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Kickboxing is an exciting martial sport combining the hand and ring skills of western boxing with the flare and power of kicking techniques from the eastern martial arts. Western Kickboxing has essentially grown from roots in full contact karate. When, in the 70’s the practitioners of this sport karate tried to take their skills into the arena of the ring and fight over several rounds they found their stamina and hand skills severely lacking. With boxing gloves, one strike, one kill fell at the first hurdle and fights scored on the 10 point Must system (akin to boxing bouts) would often last the distance and become a test of stamina over skill. Thus they turned to the skills and training regimes of western boxers, merging their skill sets to create what has today become kickboxing.
RULE SYSTEMS Kickboxing is fought under various variations of rule systems, some of which are detailed below: SEMI-CONTACT point fighting - usually fought on mats rather than in a ring with the action being stopped when a point is scored. LIGHT CONTINUOUS - fought on mats or in the ring over 2 or more rounds, strikes are normally above the waist and are not thrown at full power. FULL CONTACT - fought in the ring over 3 to 10 2 minute rounds with all techniques bar the sweep thrown above the waist (knees and elbows are illegal). Fights are scored on a 10 Point Must system by three judges and the winner determined via either a knockout or points decision at the end of the bout. Some full contact rule systems also allow kicks to the thigh. K1 - Knees and leg kicks are allowed and a no clinch rule operates to keep the action flowing. Fights are usually fought over 3 X 3 minute rounds often in a 8 man knockout tournament. TECHNIQUES Hand techniques are mostly drawn from western boxing, thus the basic strikes being the jab, cross, hook, uppercut and shovel hook. Massive variation and subtlety can be achieved with these basic shots through variation of angle, footwork and stance. The bolo is a lesser known type of shot that achieves its power in a mechanically different way to the basic shots that use body weight and rotation through various axis to achieve power. Another shot with the hand allowed by some rule systems but that is borrowed rather from the eastern arts is the powerful spinning back fist. Kicking techniques include the front kick, round house kick, side kick, hook kick, crescent kick, axe kick and back thrust kick with spinning and jumping versions of many of these as well. Again each of these basic kicks can be thrown a number of ways, for instance the round house kick may be a basic round house, a side step round house, a body shift roundhouse, a disguised round house, a crocodile kick or a straight leg Thai round house! Sweeping is another technique allowed in most systems generally boot to boot and is used primarily to disrupt an opponents guard and balance and deny him or her confidence in their base rather than to sweep them over. Some of the more extreme rule systems also allow knee and elbow strikes. This system of scoring involves the winner of each round being awarded 10 points and the loser 9 or less. Extra points may be lost through being given a count for a knockdown or a standing count or for repeated fouls. The contest is scored by 3 judges and at the end of the fight each judges scorecard is totalled to determine who they believed won the fight and the winner deemed to be the fighter scored for by a majority of the judges. Split decisions occur when 2 judges score for the winner and the third scores for the loser. It is also possible that a draw will be concluded if all three judges score a draw or 1 scores a draw and the other 2 score for each of the fighters respectively. In K1 contests this would be settled by the fighting of an extra round until a decision one way or the other was reached. TARGET AREAS In Full Contact Kickboxing the target areas for strikes are all above the waist and strikes are not allowed to the back, throat or back of the head. In systems that allow leg kicks the thigh is also a legitimate target. Most systems also allow the use of the sweep to the boot or foot. Areas that often produce knockouts are the point of the chin, line of the jaw and temple on the head and to the body the solar plexus, floating ribs and liver. PROTECTION Fighters in all rule systems wear a mouth guard, groin guard and gloves on the hands which are wrapped to help protect the small bones and wrist joint from damage. Generally shin pads and foot protectors or an all in one shin/instep protector are worn although there are exceptions in the higher level professional competitions. Some rule systems also make compulsory the use of a head guard.
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