Kickboxing

The term kickboxing is a somewhat generic one used to cover the combination of several different striking or stand up fighting styles that fall within the classification of sport martial arts.  Though the term kickboxing was specifically initiated in Japan and evolved from full contact karate, its history and roots are in many ways tied to the Thailand martial art of Muay Thai Boxing as well.  

The sport of kickboxing often takes place in a ring where combatants, depending on the style of kickboxing being practiced, may utilize kicks, punches, elbow strikes, head-butts, knee strikes, and/or throws against one another. 
  
Muay Thai Boxing is a hard martial art that originated in Thailand. There is evidence that it can be traced back to a form of ancient boxing used by Siamese soldiers called Muay Boran. During the Sukothai era (1238 – 1377), Muay Boran began the transition to a means of personal advancement for nobility as well as a style for warriors to practice, and its evolution continued when King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) ascended to Thailand’s throne in 1868. Under Chulalongkorn’s peaceful leadership, the art transitioned to a means of physical exercise, self-defense, and recreation. Further, it began to be practiced at events like a sport, and rules were adopted which included the use of gloves and other protective gear.  In 1920, the term Muay Thai began to be used, separating itself from the older art of Muay Boran.

Many years later, a Japanese boxing promoter by the name of Osamu Noguchi came to know the martial arts form of Muay Thai. Along with this, he wanted to foster a style of martial art that held true to karate in some ways but allowed full striking, as the karate tournaments at the time did not. Along with this, in 1966 he pitted three karate fighters against three Muay Thai practitioners in a full contact style competition. 

The Japanese won this competition 2-1. Noguchi and Kenji Kurosaki, one of the fighters that took on the Muay Thai opposition back in 1966, then studied Muay Thai and blended it with full contact karate and boxing to form a martial art style that would eventually come to be known as kickboxing. Along with this, the Kickboxing Association, the first kickboxing organization, was founded a few years later in Japan.

Count Dante, Ray Scarica and Maung Gyi held the United States' earliest cross-style full-contact style martial arts tournaments as early as 1962. Between 1970 and 1973 a handful of kickboxing promotions were staged across the USA. In the early days the rules were never clear, one of the first tournaments had no weight divisions and all the competitors fought off until one was left. During this early time, kickboxing and full contact karate are essentially the same sport.   

The institutional separation of American full contact karate from kickboxing occurs with the formation of the Professional Karate Association (PKA) in 1974 and of the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) in 1976. The impact of the WKA on world martial arts as a whole was revolutionary. They were the first organised body of martial arts on a global scale to sanction fights, create ranking systems, and institute a development program.

In the eighties, many fighters defected to the rival World Karate Association (WKA) because of the PKA's policy of signing fighters to exclusive contracts; plus, the PKA sanctioned fights exclusively with what has become known as "full contact rules" which permit kicks only above the waist as opposed to the international rules advocated by the WKA which is similar to kickboxing promotions in Japan  and other countries in Asia and Europe.

 Because of the cost vs. revenue contracts within the PKA, many of the promoters also left the organization and formed the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) in 1985, and in the late eighties a struggle for control of the PKA developed between the Quines and equal partner Joe Corley, leading to the decline of the organization as a business entity.  The right to use the organization title was afterward contested.

The International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) was founded in 1992. It is the most active kickboxing sanctioning body in North America and one of the top 3 worldwide organizations. The IKF also hosts the Largest All Amateur Full Contact & Muay Thai – Kickboxing Tournament in the World, the IKF World Classic.  Full contact rules, or American kickboxing, are essentially a mixture of Western boxing and traditional karate. The male kick boxers are bare-chested wearing kickboxing trousers and protective gear including: mouth-guard, hand-wraps, 10 oz. (280 g). boxing gloves, groin-guard, shin-pads, kick-boots and protective helmet for amateurs and those under 16 years of age. 

The female kick boxers will wear a sports bra and chest protection in addition to the male clothing/protective gear. In addition, amateur rules often allow less experienced competitors to use light or semi-contact rules, where the intention is to score points by executing successful strikes past the opponent's guard, and use of force is regulated. The equipment for semi-contact is similar to full-contact matches, usually with addition of headgear. Competitors usually dress in a t-shirt for semi-contact matches, to separate them from the bare-chested full-contact participants.