LUMPINEE STADIUM RULES
Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok is owned by the Royal Thai Army and is one of the two most prestigious Bangkok stadiums, alongside Rajadamnern. Professional bouts at Thai stadiums follow the 2025 (B.E. 2568) rule code of the Boxing Board (คณะกรรมการกีฬามวย), whose preamble obliges every stadium operator to run bouts strictly in line with it. This page separates what that written code says from the judging conventions Thai judges apply in practice.
AT A GLANCE
- Rounds
- 5 × 3 minutes (3 × 3 also allowed)
- Break
- 2 minutes
- Judges
- 3, plus a non-scoring referee
- Punches
- Allowed (by convention, little credit unless they hurt)
- Kicks
- Allowed (by convention, favoured)
- Knees
- Allowed (by convention, favoured)
- Elbows
- Allowed (adult professional)
- Clinch
- Allowed, no written time limit; locks and throws are fouls
- Leg hooks, sweeps, trips, hip/shoulder throws
- Fouls (art. 16.2)
- Gloves
- 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 oz by weight class
- Scoring
- 10-point must, per round; late-round emphasis by convention
ROUND STRUCTURE
Under the Boxing Board code, standard Muay Thai is five rounds, or three rounds, of three minutes each, with a two-minute rest between rounds (art. 7.2). Time taken for warnings, deductions and fixing kit does not count as round time. Boxers under 15 fight shorter rounds under the same code: three rounds of 1 minute 30 seconds for boxers under 85 lb, and five or three rounds of 2 minutes from the 85 lb class up. Boxers aged 7 to 10 fight three rounds of 1 minute 30 seconds. The code is generic and does not say that Lumpinee stages these youth bouts. The code's general minimum age is 15 (art. 8.1), but its separate chapter for boxers under 15 allows bouts from age 7.
HOW JUDGES SCORE
There are three scoring judges, each seated on a different side of the ring, plus a referee who does not score (art. 11). Each round is scored on a 10-point must system: 10 points for the round winner and 9, 8, 7 or 6 for the loser, or 10-10 for an even round (art. 15.2). The written criteria say a round goes to the boxer who lands more Muay Thai weapons (fist, foot, knee and elbow are all named, with no ranking), lands them heavier, harder and more clearly, causes more damage, attacks more, shows better skill in attack, defence, evasion and counter-attack, and commits fewer fouls (art. 15.1). A hit must be legal, carry force, land on target and not be defended. Light touches with no body weight behind them do not score, so volume alone does not. A fall caused without using a Muay Thai weapon does not score (art. 15.1.2.5). By long-standing convention, Thai judges favour clean kicks and knees and give little credit to punches unless they visibly hurt or stagger the opponent; the written code does not rank the weapons.
THE FIVE-ROUND ARC
The written code scores every round on its own 10-point basis, and no clause weights later rounds more heavily. By long-standing convention, though, many Thai judges treat rounds one and two as feeling-out rounds, often scoring them 10-10 while noting who should have won them, and give more weight to rounds three to five. So a fighter who narrowly takes round one is not necessarily in a commanding position.
CLINCH
Clinching is allowed, and the code does not set a time limit on it. But arm locks, neck locks, back-bends, hip throws, shoulder throws, lifting slams, leg hooks, leg sweeps and trips are fouls (art. 16.2), and a fall caused without a Muay Thai weapon does not score. The 8 Limbs US judging guide cited below nonetheless calls sweeps one of the highest-scoring techniques in Thai judging; the written code does not reconcile the two. Striking a downed opponent is also a foul (art. 16.3). By convention, judges also read composure and balance: a fighter who is visibly shaken by an exchange tends to lose it.
ELBOWS
Elbow strikes are legal in adult professional bouts: the code names the elbow, with the fist, foot and knee, as a Muay Thai weapon, and it is not on the foul list. A cut can lead to a referee or doctor stoppage. By convention, an elbow tends to score only when it cuts. Under the Boxing Board code, boxers under 15 must wear head protection and elbow guards.
GLOVES
Thai professional rules set glove weight by division: 6 oz from minimumweight (100 lb) up to featherweight (126 lb), 8 oz from super featherweight to welterweight (147 lb), 10 oz from super welterweight to super middleweight (168 lb), and 12 oz from light heavyweight (175 lb) up (art. 3.3).
SOURCES
Rules checked against the published rulebooks on 24 October 2026.