History Kickboxing

1 history

1.1 overview
1.2 japan
1.3 north america
1.4 europe

history
overview

since kickboxing broad term can used both in wide , narrow sense, can make understanding history difficult. of earliest forms of kickboxing included various indochinese martial arts muay boran, developed modern muay thai.

however, in terms of modern competition, during 1950s japanese karateka named tatsuo yamada first established outline of new sport combined karate , muay thai.

this further explored during 1960s, when competitions between karate , muay thai began, allowed rule modifications take place. middle of decade first true kickboxing events being held in osaka.

by 1970s , 1980s sport had expanded beyond japan , had reached north america , europe. during time many of prominent governing bodies formed.

in japan sport popular , regularly broadcast on television before going dark period during 1980s.
in north america sport had unclear rules kickboxing , full contact karate same sport.
in europe sport found marginal success did not thrive until 1990s.

since 1990s sport has been dominated japanese k-1 promotion, competition coming other promotions , pre-existing governing bodies.

along growing popularity in competition, there has been increased amount of participation , exposure in mass media, fitness, , self-defense.

japan

tatsuo yamada (left) , master, choki motobu (right)

on december 20, 1959, muay thai among thai fighters held @ tokyo asakusa town hall in japan. tatsuo yamada, established nihon kempo karate-do , interested in muay thai because wanted perform karate matches full-contact rules since practitioners not allowed hit each other directly in karate matches. @ time, unimaginable hit each other in karate matches in japan. had announced plan named draft principles of project of establishment of new sport , industrialization in november, 1959, , proposed tentative name of karate-boxing new sport. still unknown whether nak muay invited yamada, clear yamada karateka interested in muay thai. yamada invited champion nak muay (and formerly son kan yamada s sparring partner), , started studying muay thai. @ time, thai fighter taken osamu noguchi promoter of boxing , interested in muay thai. thai fighter s photo on magazine primer of nihon kempo karate-do, first number published yamada.

there karate vs. muay thai fights on february 12, 1963. 3 karate fighters oyama dojo (kyokushin later) went lumpinee boxing stadium in thailand, , fought against 3 muay thai fighters. 3 kyokushin karate fighters names tadashi nakamura, kenji kurosaki , akio fujihira (also known noboru osawa). muay thai team composed of 1 authentic thai fighter. japan won 2–1: tadashi nakamura , akio fujihira both koed opponents punch while kenji kurosaki, fought thai, koed elbow. should noted japanese loser kenji kurosaki kyokushin instructor rather contender , temporarily designated substitute absent chosen fighter. on june of same year, karateka , future kickboxer tadashi sawamura faced against top thai fighter samarn sor adisorn, in sawamura knocked down 16 times , defeated. sawamura use learned in fight incorporate in evolving kickboxing tournaments.

noguchi studied muay thai , developed combined martial art noguchi named kick boxing, absorbed , adopted more rules techniques muay thai. main techniques of kickboxing still derived japanese full contact karate (kyokushin). however, throwing , butting allowed in beginning distinguish muay thai. later repealed. kickboxing association, first kickboxing sanctioning body, founded osamu noguchi in 1966 after that. first kickboxing event held in osaka on april 11, 1966.

tatsu yamada died in 1967, dojo changed name suginami gym, , kept sending kickboxers off support kickboxing.

kickboxing boomed , became popular in japan began broadcast on tv. 1970, kickboxing telecast in japan on 3 different channels 3 times weekly. fight cards regularly included bouts between japanese (kickboxers) , thai (muay thai) boxers. tadashi sawamura popular kickboxer. in 1971 japan kickboxing association (ajka) established , registered approximately 700 kickboxers. first ajka commissioner shintaro ishihara, longtime governor of tokyo. champions in each weight division fly middle. longtime ilyushiner noboru osawa won ajka bantam weight title, held years. raymond edler, american university student studying @ sophia university in tokyo, took kickboxing , won ajkc middleweight title in 1972; first non-thai officially ranked in sport of thai boxing, when in 1972 rajadamnern ranked him no. 3 in middleweight division. edler defended japan title several times , abandoned it. other popular champions toshio fujiwara , mitsuo shima. notably, fujiwara first non-thai win official thai boxing title, when defeated thai opponent in 1978 @ rajadamnern stadium winning lightweight championship bout.

