Sorry I can't find a link, but if you can get a hold of the January 2006 issue of Stuff magazine, there is a very disturbing article about under-age fights held on the Thai-Burmese border.

I'm sorry to tell you but on this Thai New year, I'm going to Kanchanaburi Province to watch some MT vs Lethwei fights, five bouts are kids, with three bouts being adults and maybe 1 or two being a caucasian vs a Burmese/Thai.

-Taison out

I had put the article up on the forum of my site
Link to Article in Stuff Magazine

Thanks very much, Phil! Great job.

great article!

though yes the conditions are pretty bad, its not something that I would say is completely wrong. Something like this isnt as common in the western world as it is over in countries like Thailand and Myanmar(Burma). These kids live in tough times and tough conditions and with the kind of society the live in they became boxers. And many kids of the rich and the poor send their kids to become boxers because of the money. Though of course many of these kids get to train in real camps and box in official matches, there are the less forutnate that have to box in unofficial matches who have to deal with a much more brutal side of the sport. And this doesnt just go for Thais, the Burmese experience the same and if not worse (especially for the refugees). Their only method of "high" income for them is to box...

Thanks for sharing the article with us. Its quite an emotional article

Video of a children's match:

http://comegetyousome.com/video/kid_muaythai.wmv

Pretty rough for kids, IMHO. Note the elbow to the top of the other kid's head near the end! I am having a hard time with this.

Martial arts is good for kids, but not when it involves this level of brutality.

Yeah I'm with Taison on this one - why?
a) Its none of my business what these little fiends get up to in their spare time;
b) If you want to be a proper Muay Thai don you have to start young;
c) The West's lack of grit and bloodthirst will be its downfall.

Matt, next time you get bored and feel like sharing your liberal [censored] with the rest of us, why not try a bit of this:

Taison, there's a saying where i come from that addresses your signature: "Only fascios make threats"

So Village, I assume you'll be entering YOUR kids in these kinds of tournaments soon? Assuming you can find someone dumb enough to mate with your hypocritical ass?

We all have different opinions on this. For me I am with Matt although I do agree that it is the childs choice to do it. The main reason why many do it though is because they have nothing left to live for.
But just think if it were your children then you would propably stop them and would think it was sick.
So I agree with both views in a way.

My kids? No, i'm not that stupid - too many hard knocks to the head is bad for anyone's brain, let alone a child's.
My family are all academics, so I wont be encouraging them to fight competitively as it would [censored] up their most powerful weapon.


edited for off-topic BS

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Exactly what MattJ was trying to get across. Please correct me if Im wrong MattJ

You are not wrong, Tez. Hypocrite to the end, is Village.

And has he reached the end?

Children of that age shouldn't be making that kind of choice. I doubt these kids had a choice anyway.