Challenge Fights

General rules

The attire of the fight

1. The fighters shall wear shorts, without shirt or shoes.
2. The fighters can wrap their hands or ankles with surgeon bandage. No hard objects can be put in the wrapping. The fighters shall wrap in front of the fight officials and the officials shall check and endorse the wrap.
3. The fighters must wear the groin protector.
4. The fighters must wear the gum shield to protect their teeth.

Round

1. 3 minutes per round, 5 rounds total (2 minutes rest permitted)

Corner men

Each fighter is entitled to have 2 corner men in the ring and 1 corner man outside of the ring.

The referee

There will be one referee to oversee the fight. The referee has the power to:

1. Stop the fight if he considers one fighter significantly outclassing the other (inferiority rule).
2. Stop the fight and refer to the doctor if any of the fighters are wounded and should not be allowed to continue fighting.
3. Order the fighters to stop the fight so as to caution him/her in case he/she breaks the rules or in other words to enable the competition to proceed fairly and in compliance with the rules.

The decision

The decision should be made as follows:

1. The knock-out (KO) is when the opponent falls onto the floor or leans unconscious on the ropes, unable to fight or to defend himself within 20 seconds (10 counts with 1 count/2 seconds)
2. The technical knock-out (TKO) is when the fighter is in a position that can result in serious damage or harm if the fight continues. The ring doctor should be consulted before that kind of decision is made.
3. If a fighter is knocked out, the referee shall count to 10. If the fighter can not stand up until count 10, it is a KO.
4. If there is a count, it is to be counted at least up to 8. If there are three counts in a round, it is a loss by count limit/KO.
5. If there are 4 counts, during the whole span of the fight, it is a loss by count limit/KO.
6. The fighter or the corner men can retire the fighter if they think the fighter is outclassed.
7. If there is no KO or TKO till the end of round 5, it is a draw.
8. A boxer can take one special two minutes rest/time-out during round one to round four. In round 5, no special rest will be given. Special rest will be considered as one count.

The permitted techniques:

• All kinds of punches
• All kinds of elbow strikes
• Headbutt
• All kinds of knee strikes
• All kinds of kicks
• Clinching
• Throwing
• Back-hands

The prohibited ones:

• Biting
• Eye-gouging, poking into the eyes with fingers
• Spitting
• Cursing
• Strangling
• Intentional attack to the groin
• Scratching with finger nails
• Continued attack after a fighter falls onto the floor

Note: Knees, elbows and headbutts are allowed when throwing an opponent to the ground, and as long as that part of the body is already connected to the opponent, you're allowed to land with it (The emphasis of these moves is on pressure impact when the opponent lands). A move attempted when the opponent has already landed is illegal. Subject to referee interpretation. Warning / disqualification possible.

"All kinds of strikes" also refers to knees, elbows, punches and head strikes to the back of the head and spine.

Note: Eye-gouging is not allowed. In-ring referees will often still start a count when you drop down or stall the action, if an eye poke (of whatever degree) took place. Carefully consider if it's worth it potentially losing the fight because of this.

Note: Intentional attack to the groin is not allowed. However, blows to the groin do happen. Especially in clinch fighting and while throwing (and subsequently, landing). If the referee had no clear vantage point he will start a count regardless and protesting is sometimes pointless. The amount of unintentional groin strikes is subject to referee interpretation.

Note: Open hands near or on the opponents face are no longer allowed. Slapping is not allowed. The use of palm-strikes is not clear.

The Myanmar Traditional Boxing Federation has started to enforce the open hand rule more effectively since July 22, 2018. On that day Tun Min Naing fought Kyaw Swar Win, and the incredible amount of eye pokes to Kyaw Swar Win (as captured on photograph by Mike Kilo) sparked the debate and a stricter enforcement of the rule since.

Note: Although the official down count (consisting of 10 counts) is supposed to last 20 seconds, the ringside officials have been guilty in counting at various speeds depending on which competitors are in the ring. Be aware of this when stepping into the ring.

A clear recent example is the fight between Soe Lin Oo and Iquezang Kor.Rungthanakeat on August 5, 2018. At the final knock down (his second count!), Iquezang is counted out after 10 seconds (or 5 counts). It should also be noted that the referee had started the count correctly, but it was the chief of jury at ringside that adjusted it.

Note: There is sometimes confusion between a knockdown, knockout or a slip. In any case if the fighter gets up immediately, without a visible daze, there is no count. A delay in getting up may result in a count however.