KICKBOXING

WKA (World Kickboxing Association)

Many laymen are under the impression that modern day kickboxing originated in Thailand, Japan or elsewhere in the Far East, in fact, the real origins of the sport are revealed by the real name by which it was known, full contact karate.

During the early seventies the American martial arts world was shaken to its foundations by the demands made on it by a fresh young new generation of practitioners. Fighters started looking for a competitive format in which they could use their skills to the full effect, full power punches and kicks in bouts fought to the knockout.

The development of specialised protective equipment speeded up the evolution of this new sport, which became known as kickboxing.

Between 1970 and 1973 a handful of kickboxing promotions were staged across the USA. In the early days the rules were never clear, one of the
first tournaments had no weight divisions and all the competitors fought off until one was left. A very young Benny Urquidez reached the final.

Weighing in at 10 stones Urquidez faced the 14 stones Dana Goodson. Urquidez won the tournament by pinning Goodson to the floor for more than 10 seconds, which was part of the rules.

In the mid-seventies various American tournament karate practitioners became frustrated with the limitations of the then rather primitive competitive scoring system.  In the mid-seventies various American tournament karate practitioners became frustrated with the limitations of the then rather primitive competitive scoring system. They wanted to find a system within which they could apply kicks and punches to the knockout. Full contact karate was born.

Early bouts were fought on open matted areas just as ordinary karate matches were. Later events were staged in regular size boxing rings. These early tournaments produced kickboxing's first stars, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez and Jeff Smith. Later the Americans really wanted to test their mettle and sent teams of kickboxers to Japan under
the banner of the WKA (World Kickboxing Association). From this point
kickboxing developed in to a true international sport.

Today the WKA is world's oldest and largest sanctioning body, and continues to grow.

More about the WKA (World Kickboxing Assosiation): www.wka.co.uk

WAKO(World Amateur Kickboxing Organisation)

WAKO started its activity in Europe in 1976. The founder was Mr. Georg Bruckner from Berlin, who promoted the first ever World Championships in semi and full contact karate ( as it was called in those days) back in 1978 with 110 competitors representing 18 countries.

WAKO immediately created the rules and regulations for the new fighting sports and acted , since the very beginning, as the authentic Kickboxing Federation of the world. In our Championships, only national teams are accepted. Each member country can present only 1 competitor in each weight class. The WAKO World Championships are NOT open competitions therefore each representative is the premier competitor in that category, from their country.

Today WAKO kickboxer participants are estimated to be around 1,200,000 with no less than 6,000 clubs around the globe. We promote, nationally and internationally, more than 1,000 amateur and professional events a year. Now recognised as the principal European and World Kickboxing Federation, today WAKO includes WAKO-PRO which is growing steadily all over the world and organises events that spread the word about our movement, attracting thousands of spectators to sports-arenas ( and even football grounds !) together with full press promotion.

WAKO-PRO started in 1991, and in a very short time has become the leading professional body in Europe, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and the Middle-East.

In the USA WAKO is supported by the KRANE organisation which unites the best American fighters, particularly in the "point system" and in Musical Forms. The WAKO representative in the USA is Mr. Don Rodrigues, coach and manager of the famous John Paul Mitchel team. Therefore WAKO and WAKO-PRO are working in conjunction to guarantee the future of world class kickboxing.

Our strength lies precisely both in our numbers and quality. We are different, as you will find out for yourself.

More about WAKO (World Amateur Kickboxing Organisation): UK: www.wakogb.co.uk or World: www.wako-fikeda.it

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