Shifting Lenses

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is to take in a sporting event. My parents also enjoy this, so we have been lucky enough to see a variety of sports in many different locations over the years.

Even though we have been to Thailand, my parents have never wanted to see Thai boxing. Muay Thai is sometimes called the “Art of Eight Limbs” because it utilizes eight points of contact: 2 fists, 2 elbows, 2 knees, and 2 shins. Many hotels provide Muay Thai lessons and workouts. One hotel we stayed at had a whole Muay Thai pavilion.

It is the national sport of Thailand. You see advertisements all over Thailand, but on Koh Samui, the posters and billboards are particularly prevalent.

My parents decided long ago that we would not be attending a fight. If you look online, you will see that the sport is a bit controversial, with groups bringing up concerns about exploitation and child labor. The sport is said to heavily recruit from Thailand’s most impoverished regions, and fighters often live in “camps” from a young age. In fact, thousands of children, some as young as 6 or 8 years old, compete professionally. This brings up a huge number of concerns over brain health and development.

The potential income from fighting can lead impoverished people to take huge risks in the ring because a single win can earn more than a monthly salary in rural provinces.

So, I don’t see us at a Muay Thai match in person anytime soon. That said, stadiums are professionalizing and clearly seem to be applying more Western boxing standards to the sport (like the one in this advertisement in Koh Samui). Child safety is also a topic of active debate in the Thai Parliament. While changes and legislation have been made in recent years, it is not easy to modernize the sport for the 21st century without losing the gritty, traditional essence that makes it “Muay Thai.”