Kickboxing started in the US during
the 1970's when American karate practitioners became frustrated with
strict controls on martial arts competitions that didn't allow full
contact kicks and punches. Many questions were raised when the sport
began about the high risk of injury. As a result, safety rules were
improved and protective clothing was added. As this is a relatively
new sport there are no long-term traditions. The sport has undergone
changes and been refined during the last two decades. Competitors
use sparring, kicks, punches, kick blocks, shadow boxing, and wood
breaking that is learned and applied under professional instruction.
Many laymen are under the impression that modern day kickboxing
originated in Thailand, Japan or elsewhere in the Far East, in fact,
the real origins of the sport are revealed by the real name by which
is was known, full contact karate. During the mid-seventies various
American tournament karate practitioners became frustrated with the
limitations of the then rather primitive competitive scoring system.
They wanted to find a system within which they could apply kicks and
punches to the knockout. Full contact karate was born. Early bouts
were fought on open matted areas just as ordinary karate matches
were. Later events were staged in regular size boxing rings. These
early tournaments produced kickboxing's first stars,
Joe Lewis,
Bill
Wallace,
Benny
Urquidez and Jeff Smith. Later the Americans really wanted
to test their mettle and sent teams of kickboxers to Japan, from
this point kickboxing developed in to a true international sport.
From this time onwards the popularity of Kickboxing spread across
the World.