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Kickboxing refers to the sport of
using martial-arts-style kicks and 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. 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.
There are many arts labelled kickboxing
including Japanese, American, Indian, Burmese
kickboxing, as well as French savate. The term
kickboxing is disputed and has become more
associated with the Japanese and American variants. Many
of the other styles do not consider themselves to be
'kickboxing', although the public often uses the term
generically to refer to all these martial arts. The term
kickboxing' was created by the Japanese boxing
promoter Osamu Noguchi for a variant of Muay Thai and
Karate that he created in the 1950s. The term was later
used by the American variant. When used by the
practitioners of those two styles, it usually refers to
those styles specifically.
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