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BeyondDojo

Discipline hub

Kickboxing

Punches, kicks and knees, no elbows: the fast, combination-heavy ring sport built from karate, Muay Thai and boxing.

Origin
Japan and the Netherlands
Region
Europe
Founded
1960s (Japan); Dutch style from the 1970s
Category
Striking
A kickboxer in black shorts lands a high kick to the body of his opponent in red shorts during a ring match under stage lights.
Kickboxing match, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, 2005. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Pfc. C. Warren Peace, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Kickboxing is a family of ring sports that allow punches and kicks – and in most modern rule sets knees – but no elbows and only a brief clinch. The name was coined in Japan in the 1960s for a sport that mixed karate with Muay Thai and boxing; in the 1970s Dutch gyms built their own version from Kyokushin karate, Muay Thai and Western boxing, and that Dutch style became the template for K-1 in the 1990s and for most kickboxing gyms in Europe and North America today. American full-contact kickboxing, with kicks only above the waist, is a separate branch that has largely faded.

Character

  • Combinations: Boxing hands set up kicks; three- and four-strike combinations are the core skill.
  • The low kick: The great equaliser of Dutch kickboxing, thrown to the thigh at the end of punch combinations.
  • Pace: Round-by-round scoring rewards volume and clean strikes, so the sport is fast and mobile.
  • No elbows, short clinch: The inside game is boxing – hooks, uppercuts and getting out – rather than Muay Thai's clinch.

Who is it for?

Anyone who wants to learn to punch and kick in combination with boxing-style movement, and anyone looking for the most accessible striking class in town. Kickboxing is taught in specialist gyms, martial-arts schools and fitness chains alike. Boxers and karateka pick it up quickly; people who later want elbows and the clinch move on to Muay Thai, which shares most of the technique. Gloves, hand wraps, shin guards and a mouthguard are the usual kit.

Further reading: Kickboxing on Wikipedia

Kickboxing

Training

Kickboxing

Gear articles

Kickboxing

Compared with other arts

Kickboxing

Gear

Recommendations from our reviews. Links are affiliate links, clearly labelled.

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Our pickBoxing gloves

Hayabusa Hayabusa T3 Boxing Gloves

4.7about $160–170

The glove to buy once: the best wrist support in the category and two to three years of hard use in the reviews.

Pros

  • Dual-strap closure locks the wrist – the most one-sided praise in the category
  • Roomy fit that suits big hands
  • Multi-year durability reports at three sessions a week
  • Compact, lace-up-like feel

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Firm padding stings for the first sessions
  • Some find the wrist closure too tight
  • Occasional loose stitching on arrival
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Best all-rounderBoxing gloves

Venum Venum Elite Boxing Gloves

4.6about $100–110

The safest all-rounder: almost no bad reviews, three-year durability reports and the widest colour range – as long as your hands are not large.

Pros

  • Build quality praised in the great majority of reviews
  • Little break-in, good for average and smaller hands
  • Wrist support that holds up over years
  • Huge colour range

Cons

  • Runs slightly small and narrow – not for large hands
  • Rigid for the first sessions
  • Slippery outer surface on some bags
  • Pricey for a first pair
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Our pickHand wraps & inner gloves

RDX RDX Mexican Style Hand Wraps, 4.5 m / 180"

4.6about $14 (3-pack about $27)

The wrap to buy once: the best quality ratio of any wrap we looked at, survives the washing machine, and the only best seller with no Velcro-failure pattern.

Pros

  • Quality praised in 229 of 245 mentions – the best ratio in the category
  • Durability through repeated washing, no Velcro complaints
  • A true 4.5 metres, so the wrist gets wrapped properly
  • Strong material that does not bunch mid-session

Cons

  • Too much wrap for small hands – bulk under gloves
  • Less elastic than the label suggests, some say none at all
  • Stiff Velcro with a tapered closure
  • A few buyers want a wider strip
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Boxing gloves

RDX RDX Kids Boxing Gloves (4 oz / 6 oz)

4.5about $30–33

The children's glove with the lowest complaint rate we found: well made, room to grow, padding that lasts.

Pros

  • Quality praised in almost every review
  • Room to grow
  • Padding holds up
  • Looks like a real adult glove

Cons

  • Some pairs run small – measure rather than go by age
  • Listing unclear about what is included
  • $10 more than the Hawk Sports equivalent
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