HISTORY OF KICKBOXING

Kick Boxing is an ancient art which started 2,000 years ago in Thailand. It was known with name of Muay Thai fighting. Initially it was used only for self-defence. However, with the passage of time unarmed combat in warfare became less and less effective, then this art became popular as a sport. Thai boxing soon became the most common and popular fighting sport in Asia. However, The inventor of kick boxing was a Japanese boxing promoter, Osamu Noguchi. He saw Muay Thai style boxing in Thailand and tried to introduce it in to Japan. He took many Thai fighters to Japan for this purpose. With his efforts, he introduced a competitive sport which was a combined martial art. He named it as KICK-BOXING. The Kickboxing Association was founded in Japan soon after this.

Kick Boxing came to America and Europe in early 1970's. It was the Bruce Lee who introduced the art Full Contact Kickboxing in these countries. In September 1974, in Los Angeles, the first ever World Championships of Full Contact Karate were hosted. At that time the game was not played in the boxing ring rather played on the standard karate surface. Germany was the first host of this game in Europe. In 1975, the WAKO (WORLD ALL STYLE KARATE ORGANIZATION) was created by Georges Bruckner and it was the only international amateur federation in Europe.

The first PKO (PROFESSIONAL KICKBOXING ORGANIZATION) was founded by Mike Anderson. However it was short lived. The WORLD KICKBOXING ASSOCIATION (WKA) was created in 1976 by Howard Hanson. It developed the field of low kicks. In order to develop kickboxing and to improve the sport, kickboxers turned to the training, conditioning and fighting techniques of western professional boxing. Today, kick boxing has become an international sport and is expanding and spreading all over the world. The kickboxing bouts became more action packed and exciting.