Ok, here the whole article for you man. The website also had those pictures, but unfortunately they didn't copy here.
crane.50megs.com/index6d.htmOrigin and Purpose of Chinese Martial Science Part 5
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A History of Kung Fu VS Muay Thai
Left: Hong Kong Taiji expert Hu Sheng in a 1958 Challenge in Ratchad**nern Stadium Bangkok. Right: His fellow Taiji fighter Zhang Yaoqiang. They were the pioneer Kung Fu fighters to face Muay Thai in the Ring. Both were knocked out under 1 round.
In the K1 fighting circuit today, the Muay Thai skill of 3x Champion Peter Aerts continues to dominate the ring. Why do we never see any Sanshou fighters ever competing in K1? One of the reasons why 'Sanshou' in Sport Wushu exist as it is today is due to the many defeats by Kung Fu fighters at the hands of Thai boxers in the past few decades. Sanshou today is virtually a watered down version of amateur Muay Thai. This shows an unwilling admittance of the superiority of Muay Thai techniques & the importance of contact sparring. Though inadequate, it is the best Sport Wushu can offer in reality application. Like amateur Thai boxers, Sanshou competitors are clad in padding from head to toe, but unlike them, they are disallowed elbow & knee attacks. Worse, they are not even allowed to use continuous strikes. Sanshou fighters are only allowed the low roundhouse kicks from the Muay Thai arsenal. Stand-up grappling in Sanshou is adequate, but it would still not be enough against Muay Thai. As a result, put an amateur Thai boxer & Sanshou fighter of similar experience together & the former would almost surely win. Why do the advocates of Sanshou not try to improve on this?
Left: 1 of the 5 Hong Kong Kung Fu fighters getting knocked out a 1974 Challenge in Lumpinee Stadium, Bangkok. Right: Another Hong Kong Kung Fu fighter whacked in a Muay Thai Expo in Hong Kong, 1981.
Kung Fu experts who fought with Thai boxers through the years always found themselves defenceless against a barrage of low/high roundhouses & elbow/knee strikes in the ring. Some of these experts had tremendous power - they could smash rocks & bricks with bare hands. Yet none of this power prove to be of any use at all in the face of rapid Muay Thai combos. Most of them could not even get a single blow to connect at all. On the other hand, Thai boxers see all sorts of openings in their rigid stances & took advantage of these to great effect. Almost all those Kung Fu fighters lost by knockout. What is the significance of these complete defeats?
Left: Wushu master Xu Xiaolong smashing a rock with his iron palm in a 1985 Friendly in Shanghai Stadium, China. Right: Xu's iron palm proved ineffective against his Thai opponent a few moments later. The match was declared a draw just as Xu was abt to be knocked out.
The deciding technique that destroys Kung Fu fighters is commonly a roundhouse to the face/ abdomen/ thigh, or knee strikes up close in the ribs. Traditional Kung Fu attacks & defenses were proven to be way obsolete in the world of martial arts today. The inability to fully utilize the legs, & a lack of sparring practice are the greatest weaknesses of old Kung Fu systems. Obviously Kung Fu had neglected leg technique development for more than a millenium, or perhaps they were just too fancy. The Thais have been practicing & perfecting the use of their shins & knees for hundreds of years. They know how to defend against all kinds of attacks, & their bodies & minds are fully conditioned by daily sparring. How could Kung Fu ever bridge this big gap, unless it humbly learns from the strengths of Muay Thai?
Left: A Malaysian Kung Fu fighter using a knee kick against his Thai opponent in a Sep 1974 Challenge in Kuala Lumpur Stadium. Right: Tan Guancheng, 1 of the 2 famous fighters who actually defeated their Thai opponents by points that day. Tan was nicknamed "The Warrior Sage of Penang (his hometown)".
Bruce Lee was the 1st to see the inadequacies of following blindly the old traditions. He knew that Kung Fu badly needed reform, or faced becoming a vase - nice to behold & keep, but innately fragile & hardly useful. Sport Wushu is perhaps a touched up, modernized version, but essentially still a vase. Sanshou is a half-hearted attempt at reform at best. It is indeed laughable that the Central Govt in China would want today's Wushu to be an Olympic event. Do these communists want to boast to the world how inadequate our 4 thousand-year martial traditions have become?
