history of KICKBOXING

The roots of Full Contact Kickboxing can be found in Thailand in the two thousand year old martial art of Muay or Thai fighting. Thai boxing was developed, in the first instance, for self-defence. the art evolved into a sport when unarmed combat that was used in warfare became less and less effective because of the use of modern weapons.  Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand.

Kickboxing developed as a competitive sport in opposition to Muay Thai by Japanese boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi. He wanted to introduce a kickboxing style of fighting to Japan.

 the real origins of the sport are revealed by the real name by which is was known, full contact karate. During the 1970's a number of American tournament karate practitioners became frustrated with the limitations placed on them by the then rather primitive competitive scoring system. They wanted to find a martial arts system that would allow them to use apply kicks and punches  Full contact karate was thus born. Early bouts were fought on open matted areas much the same as standard karate matches were. Later bouts were held in standard size boxing rings. These early events produced kickboxing's first stars, Joe Lewis, Benny Urquidez, Bill Wallace and Jeff Smith. After the sport developed the USA  sent teams of kickboxers to Japan under the banner of the WKA (World Kickboxing Association).

In most kickboxing competitions practicioners are not allowed to continue  the fight once the fight has reached the ground, however some styles may still train for this type of ground fighting, EG: sanshou especially in the police and military