Kickboxing refers to the martial art and sport of kicking and punching. Kickboxing is a standing sport and does not allow continuation of the fight once a combatant has reached the ground, although certain styles of Muay Thai make exceptions to this rule.
Kickboxing is often practiced for self-defense, general fitness, or as a full-contact sport. In the full-contact sport the male boxers are bare-chested wearing shorts and protective gear including: mouth-guard, hand-wraps, 10-oz. boxing gloves, groin-guard, and optional shin-pads, kick-boots, protective helmet (usually for those under 16). The female boxers will wear a sports bra and chest protection in addition to the male clothing/protective gear. In European kickboxing, where kicks to the thigh are allowed using special low-kick rules, use of boxing shorts instead of long trousers is possible. In addition, amateur rules often allow less experienced competitors to use light or semi-contact rules, where the intention is to score points by executing successful strikes past the opponent's guard, and use of force is regulated. The equipment for semi-contact is similar to full-contact matches, usually with addition of headgear. Competitors usually dress in a t-shirt for semi-contact matches, to separate them from the bare-chested full-contact participants.
There are many arts labelled kickboxing including Japanese kickboxing, American kickboxing, Indian boxing, Burmese boxing, as well as French boxing. The term kickboxing is disputed and has become more associated with the Japanese and American variants. Many of the other styles do not consider themselves to be 'kickboxing', although the public often uses the term generically to refer to all these martial arts.
The term kickboxing was created by the Japanese boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi for a variant of Muay Thai and Karate that he created in the 1950s. The term was later used by the American variant. When used by the practitioners of those two styles, it usually refers to those styles specifically.
Kickboxing is often confused with Muay Thai, also known as Thai Boxing. The two sports are similar and people always regard the main difference between them as whether elbow is allowed by rules. This is a typical misconception actually. Elbow is also allowed in New Japan Kickboxing Federation, Shin Nihon Kickboxing Association and ShootBoxing. The first significant discrepancy between Japanese kickboxing and Muay Thai lies in the scoring system followed by judges to give points to each corner at the end of each round. Under Muay Thai rule, knees, middle and high kicks are easier to score than punches and low kicks, whereas they all have the same chance to score under kickboxing rule. Second, from the standpoint of fighting style, the stance of Japanese kickboxing is easier for a kickboxer to take advantage of the valuable arts from boxing than Muay Thai , so a Japanese or Dutch kickboxer (Dutch learned kickboxing mostly from Japanese, albeit some people call it Thaiboxing/Muay Thai.) usually delivers more effective punches than a Thaiboxer, especially the combination. The smooth and various punch-kick combos which derive from Kyokushin Karate also characterize kickboxing and differentiate its style from Muay Thai. Based on these above, most kickboxers and MMAers with the so-called style of Muay Thai in Europe especially Netherlands, got the virtual style of Japanese kickboxing.
Rules
Japanese
These rules are almost same as Muay Thai rules:
- Similarities
- Time: three minutes × five rounds
- Allowed to kick the lower half of the body except crotch
- Allowed to do neck-wrestling (folding opponent's head with arms and elbows to attack the opponent's body or head with knee-strikes, but only depending on the rules of clinch and knees)
- Allows knee strikes
- Head butts and throws were banned in 1966 for boxers' safety.
- Differences
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- No ram muay before match
- No Thai music during the match
- Interval takes one minute only as same as boxing
- Point system:
In Muay Thai, kicking to mid-body and head are scored highly generating a large number of points on judges' scorecards. Moreover, kicking is still judged highly even if the kick was blocked. In contrast, punching is worth fewer points. In kickboxing punches and kicks are held in closer esteem.
American
These are the rules used in American Full Contact Karate.
- Opponents are allowed to hit each other with fists and feet, striking above the hip
- Using elbows or knees is forbidden and the use of the shins is seldom allowed.
- Bouts are usually 3 to 12 rounds (lasting 2 – 3 minutes each) for amateur and professional contests with a 1-minute rest in between rounds.
This is in direct contrast to Muay Thai, where the use of elbows and knees are allowed. In fact, some Muay Thai practitioners consider American kickboxing a "watered down" version of Muay Thai. Fighters and promoters can agree to various rules including kicks only above the waist, kicks anywhere, no knee strikes, knees only to the body, and so on. American Kickboxing is essentially much a mixture of Western Boxing and Traditional Karate.
The round durations and the number of rounds can vary depending on the stipulations agreed to beforehand by each fighter or manager. A winner is declared during the bout if there is a submission (fighter quits or fighter's corner throws in the towel), knockout (KO), or referee stoppage (Technical Knock Out, or TKO). If all of the rounds expire with no knockout then the fight is scored by a team of 3 judges. The judges determine a winner based on their scoring of each round. A split decision indicates a disagreement between the judges, while a unanimous decision indicates that all judges saw the fight the same way and all have declared the same winner.
International
International-style kickboxing was formed with a combination of Muay Thai and Japanese kickboxing rules and it has evolved into three different disciplines.
Semi Contact:
Semi-contact is a fighting discipline where two fighters fight with the primary goal of scoring greater points using controlled legal techniques with speed and focus. The main characteristics of semi-contact are delivery, technique and speed. The competition in semi-contact should be executed in its true sense with light and well-controlled contact. It is a technical discipline with equal emphasis put on hand and foot techniques from an athletic viewpoint. Techniques (punches and kicks) are strictly controlled. At each valid point (a point that is awarded, with a legal part of hand or foot to legal targets and with legal technique), the central referee halts the fight and at the same time as the two judges, shows with his/her fingers the number of points in the direction of the fighter who is being awarded points. Fighters will enter the tatami and touch gloves. They will then step back and assume a fighting stance and wait for the command FIGHT from the referee. The time will only be stopped on the command of the referee, by calling TIME toward the area control table. Time is not stopped to award points or penalties unless the referee feels it is necessary. A fighter may have one coach and one second in his corner during the match.
Light Contact (or medium-contact)
Competition in Light Contact kickboxing should be executed as its name implies, with well-controlled techniques. In light contact competitors fight continuously until the central referee commands STOP or BREAK. They use techniques from full contact, but these techniques must be well controlled when they land on legal targets. Equal emphasis must be placed on both punching and kicking techniques. Light contact has been created as an intermediate stage between semi and full contact kickboxing. It is carried out with running time. The central referee doesn't judge the fighters, but only makes sure they respect the rules. The fight could be held in a tatami or in a ring.
