowledge of Thailand’s traditional martial art to both locals and visitors from around the world.

Over the past few decades, the authentic practices of Muay Thai have slowly begun to fade away. This historic martial art now centers around financial incentives and entertainment as Thailand’s culture becomes increasingly commercialized. Filmmaker Marko Randelovic shows Suksiriwararak's fight to preserve the traditional aspects of the sport in his short film "Fighter: The Legend of a Muay Thai Boxer."

first they must learn how to do "THE HOKEY POKEY"

I'm fat, I guess I can do Muay Thai

Over the past few decades, the authentic practices of Muay Thai have slowly begun to fade away. This historic martial art now centers around financial incentives and entertainment as Thailand’s culture becomes increasingly commercialized

Go figure. As martial law and feudalism dies out, so do the necessary (peasant) fighting arts. Started with the availability of gunpowder and small arms quite a long time ago.
Most of the Muay Thai fights in the big stadiums in Bangkok have been fixed by the bookies since the start anyway. A lot of their fighters are basically indentured slaves, obtained from orphanages around Thailand, and forced to fight as young kids. I remember so-called Muay Thai "masters" in the UK in the 80's being total frauds, just interested in milking their naive Western "students" for every penny available.
It's only Western interest in Muay Thai that has kept the sport (because that's what it is, now) alive in the last few decades. And the Thais nicked it off the Khmers in the first place.

Originally Posted by kmart

As martial law and feudalism dies out, so do the necessary (peasant) fighting arts.

Muay Thai gyms catering to foreigners seem to be getting more and more common though, so I'm not sure founding one in Pai is based on a passion to keep the sport alive in Thailand.

Crap video - One man’s fight to save traditional Muay Thai boxing - but it doesn't say how the guy is fighting to save traditional Thai boxing or how he plans to do so.

One can only guess or infer that he wants all Thai boxing to be amateur and unpaid and that if no Buddhist chants are said before a fight, the fight is not called Thai boxing.

Or perhaps he's saying it the Thai way (by not saying it at all and letting everyone guess for themselves) and is referring to the fixing of fights as per post 4 above.