Greatest Muay Thai fighters ever?

Samart Payakaroon without a doubt.

With fighters like Seanchai, Jomhod and Namsaknoi, you expect them to win every fight in their usual manner (whilst in their prime of course). With Samart, every fight is different. He could be moving forward the entire fight, or backpedalling all the way. He could be orthodox this instant and southpaw the next. He could as easily execute a Sanda kick or any move that I've never seen before, like when he roundhoused his opponent with his lead leg, swinging it from the opposite side (vs Paul Lenehan).

All the top fighters impress me, but Samart always surprises me while he impresses.
 
Jomhod kiatadisak !!! incredible style I love it. if there would be any belt system in MT he would have something like a black belt 7th degree.. He knows every wicked trick muay thai offers.

Jomhod is fun to watch. His kicking technique is above most Muay Thai fighters.
 
For casual fans....
Buakaw: has never won Raja or Lumpini titles, this is the only titles that mean something
to your legacy in muay thai. Remember, we are talking about muay thai right now not K1.
Dekker: lost to most of the top competition he fought in muay thai. Also many of his loses
come from fighters he went up from their natural weight class. The same goes for his wins.
Still the most feared Farang muay thai fighters of all time, the only fighters that drew
the entire country to watch and prey that Thai fighters won't get brutally knocked out.
 
For casual fans....
Buakaw: has never won Raja or Lumpini titles, this is the only titles that mean something
to your legacy in muay thai. Remember, we are talking about muay thai right now not K1.
Dekker: lost to most of the top competition he fought in muay thai. Also many of his loses
come from fighters he went up from their natural weight class. The same goes for his wins.
Still the most feared Farang muay thai fighters of all time, the only fighters that drew
the entire country to watch and prey that Thai fighters won't get brutally knocked out.

Title of Thailand is a major championship like Lumpini and Rajadamnern. I didn't know this until recently but Buakaw was featherweight champion of Thailand at one time.
 
Title of Thailand is a major championship like Lumpini and Rajadamnern. I didn't know this until recently but Buakaw was featherweight champion of Thailand at one time.

Yeah he was also a Omnoi stadium champ at both featherweight and lightweight. The level always has been pretty good out there. He was also ranked number 2 at Lumpini in 2002 at lightweight

Then he won the Toyota marathon beating a prime Samranchai 96Peenang and Khunsuk Petsupaparn

Also, winning a Lumpini or a raja belt clearly shows your greatness but a legend like Somluk Khamsing never fought for one of those titles because of promoters
 
This topic pops up every few weeks and it always has the same results.

Samart Payakaroon
Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn
Apidej Sit Hrun

Then there are a few other fighters which are always mentioned:
Sakmongkol
Sangtiennoi
Somrak Khamsing
Saenchai
Jomhod Kiatadisak
Jongsanan
Orono Por Muang Ubon
Namkabuan

Ramon Dekkers
Dany Bill

How would you rate the guys i listed below compared to the ATG's in bold? Can any of them be considered on the same tier or are they a clear level below even if very good fighters?

Boonlai
Attachai
Coban
Den Muangsurin
Superlek
 
How would you rate the guys i listed below compared to the ATG's in bold? Can any of them be considered on the same tier or are they a clear level below even if very good fighters?

Boonlai
Attachai
Coban
Den Muangsurin
Superlek

Boonlai is on a tier above most of those guys. Somrak and Saenchai are probably the only 2 who are definitely above him.

Tier 1: Saenchai and Somrak
Tier 2: Boonlai and Namkabuan
Tier 3: the other fighters listed

Just my opinion
 
Boonlai is on a tier above most of those guys. Somrak and Saenchai are probably the only 2 who are definitely above him.

Tier 1: Saenchai and Somrak
Tier 2: Boonlai and Namkabuan
Tier 3: the other fighters listed

Just my opinion

So you rate Boonlai and Namkabuan in the same catagory as Sakmongkol, Deadly Kisser, Orono, Namsaknoi then have Saenchai and Somrak above all them? Or Saenchai and Somrak with DK, Sak, Orono, etc?
 
So you rate Boonlai and Namkabuan in the same catagory as Sakmongkol, Deadly Kisser, Orono, Namsaknoi, etc then have Saenchai and Somrak above all them?

Saenchai and Somrak above them all, but Boonlai and Namkabuan above the other fighters mentioned.
 
So you rate Boonlai and Namkabuan in the same catagory as Sakmongkol, Deadly Kisser, Orono, Namsaknoi then have Saenchai and Somrak above all them? Or Saenchai and Somrak with DK, Sak, Orono, etc?

Saenchai and Somrak above them all, but Boonlai and Namkabuan above the other fighters mentioned.

Didn't Saenchai lose to Namsaknoi? How come you regard those two so much higher than the bold guys do you base it off your perception of their skill or do their accomplishments exceed the others noticably? I'm not very knowledgable but that doesn't seem to be the case from what i do know.
 
Saenchai was fighting at 125 pound and Namsaknoi at 135 pound. They fought at
133 pound catch weight.
 
Didn't Saenchai lose to Namsaknoi? How come you regard those two so much higher than the bold guys do you base it off your perception of their skill or do their accomplishments exceed the others noticably? I'm not very knowledgable but that doesn't seem to be the case from what i do know.

Yeah Namsaknoi beat Saenchai a couple time I think, but Saenchai was fighting at about 120 at the time and Namsaknoi I believe was fighting over 130 pounds. Just that they'd make that fight says how great Saenchai is and was.

Skill, who they've fought/beaten, and media/fan reputation

Boonlai often fought up in weight. He beat Namkabuan and totally owned Jongsanan even though he was smaller. There's an interview where Jongsanan says Boonlai was the best fighter he fought.

Namkabuan was regarded very highly in the golden era, more than most greats of the time. His purses were more than 200K baht and basically fought every great fighter around his weight.

Namsaknoi was great, but from what I've gathered he didn't have the reputation that Boonlai or Namkabuan had. He would beat smaller great fighters (Saenchai, Attachai, Thongchai etc...), and when he was lightweight champion of Lumpini he was promoted by Por Pramuk, not one of the big time promoters who put on super shows with the best fighters. I have never heard of him fighting Singdam, Orono, Nopparat or other top fighters near his weight in the mid 2000's. He did fight Samkor 4 or 5 times earlier and lost all but 1, while Singdam was 2-0 against Samkor.
 
NOKWEED-DAVEY.jpg


Not saying Nokweed Davy is the greatest. But I hear he was recognized as the most dangerous kicker in his times. 7 times Lumpini champ from what I've read.

How come he isn't mentioned in these forums more often?

My guess is that there isn't enough info on him... :(

http://youtu.be/i64r6g1TXUI
 
Jomhod kiatadisak !!! incredible style I love it. if there would be any belt system in MT he would have something like a black belt 7th degree.. He knows every wicked trick muay thai offers.

Only trick he didn't know was buakaw!
 
Thailand:
Sangtiennoi
Jomhod Kiatadisak
Samart Payakaroon
Dieselnoi
Sakad petchyindee
Saenchai

western fighters:
Dany Bille
Ramon Dekkers
JWP
 
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