✦ Member ⌕

Kickboxing

Punches and kicks, standing up.

A stand-up combat sport that mixes boxing punches with kicks, born from karate, boxing and Muay Thai. American full-contact grew in the 1970s and the Dutch style made the Netherlands a world power; today it lives in organisations such as GLORY and K-1.

Fact file

Country
United States, Netherlands, Japan
Founder / origin
Osamu Noguchi (Japan)
Year / period
1966
Type
Striking
Main federation
World Karate and Kickboxing Union — WKU
Sources: WAKO — World Association of Kickboxing Organizations · Encyclopaedia Britannica

History

Kickboxing grew in the 1960s and 1970s from two sides. In Japan, promoter Osamu Noguchi created "kickboxing" in 1966 after Japanese karateka fought Thai boxers. In the United States, karate fighters started full-contact bouts with gloves in the early 1970s.

WAKO, founded in 1976, governs amateur kickboxing worldwide. In 1993 the Japanese K-1 tournament made kickboxing a stadium sport, and the Netherlands became its great power, with gyms such as Mejiro and Chakuriki producing world champions. Today GLORY (founded 2012) is one of the leading professional leagues.