by 1980, due poor ratings , infrequent television coverage, golden-age of kickboxing in japan finished. kickboxing had not been seen on tv until k-1 founded in 1993.

in 1993, kazuyoshi ishii (founder of seidokaikan karate) produced k-1 under special kickboxing rules (no elbow , neck wrestling) in 1993, kickboxing became famous again. in mid 1980s 1990s, before first k-1, kazuyoshi ishii partook in formation of glove karate amateur sport in japan. glove karate based on knockdown karate rules, wearing boxing gloves , allowing punches head. in effect oriental rules kickboxing scoring based on knockdowns , aggression rather number of hits. k-1 grew in popularity, glove karate while became fastest growing amateur sport in japan.

north america


hook-punch

count dante, ray scarica , maung gyi held united states earliest cross-style full-contact style martial arts tournaments 1962. between 1970 , 1973 handful of kickboxing promotions staged across usa. first recognized bout of kind occurred on january 17, 1970, , came when joe lewis, shorin ryu stylist had studied jeet kune legendary bruce lee, , noted champion in karate tournament circuit, grew disillusioned point-sparring format , sought create event allow martial artists fight knock out. enlisting of promoter lee faulkner, training in boxing , combining techniques of boxing , karate first time in america, lewis arranged bout held @ 1st pro team karate championships. lewis faced kenpo stylist greg om baines, had defeated 2 opponents in years pasts. lewis won fight knockout in second round. event advertised full contact announcers referred kickboxing, , rules included knees, elbows , sweeps. lewis defend u.s heavyweight champion title 10 times, remaining undefeated until came retirement. in days, rules never clear; 1 of first tournaments had no weight divisions , competitors fought off until 1 left. during time, kickboxing , full contact karate same sport.

the institutional separation of american full-contact karate kickboxing occurred formation of professional karate association (pka) in 1974 , of world kickboxing association (wka) in 1976. first organised body of martial arts on global scale sanction fights, create ranking systems, , institute development programme.

the international sport kickboxing association (iska), operated mike sawyer, mike mccoy, scott coker, , cory schafer, has been lone organization have thrived in modern era. after ending venture k-1 in 2006, iska co-operated world combat league chuck norris, , strikeforce mma in partnership silicon valley entertainment (sve), investor group own san jose sharks. norris passed wcl son-in-law damien diciolli in 2007, , has since become inactive. strikeforce mma sold ufc in 2011.

the iska sanctions on 500 kickboxing , mixed martial arts events each year worldwide. sanctions , instrumental in operation of glory kickboxing group out of netherlands promotes in u.s. , other countries , bellator mma group, owned viacom media company , broadcast regularly on spike tv.

the iska expanded sport (tournament) martial arts 15 years ago, , co-operator along wako , global marketing ventures (gmv) in global open world tour (owt) first true worldwide pro circuit of sport karate professional competitors. sanctions , assists in annual open & iska world championships anchors owt , north american-based naska tour. open & iska world championships broadcast live on espn2 , espn3 each year.

the international kickboxing federation (ikf) founded in 1992 steve fossum. other kickboxing sanctioning bodies include world association of kickboxing organizations (primarily amateurs) , kick international.

europe

american kickboxing promulgated in germany inception in 1970s georg f. bruckner, in 1976 co-founder of world association of kickboxing organizations. term kickboxing used in german-speaking europe therefore synonymous american kickboxing. elbow , knee techniques allowed in japanese kickboxing contrast associated muay thai, , japanese kickboxing went unnoticed in german-speaking europe before launch of k-1 in 1993.

by contrast, in netherlands kickboxing introduced in japanese form, jan plas , thom harinck founded nkbb (the dutch kickboxing association) in 1976. harinck founded mtbn (dutch muay thai association) in 1983, , wmta (world muay thai association) , emta (european muay thai association) in 1984. prominent kickboxing gyms in netherlands, mejiro gym, chakuriki gym , golden glory, derived or influenced japanese kickboxing , kyokushin karate.

dutch athletes have been successful in k-1 competitions.

out of 19 k-1 world grand prix championship titles issued 1993 2012, 15 went dutch participants (peter aerts, ernesto hoost, remy bonjasky, semmy schilt , alistair overeem). remaining 4 titles won branko cikatić of croatia in 1993, andy hug of switzerland in 1996, mark hunt of new zealand in 2001 , mirko filipović of croatia in 2012.