Young Muay Thai

Young Muay Thai fighters seek to escape poverty through the sport despite its brutality. Exploited for gambling, they lack adequate protection from authority and local resistance. Nonetheless, Muay Thai can offer empowerment and a chance at a better life.

A boy stands under the fluorescent lights of a boxing ring, barely able to see beyond the ropes surrounding him. The crowds press in around, forming shadowy outlines. "Satann Mueng, 12 years old, 30.9 kilograms,”announces a booming voice. Satann, along with many other boys and girls, is a Young Muay Thai fighter, a discipline in Thailand in which many children train. For many of them, boys and girls, it's the only way out of poverty. In that sense can be incredibly empowering. These fighters, who largely come from the impoverished countryside or the urban working class can bring home more than three times their parents daily wage with every fight. Those who fight at the higher levels can earn much more.

Thai boxing, or Muay Thai, is no stranger to brutality. Fighters employ punches, kicks, knee and elbows strikes that can incapacitate their opponents. Even more incapacitating is that many of the children who fight in these matches are commonly exploited as a means of generating gambling revenue. At the behest of various activist organizations, the Thai government has made lukewarm, but inevitably ineffective efforts to protect the children, as these efforts are met with resistance from local communities for both cultural and economic reasons.

These young people are often the main breadwinners for their families, who mostly live in destitute rural areas. For this reason, the children who box are well admired. They keep a strict regimen that might keep them out of trouble, away from crime and drug or alcohol abuse. They train every day, enduring hardship and pain to fight their way towards a more dignified life.