Do you know where Kick Boxing was born? Its origin is Japanese

For some, kick boxing It is a Japanese combat sport that mixes some boxing techniques together with those of martial arts. For others, Kickboxing is the Japanese version of Muay Thai (Thai box), and its creation was not due to the inspiration of a master of martial arts, but to the initiative of a Japanese promoter of sports shows named Isamu Noguchi.

To understand how it was born, it must be mentioned that part of the foundation was due to the existing controversies due to the repeated defeats by the karateka who had faced each other in Thailand with exponents of Muay Thai. This led to an analysis of the effectiveness of karate do compared to the Thai sport version, which is why it was profited by proposing this option.

El birth of kick boxing It dates back to the 60s, when Noguchi faces a renowned karate fighter named Tadashi Sawamura against the boxer of Thai origin Lacray in Tokyo, and although the expectation was great in his favor, the result of the combat was not what was expected by this promoter, since that Lacray underestimated the Japanese, and Sawamura was not just any karateka, and in the first phase of the combat he applied to the Thai a front jump kick to the chin, knocking him out almost in the initial minutes. This episode left learning and did not discourage Noguchi, who again organized a show to confront karateka with boxers, generating more expectation in the public.

This combat caused Sawamura to receive a heavy punishment from Adisorn, and from the first rounds the Japanese was repeatedly knocked down with a marked execution of punches, knees, elbows and kicks, and in the fourth round he was knocked out. This opened the door to the new sport. So, 1963 is the year in which the formal start of this activity is recorded.

There are several elements of the methodology and training that resemble Muay Thai, however, it is less strong than the latter, and in sports regulations, elbow and knee blows to the head were suppressed, although they were in other parts of the body.

Precisely in kick boxing the sporting regulations are similar to those of Muay thai, that is, a ring is used, matches agreed upon with the division of weights, the rounds are two minutes long for one break. The authorities determine the control of the combats, and the main ones are made up of a prosecutor, judges, arbitrators and doctors.

For protection purposes, competitors must wear boxing gloves, groin and mouth protectors, feet and shins are worn bare, although the use of anklets is allowed, as clothing, a wide short is used, very typical of Muay Thai.

Another curiosity of this sport is that, despite developing from its beginnings in Japan, it did not receive the name with Japanese words, but they were in English; kick boxing. This was initially, because it sought to position this type of sporting events in the United States, Europe and other regions of the world, which was where the initiative was aimed.

As expected by many, and just like Muay Thai, kick boxing He could not capture much interest in the West or in the United States, so just with the advent of Full Contac and the interest that this new sport aroused, it opened doors for both disciplines. The extension of the sport in the USA, Europe, Asia and South America gained more strength, in fact, at present, its name is used in a generic way and is synonymous with other martial activities that do not necessarily have anything to do with the original and the one that their creators promoted.

From another point of view, the Kick boxing It is a sporting reinterpretation of different martial arts, which has been evolving, and has positioned itself very well in several countries.

In 1974, Mike Anderson founded the Professional Karate Association (PKA), which would later change the "K" of karate for that of Kick boxing. At one time these competitions were called Full Contact Karate, until Delcourt, president of the International Karate Federation banned it for not agreeing with those competitions. Two years later the World Association of Organizations of Kickboxing (Wako)).

El Kick boxing American is usually divided into graduations similar to those of karate, that is, by belts in the colors white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and black, of course, with the different levels of black from 1 to 10. And as explained in the voice of its great exponents, it is a sport that allows comprehensive training and not only trains for competitions, but also allows people to improve their physical shape and be more prepared in matters of self-defense.

 This work has allowed the kick boxing be a successful martial and sports combat system, which is inserted among the so-called martial arts, next to the full contact and muay thai