Left: Hong Kong fighter Chen Zhaojia facing Montong in a Nov 1981 Challenge in Hong Kong. He was knocked out by knee kicks in 1 round. Right: Fellow fighter Guo Huaqiang also defeated that day. He put up a good fight, but threw in the towel in the 3rd round.
After all, now even the Thais are lobbying to get amateur Muay Thai into the major Games. Some time in the future, I foresee a situation that has happened before in Japan happen in China. Just as Japanese Karate has long separated into 2 major forces - Sport & Full Contact styles; perhaps there will come a time when the Chinese martial arts world will also separate also into Sport & Contact traditions. Will this be a key to resurrect the down trodden honor of Kung Fu?
Traditional Karate Masters who fought & lost - Left: Jul 1974 Lumpini Stadium. 2nd Dan Wado-ryu Karate expert taking a beating from Ramchai. Right: Oct 1974 Ratchad**nern Stadium. 5th Dan Shotokan Karate Shihan fought retired Muay Thai veteran fighter Chuchai. Chuchai won by TKO in the 2nd round.
Learning from Muay Thai doesn't mean we must all give up on our heritage & become Thai boxers in order to be useful. It means to mend the weaknesses of our traditions with the strengths of Muay Thai. The Japanese did this to their karate & invented Kick boxing, whereas the Chinese came up with Sanshou. Sanshou standards are not up to par with that of Kick boxing, still less even to that of Muay Thai. The kind of Sanshou we need is one that is without pads, one that is unashamed to combine Kung Fu & Muay Thai.
THE American Kickboxer's unpublicized defeats - Left: California Mar 1977. Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez's 1st titanic struggle against Thai boxer Nalongleng. A high roundhouse finally downed him after a marathon 9 round. But the judges declared the match a 'No Decision' anyway. Left: Tokyo Rematch Aug 1978. Benny again learning the power of Muay Thai low kicks as well as knees. He lost by decision to Bayud after 6 punishing rounds. It was his 2nd & last defeat. Benny never fought another Thai boxer again.
Bajiquan, the art of the 8 extreme fists, the traditional Kung Fu that I'm learning is visionary in the sense that it emphasizes on the development of all 8 parts of the human body (head, shoulder, back, hips, hands, feet, elbows & knees) to their maximum. It is a pure martial art & has no sport aspect in it at all. A true Baji fighter can strike with any part of his body at various distances with great force generated from the earth (rooting). That is why it is a protected art for many centuries. But even so the neglect of 2 important parts, the feet & the knees is still common among its exponents. If we were somehow able to incorporate such conditioning techniques from Muay Thai into the Baji system, then Baji would indeed transform into the perfect Kung Fu system - one that will be able to face, if not overcome Muay Thai. The same could be said for Sanshou, as well as many other practical styles of Kung Fu. So far only Kyokushin Karate & Kickboxing, both Japanese inventions, may qualify for this honor. All other striking arts are still way behind.
Another American Kickboxer who fought & learned - Left: Don 'The Dragon' Wilson beat Che Le & another Thai boxer in Hong Kong 1980. Right: Don getting punished for that by Samart in Lumpinee Stadium Dec 1983. He lost by decision but managed to endure 5 rounds of beating.
Kung Fu has been operational for 4000 years not solely because of the genius of the Han Chinese of the Central Plains, but it also benefited from the tenacity of the fighting tactics of surrounding 'barbaric' tribes such as Indians, Manchus, Mongols, Turks etc. Being invaded & conquered by small tribes through the ages proves that learning from the strength of others is not shameful, it is a necessity for continued survival & a sign of magnanimity. If there were any time to wise up, it would be now, at the brink of the next millenium. Do so before the Thais throw us even further back in its evolution of Muay Thai. Some say that the perfect martial art is a smooth integration of Muay Thai & Jujutsu. I believe there are merits to this belief. Already many western NHB fighters have combined Boxing & Wrestling to great effect. Perhaps in the future another 'Bruce Lee' will lead our obsolete Kung Fu/Wushu to that stage of development? If only he had not died so young; till then let us continue learning as openly as we can.
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Besides, don't you know the story about how all the famous Chinese "kongfu masters" were beaten in the 1960th by the average Thai boxers deligation in Beijing? That forced Chinese to rethink their concept of martial arts and invent Sanshoudao.
