Brief History and Background of Kickboxing

Kickboxing is essentially a mixture of Muay Thai, Karate and Western Boxing, with influences from other types of martial arts. Types of Kickboxing have been around for many hundreds of years, but the more recognised modern form of Kickboxing is a relatively new martial art with the mixing of various martial arts to combine kicks and punches into a new system/sport.

The basis for early Kickboxing was created in Japan in the 50’s/60’s and consisted of Muay Thai with Karate. Competitions were held, in which the Kickboxers mostly contested against Muay Thai fighters. The fights made their way onto television screens in Japan in the early 70’s and organisations were setup, such as the All Japan Kickboxing Association (now dissolved).

In the USA during the 60’s full contact Karate was considered a kind of Kickboxing, but the more recognised form (albeit with unclear rules to start with) made it’s way to the US in the 70’s through Kickboxing promotions and the founding of the Professional Karate Association (PKA) in 1974 and the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) in 1976. These were followed by the formation of the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) in 1985 and the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) in 1992.

Europe has had a few forms/types of Kickboxing since the late 70’s/early 80’s.

There are a number of other current organisations, such as the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations, World Kickboxing Association and the International Kickboxing Federation. Kickboxing has been a popular sport for a long time and has many different tournaments, such as Japans world wide K-1 Series, which was established in 1993 and has similar rules to that of Muay Thai. Most Kickboxing competitive sports have current rules that put fighters into weight classes.

Kickboxing Training

It must be noted that due to the large variation of martial arts that can be mixed and used in various Kickboxing clubs, there maybe a noticeable difference in training styles and rules from one to the other, with some concentrating on self defence, some on the sporting side and others purely for physical fitness.

Most will have a heavy amount of sparring, some full contact, others semi contact, with physical conditioning playing a major part. Generally the use of elbows and the shins aren’t allowed in most clubs, while others may allow neck clinches, the use of knees and strikes below the waist, while others wont. As you can see there are many different rules from one club/organisation to the next.

There are a large number of the types of strikes that can be permitted (again depending on the club/organisation), many would be familiar to those who practise either Western Boxing, Muay Thai or Karate. Defensive positions are similar to that of Western Boxing, with a lot of slipping, bobbing and weaving, blocking, covering up and clinching.

Kickboxing Equipment/Gear Used

The clothing worn varies quite considerably from club to club. Some will have similar wear to that of Karate, others may have free style silk/cotton uniforms, or trousers and a t-shirts and others may even have very similar wear to Muay Thai with flared boxing style shorts only.

Some equipment that maybe used are:
Boxing gloves
Hand wraps
Groin guard
Shin pads
Protective foot wear
Headguard
Gumshield
Some women may want to wear body armour/vests
Various speed balls, punch bags and strike shields/focus pads
Skipping rope

Celebrity Kickboxing Practitioners

Paul Walker
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Matthew McConaughey
Mark Webber
Madonna
Angelina Jolie
Kerry Katona
Kelly Clarkson
Gwen Stefani
Don Wilson
Olivier Gruner
Jean Cluad Van Damme
Chuck Norris

Movies featuring Kickboxing

Homepage