what is kickboxing?

Kickboxing refers to the sport of using martial-arts-style kicks and western-boxing-style punches to defeat an opponent in a similar way to that of standard boxing. Kickboxing is a standing sport and does not allow continuation of the fight once a combatant has reached the ground. All punches and kicks must land above the belt.

Kickboxing is often practised for general fitness, or as a full-contact sport. In the full-contact sport the male boxers are bare chested wearing kickboxing trousers and protective gear including: mouth-guard, hand-wraps, 10oz boxing gloves, groin-guard, shin-pads, kick-boots, and optional protective helmet (usually for those under 18.) The female boxers will wear a tank top in addition to the male clothing/protective gear.

Kickboxing is often confused with Muay Thai, also known as Thai Boxing. The two sports are similar, however, in Thai Boxing, kicks below the belt are allowed, as are strikes with knees and elbows. Also, Thai Boxing matches are fought with no shin guards (only leg wraps), unlike kickboxing, where leg protectors are used.

Types of kickboxing :

1. Adithada (Indian kickboxing) — A form of kickboxing that uses knee, elbow and forehead strikes
2. Lethwei (Burmese kickboxing) — Traditional Burmese martial arts of which has now grown into a popular kickboxing event with strong emphasis on knee, elbow strikes and head butt. Any part of the body may be used to strike and be struck. It us also known as Bando kickboxing.
3. Pradal Serey (Khmer kickboxing) — A possible predecessor of Muay Thai
4. Muay Thai (Thai boxing) — Traditional Thai martial art of which has now grown into a popular kickboxing event with strong emphasis on knee and elbow strikes
5. Japanese kickboxing — Similar to Muay Thai, but different point system is taken(e.g. K-1).
6. American kickboxing — Similar to Japanese kickboxing and Full contact karate, but different point system is taken
7. Full Contact Karate — Most of the time padding and in some cases body armor is used and is the applicable component of karate like many other styles which also include routines training.
8. Savate (French kickboxing) — Allows the use of shoes
9. Sanshou/Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) — The applicable component of wushu/kung fu of which Takedowns and throws are legal in competition as well as all other sorts of striking (use of arms and legs).
10. Shoot boxing — A Japanese form of kickboxing which allows throwing and submission while standing similar to San Shou
11. Yaw-Yan (Filipino kickboxing) — Sayaw ng Kamatayan (Dance of Death) is the proper name for Yaw-Yan, a Filipino martial art developed by Napoleon Fernandez. The art resembles Muay Thai in a sense, but differs in the hip torquing motion as well as downward-cutting of its kicks.
    

In MMU(Multimedia University), we practise Muay Thai (Thai boxing) — Traditional Thai martial art of which has now grown into a popular kickboxing event with strong emphasis on knee and elbow strikes.