Kickboxing

Kickboxing can be described as a generic term for a sporting martial art that, while similar to boxing, uses feet as well as hands for fighting.

Related Topics:
Generic - Sport - Martial art - Boxing

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Forms of kickboxing that have been labelled under this term http://www.mikemiles.com/history1.html include:

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• Muay Thai - Thai boxing/kickboxing (strong emphasis on knee and elbow strikes)
• Savate - French kickboxing (Allows the use of shoes)
• San Shou - Chinese Kickboxing (Takedowns and throws are legal)
• Bando - Burmese Kickboxing (Any part of the body may be used to strike and be struck)
• Japanese kickboxing (Similar to Muay Thai, but elbow strikes are prohibited)
• Full Contact Karate - "American" Kickboxing" (Most of the time padding and in some cases body armour is used)
• Shoot boxing - One of Japanese kickbxing which allows throwing and submission with standing (similar to San Shou)

There are many additional deriviatives of these forms, as well as combined styles which have been used in specific competitions (e.g. K-1). The rules of 'kickboxing' also vary between these different styles.

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The term kickboxing is disputed and has come to become more associated with the Japanese and American variants. It must be noted that many of the above styles do not consider themselves to be 'kickboxing' as such, although the public uses the term generically to refer to all these martial arts. The term itself was created by the Japanese boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi for a variant of Muay Thai and Karate that he created in the 1950s; this term was later used by the American variant. When used by the practioners of these 2 styles, it tends to refer to them specifically rather than the martial arts they were derived from.

Related Topics:
Japan - Osamu Noguchi - Muay Thai - Karate - 1950s

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:The rest of this article deals with the Japanese and American deriviatives of 'kickboxing'. For the other martial arts see their relevant articles.

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Kickboxing: History ►