Encyclopedia of Sport: Every sport from around the world
Topend Sports Logo

Lethwei Kickboxing

Lethwei is a Burmese kickboxing style martial art, which has similarities to other Indochinese kickboxing styles like Muay Thai, Pradal Serey, and Muay Lao. The sport that originated in Myanmar has been practiced in the country from ancient times.



The only equipment that fighters use for Lethwei is a modified version of boxing gloves. At a junior level, participants use protective gear for the head and the shin.

Strikes like punches, kicks, elbow attacks, and knee attacks, that are part of basic kickboxing are also a part of Lethwei. Additionally strikes like head butts and knuckle strikes are commonly used by practitioners as part of takedowns. Some of the moves that are unique to Lethwei are, roundhouse kick, spinning elbow strike, knee and punch, knee and elbow strike, back hook kick, and jumping knee and elbow.

Today, Lethwei matches are conducted in two different formats, the traditional format and a modernized offshoot, which originated in 1996. The modern version uses a point based system adapted from Muay Thai for declaring a winner. In the traditional version, there was no scoring system used for fights, instead the winner was decided based on which fighter drew first blood.



Similar Sports

Related Pages

send us a comment Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.

Sport Extra

Check out the 800+ sports in the Encyclopedia of Every Sport. Well not every sport, as there is a list of unusual sports, extinct sports and newly created sports. How to get on these lists? See What is a sport? We also have sports winners lists, and about major sports events and a summary of every year.

 → How to Cite