Kick Boxing. 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. Full contact karate led the way with a defined set of rules, kicks were only scored if they landed above the waist, kicking below the waist was considered a foul. The karate practitioners soon realised they would have to develop orthodox boxing skills as full power punches were allowed to the head. This form of the sport still exists today and is known as full contact. The early promoters of kickboxing worked together, Joe Corley, Don and Judy Quinn and Howard Hanson who was a Shorin Ryu Karate black belt and a student of martial arts tournament legend, Mike Stone. It was Hanson who advanced the sport another stage by ensuring that bouts were fought in a boxing ring rather than on the kind of open matting used for karate tournaments. Hanson soon became renowned as an excellent matchmaker, he staged a stream of successful events with several of them spotlighting Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace one of the first super stars of kickboxing. The popularity of full contact grew quickly in America. One of the first sanctioning bodies was formed by Joe Corley and Don and Judy Quinn. It was called the PKA (Professional Karate Association). By now the rules were well developed and included a kick count rule where competitors had to perform a minimum of eight kicks per round. There were weight divisions similar to orthodox boxing from flyweight to heavyweight and world title fights were sanctioned. The PKA struck a deal with the American television sports channel ESPN and world title fights were broadcast on a regular basis. Unfortunately full contact was becoming an all American sport like baseball or American football. Americans would fight Americans for world titles much to the annoyance of Howard Hanson. Hanson felt that real world kickboxing champions had to earn their titles the hard way, just as professional orthodox boxing champions did by fighting equally matched fighters from around the world. He felt that the traditional origins of the sport in Thailand and Japan were being ignored. At that time the sport was being enveloped in politics, greed and an all American attitude. On a cold October evening Howard Hanson held a small meeting at which he put forward his revolutionary idea about forming a truly global kickboxing organisation. Present at the meeting was Arnold Urquidez (older brother of world famous kickboxer, Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez). A name for the new organisation was agreed. At that time the initials stood for the World Karate Association as full contact karate was still at the forefront. Later the name was changed to World Kickboxing Association. They decided that the symbol of the WKA was to be a black belt tied around a world globe. The WKA was born. Then the hard work started, rules were written and re-written. The WKA was open to everyone. One of the first fighters to take up the challenge and who was later to become one of the WKA's most famous champions was Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez. In 1977 he fought for the first time under WKA rules against Thai champion, Narong Noi. Later the same year Japan and Hong Kong were prepared for the WKA invasion with the help of one of Japan's most famous wrestlers of all time, Antonio Inoki. Antonio Inoki is perhaps best known in the West for his mixed rules match with Mohammad Ali. The first WKA bouts to take place in the orient and saw American teams take on Japanese kickboxers as an added attraction at professional wrestling matches. Soon the sport became so popular that it was able to attract large audiences on its own merits. At that time most American fighters were still practising full contact karate where as their Japanese and Thai opponents had a larger arsenal which included knee and elbow strikes and kicks to the legs. Benny Urquidez who also held a black belt in Judo would throw his Thai or Japanese opponent if they tried to clinch. The Eastern fighters were not happy about being thrown across the ring and a compromise was sought. Howard Hanson decided in order to win television exposure in the US a rules system should be employed that allowed for as much kicking and punching as possible and as little grappling and clinching as possible. Traditional Muay Thai which features extensive close range fighting in the ring has a huge television audience in its native country, but this audience has been brought up to understand the sport in a way that American fans could not. It was decided that knees and elbows would not be allowed, but low kicks to the legs would stay. This evened the playing field between East and West and the WKA system of fighting became the international standard. The main reason why Howard Hanson thought that this was absolutely necessary was that he felt the sport had to grow in to a true international sport and not just involve a handful of countries. The oriental fighters number among the strongest in the world, so no man could call himself a true world champion without having fought the best from the orient. For more information contact the World Kickboxing Association.