History

Light Contact Kickboxing

“A continuous evolution of Kickboxing”

Back in the early days of Kickboxing's development, only two disciplines existed; semi-contact and full contact. In the late 1970's and early 80's both of these disciplines were held on 8x8 meter open mats. At the time full contact kickboxing resembled full contact sport Karate, with Karate moves being executed with full power. It wasn't until full contact moved into the roped ring that it came to resemble more of a boxing style than Karate. Boxing became such an important aspect of full contact training that rules were imposed to ensure a certain amount of kicks were performed in each round. This departure in full contact widened the differences between itself and semi-contact kickboxing. Semi contact being the stop/start discipline where a point is awarded on the execution of the first clean technique to score. The fight is stopped, the point is awarded and then the fight continues.

During the early days, semi contact kickboxing was a stepping stone for fighters to transition to full contact, but with both styles now differing a great deal, it wasn't long before semi contact developed it's own identity, rule set and it's own brand of fighters.

This widening differences between these two original disciplines meant that it was hard for world authorities like WAKO to develop new fighters into the full contact discipline. In his excellent book “Kickboxing a Phenomenology of a Sport” WAKO President Ennio Falsoni describes the circumstances at the time as such - “The ring was revered and feared at the same time. We had to inject new blood into full contact, or otherwise we were heading nowhere.”

Ennio Falsoni WAKO President

It was originally Geert Lemmens who had come up with the idea to introduce a third discipline to try and resolve this problem for full contact. This new third discipline would act as the new transition discipline for full contact. It would entail fighters squaring off on the 8x8 meter open tatami, but unlike semi-contact the opponents would fight continuously, like full contact, over 2x2 minute rounds. This new discipline would be known as Light Contact Kickboxing. 

Geert Lemmens

In early Light Contact Kickboxing all techniques used in full contact were valid, however they were to be delivered with control. Ennio Falsoni described the new system as being similar to that type of sparring already in practice in gyms around the world; “This training exercise enabled them to fine-tune their attack and defence combinations, thus creating the automatic reactions essential for real fighting” (Kickboxing A Phenomenology of a Sport p.68).

Light Contact Kickboxing made it's debut on the world stage at the WAKO World Championships in Birmingham in 1983 five years after the first WAKO worlds in Full Contact and European championships in Semi-Contact (1978). As a demonstration discipline at the 1983 World Championships Light Contact went down a storm. Even though not many had entered into it's divisions it was the -57kg category that stole show with Gianpaolo Spanu exciting the crowds with his ability. Unfortunately and ironically he was disqualified for excessive contact having knocked out his opponent with a beautifully executed butterfly kick. None the less the new discipline attracted a huge amount of interest. In 1987 at the Munich based World Championships Light Contact was made an official sport of WAKO. 

Gianpaulo Spanu

 

Over the decades and since its inception, Light Contact has evolved and has since become a discipline with its own unique style. No longer is it a discipline used only to train up full contact fighters. Light Contact has become a very fast paced technical sport which includes all the speed and accuracy of Semi-Contact while maintaining the continuous flow of attack and counter attack of full contact.

Throughout the years the discipline has attracted many of the world's greatest kickboxers who have moulded and developed the style with their own unique methods. Slovenia's Tomaz Barada was one of the greatest Light Contact fighters WAKO has ever known. He amassed a staggering 84 Professional WAKO fights without loss, winning 6 World amateur titles along the way. His method of sparring showed the world how tactically useful a sharp lead leg was. He was able to beat world class kickboxers who relied on older training methods with the use of a lead leg. His use of counter kicking and having the ability to spin at short range meant he heavily influenced a generation of Light Contact fighters to develop their dynamic kicking ability at different ranges. 

Tomaz Barada

From the mid 1990's Light Contact became less full contact orientated with fighters now developing their ability to jab with their legs as well as their hands. Light Contact fighters became less flat footed like the full contact of old and became dynamic in movement akin to Semi-Contact but without the limiting side facing position that hampered the use of boxing techniques at close range. The rules also changed to accommodate this new fast and dynamic style of kickboxing. 

To ensure fast flowing techniques, techniques on the inside, like what you see on the ropes of a full contact fight, were not scored unless they were very obvious and very clean. Fighters today in the Light Contact disciplines will use a tactical exit away from the opponent in a bid to score a clean shot as they create distance, hence why you see good Light Contact kickboxers finishing hand combinations with a kick. Exiting the ring without being forced out three times will get you disqualified and the ring itself has become smaller, scaling down from the original 8x8 meters to 7x7 meters internationally and 6x6 at inter-club tournaments. This creates more action packed bouts with less hiding space for fighters like what you might see in the bigger rings.

Today all world class Light Contact fighters have a lead leg that they could eat their dinner with and a jab that has all the hall marks and speed of the semi-contact blitz or back-fist. They can all kick from close quarters and utilise switching movements to create an operating distance that allows them to score with their legs as they disengage from a clinch. 
 

Present day Light Contact champions such as Bulgaria's Emanuel Dimitrov, Britain's Elijah Everill and Ireland's Des Leonard are all part of the future evolution of Light Contact Kickboxing. They, and others like them continue to develop the sport as lightening fast continuous display of Kickboxing.

In the words of Ennio Falsoni himself; “In truth the words 'Light Contact' are something of a euphemism, as light contact has become a highly technical tough speciality. It has become a discipline of it's own characteristics and heroes”

Footnote: The next WAKO Senior World Championships will take place in City West, Dublin, Ireland this year (2015). Don't miss your opportunity to see the world's greatest on your door step.