Reaction Time Not Built for Muay Thai?

My gym has more of a leadup time for sparring – coaches will allow you to do some light touch sparring but you’re not allowed to spar hard until you’ve reached a certin skill and cardio level.

I was invited to the figure class about a month back, and I’m getting absolutely pieced up by guys in my weight class. For context, I am about 170 walking around and 5’10 – my coach told me if I were to fight, I’d likely be welterweight as my build is too small for middleweight.

In my last day of hard sparring, I was hit with a body kick that I literally did not see at all – I’m finding myself react after strikes are already landed… My coach keeps saying it’s because I’m new to this level of competition, and “timing beats speed,” but is it even possible to train reaction time?

In the open classes, I’d spar with guys bigger and smaller than me and found the speed easy to adjust to, but I feel like I haven’t been making much progress.