The Greatest Kickboxers of All Time

A short history of Kickboxing

The word kickboxing was coined in Japan. Boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi and karate teacher Tatsuo Yamada blended karate with Muay Thai after Japanese karateka fought Thai boxers, including a 1963 series at Lumpinee Stadium that Japan won 2–1. Noguchi founded the Kickboxing Association in 1966, and the first kickboxing event was held in Osaka on April 11 that year. By 1970 the sport was on Japanese television three times a week.

In North America the sport grew out of full-contact karate. The Professional Karate Association held its first world championships at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in September 1974, crowning Joe Lewis, Jeff Smith and Bill Wallace among others, under rules that allowed kicks only above the waist. Canada's Jean-Yves Thériault later held the PKA middleweight title from 1980 to 1995. In Europe, Jan Plas and Thom Harinck founded the Dutch kickboxing association NKBB in 1976, and Dutch rules generally banned elbows and knees to the head.

The Japanese promotion K-1, founded by karate teacher Kazuyoshi Ishii, held its first World Grand Prix on April 30, 1993, and Croatia's Branko Cikatić won it. K-1's rules allowed knees but banned elbows and cut clinching short, and Dutch fighters won 15 of its 19 World Grand Prix titles through 2012. A 70 kg series, K-1 World MAX, followed in 2002.

K-1's organizer went bankrupt in 2012, the year the Glory promotion was founded, and Glory and ONE Championship both adopted K-1-style rules. Amateur kickboxing is governed by the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO), which runs events from point fighting to full contact. The International Olympic Committee fully recognized WAKO in July 2021.

• ✦K-1-style rules, used by Glory and ONE, allow punches, kicks and knees but ban elbows, throws and headbutts.
• ✦Clinching is limited, usually to about five seconds, before the referee separates the fighters.
• ✦Standard K-1 fights are three three-minute rounds, with an extension round if the judges see a draw.
• ✦A knocked-down fighter gets an eight count, and three knockdowns in one round end the fight by technical knockout.
• ✦American full-contact rules allow only kicks above the waist; low-kick rules also allow kicks to the thighs.
• ✦In WAKO's point-fighting events, strikes must be controlled and clean scoring matters more than power.