Savate

Histoire

Savate — "old shoe" in French — began as a street-fighting style with the feet in 19th-century France. Michel Casseux opened one of the first schools, and in the 1830s his student Charles Lecour added the punches of English boxing, creating "boxe française".

Joseph Charlemont and his son Charles organised the method and its rules at the end of the century. Savate was a demonstration sport at the Paris 1924 Olympics. Fighters wear special shoes and kick with them, a rare feature among kickboxing styles.

Le saviez-vous ?

• Savate is the only kickboxing style that fights in shoes, and kicks hit with the shoe itself.
• Grades are shown by the colour of the gloves, not belts.
• Its sister art, canne de combat, uses a light walking stick.
• Our library has original 19th-century savate manuals in French.

Glossaire des techniques

Fouetté

whipping roundhouse kick with the toe of the shoe

Chassé

side or front thrust kick

Revers

hook kick

Coup de pied bas

low kick to the shin

Direct

straight punch

Crochet

hook punch

Armes et équipement

Chaussures de boxe

savate shoes

Gants

gloves whose colour shows the grade

⚔ In the Arsenal

Luvas de boxe

Figures clés

• Michel Casseux (1794–1869) — one of the first savate teachers
• Charles Lecour (1808–1894) — mixed savate with English boxing
• Joseph Charlemont (1839–1914) — codified boxe française

Sources: Fédération Internationale de Savate (FISav) · Encyclopaedia Britannica