Kick Boxing has only recently grown and is largely the product of practical minded people prepared to spurn tradition in pursuit of individual accomplishment and development. While the star of Bruce Lee was rising, giving greater non-Asian exposure to martial arts, certain Western combatants were also coming to the fore. Many were servicemen returning home from postings in Japan, Okinawa and Korea with a mastery of basic techniques. Eager to train, they did so, but without being under the watchful guise of an oriental master. In this spirit free sparring, an unregulated exchange of techniques essentially the same as the sparring found in boxing, but with leg techniques added, surfaced and became popular. In turn competitions developed where contestants sought to score points on the other. With the rise of competition, and clear indications of victor and vanquished, came the desire to increase one’s efficacy, resulting in cross training and the disruption of traditional styles. Then, in the late sixties, a man named Joe Lewis met Bruce Lee. Both were accomplished fighters, but Lewis was perhaps more sports oriented than Lee. With Lee’s encouragement Lewis studied boxing and mixed Eastern and Western techniques together, resulting in the first full contact karate matches in 1970. With improved safety equipment being created in the next few years, more matches could be fought and from there the sport has never looked back. Fought over a series of rounds, and with points being counted if necessary, the aim has nevertheless remained appallingly simple: knock out your opponent before he does the same to you.
Training gives the entire body a good workout. With both hands and feet potential weapons the athlete needs to be in excellent shape and training develops a superb physical condition, with kick boxers being strong, supple and capable of great feats of stamina. Much of the training replicates that of a boxer except that in conjunction with the fists, the use of kicks must also be perfected. Hence the athlete spends hours at work on bags and pads; heavier bags for power, lighter bags and pads for speed and fast combinations. A new dimension is added to this training however as combinations of foot and fist attacks are also honed. Sparring plays an important role in raising the ability of a competitor and rounds include three minutes of non stop punching, non stop kicking, or a combination of the two. One important difference that separates this martial art from Thai boxing is the prohibited use of the elbow in the former version and, often, the knee also. While many today cross train, strictly speaking Kick Boxing does not employ the elbow nor always the knee.
When fighting a kick boxer attempts to overwhelm an opponent with combinations of powerful kicks, closing into punching distance and ending with various combinations. Grappling is not an area of study for a kick boxer and as such he can do little more than clinch an opponent he steps too close to (in a kick boxing ring, as in the boxing ring, an umpire is on hand to separate the fighters). A competitor must be in good physical condition and can ride punches and kicks well while still fighting effectively.
