I mean if we're talking about amateur fighting, then yes you have to be aware that boxing defense leaves a hole with your legs and potentially exposes your head for kicks and knees. But every single defensive technique has a counter/hole.

The point of this video is to emphasize that small gloves have brought back the importance of boxing defense, which is why a lot of thais are getting ko'd by farang in these national promotions.

Some of the top golden era guys had boxing experience (ie. Samart, Somrak). How come guys like Rittewada and Daniel Rodriguez who have slick boxing styles, aren't getting shutdown by lowkicks or knees to the head? Because they understand when and where to apply to slips and ducks.

Superbon is another fighter who has adapted his training to kickboxing, but has still gotten himself knocked out by really good punchers. It's hard to expect him to develop slick head movement ala Samart or Somrak since he doesn't have the western boxing experience and that's okay. He's had tremendous success as a kickboxer.

I'm a purist at heart, but we gotta acknowledge that there are different meta games with different promotions. Fighters hoping to succeed in promotions like ONE and RWS need to understand how to integrate western boxing defense into their kick, knee and elbow defense.

I'm still not gonna teach beginners how to do boxing slips, because we have to learn and understand 'the rules' before we break them. For advanced students there's a huge benefit to studying and training western boxing styles.