YORKSHIRE'S PREMIER MARTIAL ARTS CLUB
The History of Kickboxing 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. |
The Types of Kickboxing
There are three main types of fights/sparring in the sport of kickboxing:
- Points Fighting: This is the more tradiotional form of sparring. Basically once a strike is landed, either on the body or on the head or legs, the point is awarded and the fight is paused. The fighters return to their starting positions, about 3 feet apart and then the fight recommences. In the end the winner is the one with either the most points in a specific time period, or the first to reach a set number of points, 3,5 or 11 points. Points fighting is a very fast sparring style and is most suitable for beginners.
- Continuous Fighting: As opposed to points fight, this type is a continuous fight. Once a point is landed the isn’t a stop to the fight, rather the judges tally up the points as they happen. After a specific number of minutes, typcically 2 or 3 minutes the round is stopped. Often there is 3 rounds, and the winner is declared at the end of the rounds.
- Knock out Fighting: This is similar to the continuous fighting, but it is also possible to end the fight once a knockout is achieved. Generally knock out fighting has up to 8 rounds or more. If the number of rounds is reached with out a knock out (K.O.) , the winner is declared for the fighter with the higher number of points scored.
Points fighting is generally for amateur levels of fighters, but not always. In an amateur levels fights are not allowed to purposefully set out to injure each other. Where as in professional fights, physical injury is common, and it is sometimes quite brutal.
