# Deaths in the ring



## Jagermeister (Jan 20, 2006)

A friend of mine told me that in Thailand, there are approximately 70 deaths per year in the ring.  I thought this sounded ridiculously high, so I tried to research this.

I found this site - http://www.kalijkd-u.com/the_martial_arts/muay_thai.php - here's a quote from it.

"The main strength in Muay Thai is not just its destructive capacity; but in its training method. There are sometimes 30 to 50 deaths a year in the ring, however there are virtually no injuries in training!"

This is the only statistic I could find, and it didn't state where the numbers came from.  Are there really this many deaths per year?  If so, I'm wondering if anyone knows what the deaths per participant rate is, since there are so many more fighters and fights there each year.


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## Odin (Jan 23, 2006)

Whoa thaats scary,I have read though that in Thailand alot of the matches are controlled by mobsters whom gamble..apperantly in thailand fighters fight to the death as if they do not do good they risk being killed by a member of the mob,dekkers said that once he said ''you could fight a thai in denmark and he would be a completly different fighter then if you fight him in Thailand,he would have less pressure to win''.


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## Muay Thai Knee (Jan 23, 2006)

Relax guys. 

I'm gonna stop fighting out there soon. Go into retirement. Then the fatalities should lessen.</blatant lying> 

Sounds brutal.


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## Odin (Jan 23, 2006)

Muay Thai Knee said:
			
		

> Relax guys.
> 
> I'm gonna stop fighting out there soon. Go into retirement. Then the fatalities should lessen.</blatant lying>
> 
> Sounds brutal.


 
Lol you got there first I was going to say....''Its okay I hear Chuck Norris is there on vacation he'll be back soon!' lol


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## blackdiamondcobra (Jan 23, 2006)

I didnt find anything to correspond to that high number of actual deaths especially if you take into account the actual changes in safety, better refs, stoppages, medical attention and the recent rule which should be implemented shortly that a fighter can only fight once a month(I assume in the big stadiums). Alot of problems came and still come from the provincial fights or the smaller fights where there were problems with monitoring who the fighters are, refs, medical, etc. I would say in the 1980s through 2000 things changed alot in terms of safety.

The Late Hardy Stockman recorded this in his book, " During the period of February to April 1971, three boxers died as a result of knockdowns.  Bangkok had a particularly black season in 1966/67, when within one year, the metropolitan circuit circuit alone lost six fighters through ring deaths>"

The average prior to the 80s was 2 to 3 a year with some years higher like the ones sited above.  I was told today by one of the top researchers in Muay Thai that it might be as low as 1 or 2 per year with something like 10,000 bouts annually.  Of course like I said the provincial fights, bar fights and other events like that might up it a bit but those 1 or 2 might actually be from those type of fights.

I would like to check for any further info on this when I return to Thailand.


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## Jagermeister (Jan 23, 2006)

Yes, please do.  I'd love to learn more about this, and I just can't stand it when there's misinformation or hearsay circulating out there being reported as fact.  By the way, when are you planning your return to Thailand?


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## blackdiamondcobra (Jan 24, 2006)

Probably in a few weeks.

Most information I read is not very well researched and cross referenced.  The above information is probably close to the truth. Like I said in the past, the numbers were higher than recent times.


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