Kickboxing

Kickboxing Annabelle Shoob delivers a round house kick to the midsection of opponent Kay Sumner during an IKF English Title fight (09/08/13)

Summary

Keeping true with legacy of new generation of combative styles, Kickboxing is another hybrid martial art which has taken the world by storm. This fighting style has been crafted with techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, and western Boxing, all wrapped under one umbrella and given the name Kickboxing. Innovation has been written in its blood, as this art form evolved with the passage of time. And though it was initially considered as a stand-up combative sport, it became all the more dynamic and effective by further incorporating ground fighting techniques of Jujutsu, and Folk Wrestling. Its various manoeuvres include kicks, punches, blocks, elbow strikes, knee strikes, head butting, and even takedowns and throws.

History / Origins

ETYMOLOGY

People got wind of the term ‘Kickboxing’ in 1960s, courtesy to Osamu Noguchi, who was a Japanese boxing promoter. The basic term implies to the style of Japanese and American Kickboxing. Though broadly speaking, it also refers to other stand-up combats which include punches and kicks involved in Muay Thai, Burmese Boxing, Indian Boxing, Savate, and other styles of Karate, etc.

BEGINNINGS

The art of Japanese Kickboxing came to the forefront in 1960s, and its popularity graph is still high. Since Kickboxing is a hybrid of ancient martial arts, its seeds were sown quite early, and its roots can be traced to the Indochinese martial art, Muay boran, which later evolved into Muay Thai. The ground work was later taken on by Tatsuo Yamada a Karate champ from Japan in the 1950s. He roughly laid down the plan of a new fighting art by blending Karate and Muay thai. Then, in the early 1960s the competitions between Karate and Muay Thai were on the rise which necessitated for the formation of new rules, and thus by the middle of 1960s new rule sets were formed, and the first true-blood Kickboxing event was organized in Osaka.

PRESENT DAY

Today, the patronizing work for Kickboxing is in the hands of different international governing bodies including, World Association of Kickboxing Organizations, International Combat Organization, World Kickboxing Association, International Kickboxing Federation, to name a few. Today Kickboxing exhibits its self in different forms, and goes under various names like Shoot Boxing, which is popular in Japan and adopts standing submission such as arm locks, chokeholds, and wristlocks along with kicks, punches, and throws. Then there is the Sanda form of Kickboxing which was originally meant for the Chinese military.

You will find Kickboxing competitions all over the world, including North America, Europe, and Asian countries, etc. And these competitions have produced many champions, who have become celebrities on their own terms.

FOLKLORE

It is said that on December 20, 1959, a Muay Thai event was organized in Tokyo Asakusa town hall in Japan. Tatsuo Yamada was the Japanese Karate expert, but he was dissatisfied with the rules of Karate which disallowed directly hitting the opponents. Hence, in November 1959 he formulated rules for a new game ‘Karate-boxing.’ He was helped in the unification work by a Thai champion of Muay Thai.

Then, Karate Vs Muay Thai fights became the call of the day, and it attracted crowds in huge numbers. On February 12, 1963, three Kyokushin Karate fighters from Japan competed with three Muay Thai fighters at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Thailand, which Japan eventually won 3-1, and the one loss it suffered was because a substitute fighter had to replace the original one. Eventually Osamu Noguchi, studied Muay Thai in fuller detail, and came forward to name the new hybrid sport as ‘Kickboxing.’

Discipline
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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Japan
TIME OF ORIGIN: c. 1960's
PRACTISED: Approx 64  years
FOUNDERS:
FOCUS: 

Striking

ALSO KNOWN AS: -
PARENTHOOD:

Boxing, Karate, Muay Thai

DESCENDANTS:

Shoot Boxing

OLYMPIC SPORT: No

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Discipline
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NATIONALITY:
DATE OF BIRTH:
AGE: Approx 64  years
BORN:

Shoot Boxing

RESIDENCE: -
ALSO KNOWN AS: -
OCCUPATION:

Striking

JOB TITLE:

Boxing, Karate, Muay Thai

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Discipline
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COUNTRY: Japan
LOCATION: -
FOUNDED: c. 1960's
OPERATIONAL: Approx 64  years
FOUNDERS:
ALSO KNOWN AS: -
SECTOR:

Striking

DESCRIPTION:

Boxing, Karate, Muay Thai

WEBSITE:

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Practices

PHILOSOPHY

Like all martial arts, the basics of Kickboxing lie in self defence. The trainees learn the various tricks of nullifying any attack by developing the time tested techniques of this combative style. All these techniques led to the development of the physical health of the trainees, and they become more health conscious. It is also meant to be taken as a spectacular sport meant for competitions, and is to be practised in a sporting manner. It also helps a person to grow physically and mentally.

TECHNIQUES

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TRAINING

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RANKS & GRADING

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WEIGHT CLASSES

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Rules / Rulesets

RULES / RULESETS

Since there is many more than just one cook for the broth of Kickboxing, the different governing bodies have their own version of rules for the sport, like allowing or disallowing certain manoeuvres. There are some governing bodies which allow the knee strikes, and low kicks, and some restrict the use of strikes with punches, and higher kicks.

Though, all forms of Kickboxing have similar scoring parameters. In case of submission, the winner can be declared in the middle of the bout.  Then there can be knockouts (KO), or the referee can stop and announce a technical knockout (TKO), and if no one is able to secure a KO, the ball is in the court of 3 judges, and their scores are taken into account to declare the winner. There can be a split decision when all the judges don’t agree, or a unanimous decision indicating that all the judges saw the event in the same way.

Organisations & Historical Places

ORGANISATIONS

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HISTORICAL PLACES

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Popular Culture

POPULAR CULTURE

Kickboxing owing to its popularity, was not destined to be limited to Japan, and in the 1970s and 80s, its horizons expanded and spread to other corners of the world, including North America, and Europe. This made governance an issue, and hence cropped up different governing bodies to regularize the sport in the way they thought appropriate.

The sport had its share of roller coaster rides with it becoming a household name in Japan, thanks to the TV broadcasts, and then plunging into darkness during the 1980s. On the other hand, The North Americans had difficult times differentiating the rules of full contact Karate, and Kickboxing. And in Europe also, after getting an initial foothold, the sport did not find wings until the 1990s.

With the promotion works of K-1, and other promoters including the existing governing bodies who initiated competitive events, the sport began to flourish. Nevertheless, it was the exposure given to Kickboxing by the mass media that turned the embers of Kickboxing into flames, the major role being played by Hollywood blockbusters, unleashing fitness crazy freaks that went all out for it.

Useful Links

USEFUL LINKS

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References

REFERENCES

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickboxing
  2. http://martialarts.about.com/od/styles/a/kickboxing.htm
  3. http://www.angelfire.com/rings/kickboxing/kbhis.html

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