Muay Lopburi
มวยลพบุรีThe oldest of the four muay boran circles, linked to the Mon of Dvaravati. It builds on speed and mobility rather than on power, unlike the Korat school.
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ThailandCharacter & Origin
Training
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About Muay Lopburi
Muay Lopburi is one of the four regional circles into which muay boran, the predecessor of today's muay thai, is divided. It takes its name from the city of Lopburi in central Thailand, and sources connect it with the Mon of the Dvaravati realm — the population that lived in the region long before the Siamese state existed. It is therefore usually given as the oldest of the four. Until now this entry recorded Phraya Phichai as founder and the year 1770. Both have been removed. Phraya Phichai (1741–1782) is a real and well-documented figure: a nobleman of Mon descent who made his name by beating the champion Nai Hao, became a military commander under King Taksin, and after Taksin was deposed asked to be executed himself so as to follow his king. He is not, however, connected with Lopburi — he belongs to the northern circle and to muay thasao. The year 1770 falls in the middle of his life, not at the beginning of a style. The Lopburi circle is characterised by speed and mobility. The boxer works to distract his opponent, avoids a straight exchange and tries to land before the other man has settled into his stance. Against the Korat school, which builds on the power of wide strikes delivered from range, it is the opposite strategy. It is fair to add that the division into four regional styles is itself a later arrangement. The term muay boran was brought into wide use only in the twentieth century by Grandmaster Khet Sriyaphai, and older accounts differ in the details.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.