The 10 Greatest Muay Thai Fighters According To Me: 8-7

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 18:25 Tuesday, 15 March 2011 13:35

Written by Brent

Yesterday I started a series about the 10 best fighters in Muay Thai history according to me. 

Here is part two, with #8, and #7

8 Boonlai Sor Thanikul: While Boonlai was a great technician but he often found himself forgetting he's the superior fighter, and frequently got into hard fought battles with his opponents. This is one of the main reasons he lost important fights, and came close to winning fighter of the year many times, but never did. Nonetheless his skill is unquestionable. As age caught up to him and he began losing more fights, he got involved in working a fight. After the work, he was basically finished with fighting in big shows, and was forced to fight in small shows making small money. Soon after he completely quit the sport and began training fighters more frequently at his gym. Many Thai's say he was the most skilled fighter they've ever seen in the gym. But knowing he worked a fight its impossible for me to put him any higher than #8. Here you can see just how good he was. Even a bit past his prime he still thoroughly dissected Jongsanan Fairtex, who is a great fighter in his own right. There are plenty of Boonlai fights out there so check 'em out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RxOZmGzWmY

7 Poot Lorlek: Before CroCop was destroying people with his great left high kick there was Poot Lorlek. The 1974 fighter of the year, and maybe the greatest head kicker in Muay Thai history. He knocked out at least 20 people with head kicks in just 80 or so fights. He started boxing at the age of 16 and soon became a familiar face on television. After becoming the man at Lumpinee Stadium he moved over to Raja and became champion, and highest paid fighter in all of Thailand. While offensively very gifted it was his movement and brains that made him the elite fighter he came to be. Its almost as if he knew the move his opponent was going to do well in advance. Over the course of 80+ fights he was never knocked down. Like a lot of fighters he came back several times after retirement with mixed success. He was a trainer for sometime after retirement, but now lives on a farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNBqTihwh7w

6-5 Tomorrow

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