Japan Continued, 1969 and 1970

EARLY KICKBOXING IN JAPAN (continued) In Japan, Japanese 'Kickboxing' as a competitive sport becomes more popular after 1966. Mr. Kenji Kurosaki, a Student of Kyokushinkai Karate under the legendary Mas Oyama owned the first 'Mejiro Gym' in Japan. Mr. Kurosaki has produced legendary students like Fujiwara, Mitsuo Shima, and Holland's Jan Plas who was involved with opening the highly respected 'Mejiro Gym' in Holland. After Mr. Kurosaki and fellow team mate Tadashi Nakamura (now head of the Seido-juku Organization in New York, USA) first trip to Thailand, Mr. Kurosaki made the transition to Muay Thai (debate claims he was the first to call the sport 'Kickboxing'). The first Japanese Kickboxing organization was called the All-Japan Kick Boxing Federation. A few years later there would be several others: World Kick Boxing Association, and the Shin Kakuto Jutsu (New Fighting Arts) (which was formed by Mr. Kurosaki who left the AJKBF after Benny Urquidez defeated Katsuyuki Suzuki). Mr. Urquidez has called the SKJ organization the Katogi Kick Boxing League. Mr. Kurosaki felt the 2 minute time limit (instead of 3 minute time limit) was closer to the reality of fighting (street fight). He adopted the use of the 2 minute time limit in his regular Thai boxing rules and called it the "Shin Kakuto Jutsu rule". At the same time, he changed the name of his gym from 'Mejiro' (which was located in the Mejiro Ward in Tokyo) to the Kurosaki Dojo. In the early 1970's Kickboxing had soared in popularity in Japan to be the number one viewed sport. On television, weekly programming was available. This was soon to change. Prior to Mr. Urquidez's first visit to Japan in the late 1970's, overall popularity of Kickboxing in Japan was slowly declining and promoters were losing money. This has been also viewed as a reason why Mr. Kurosaki formed his own organization. Urquidez's arrival gave new life to Kickboxing in Japan until his match with Thai Sittiboonlert (discussed later in this article). In 1981, a scandal swept through Japan which linked certain Kickboxing promoters to organized crime. Kickboxing lost public favor and the WKBA and the Katogi Kick Boxing League dissolved. The AJKBA merged with the American based WKA and fully adopted the American rules. During the 1980's the WKA was Japan's only major sanctioning body in the nation. In the late 1980's/early 1990's several new organizations were founded in Japan to give the WKA some competition. The sport has reached even greater heights in Japan during the 1990's with such great events as the K-1 fight series (fought under modified Muay Thai rules) promoted by Master Ishii. This is the most successful and highest paying fight series for Muay Thai/Kickboxing in the world today.


1969
BRUCE LEE AND HIS INFLUENCE ON KICKBOXING PIONEER AND BLACK BELT HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE JOE LEWIS In North America, the birth of "American Kickboxing" in it's earliest and roughest form had its first unsuccessful attempt at the limelight in 1969. American Martial Arts Legend Joe Lewis * was frustrated by the unrealistic nature of tournament Karate, in which blows are pulled short of contact. Famed Martial Artist and Movie Star Bruce Lee referred to this type of competition as "swimming on dry land". He felt Martial Arts relied to much on mystique and not enough on practicality. Pioneer Joe Lewis, was making a name for himself on the very young American Martial Arts Tournament circuit. Lewis also felt this type of competition was a game of tag. Lewis and Lee started working together formulating a new approach to the Martial Arts. Though Lee did not compete, it is universally felt, that Joe Lewis was his 'working laboratory'. Both gentlemen had graduated to using the Martial Arts in a full contact environment. Influenced by his training sessions in boxing with Joey Orbillo and 'Kickboxing' with Bruce Lee, Lewis started training in various boxing gyms in Los Angeles with the full intentions of becoming a professional boxer (Lewis has admitted to me if he would have had his way he would have preferred to become a professional wrestler). In late 1969, Los Angeles promoter Lee Faulkner contacted Lewis to compete in a major non contact team contest. Lewis only agreed if Faulkner would permit him to compete in a Kickboxing match. At first finding a suitable opponent was very difficult for both the promoter and the athlete.

*JOE LEWIS
In late 1969 Joe Lewis introduced Full Contact fighting. He called it Kickboxing but it was later changed to Professional Karate or Contact Karate. In 1972 Lewis quits Kickboxing. In his last fight against Jesse King, promoter Aaron Banks was supposed to pay a certain fee and does not. Banks holds the event in the middle of the week and has poor attendance for the event and blames it on Lewis stating "Lewis' name has no pull anymore." In 1973 Lewis states, "Thai kicking is less powerful (than Karate) and it's punching is relatively poor". In 1983 (at the age of 39), he made a courageous comeback to try and regain his World Heavyweight Full Contact Title, but he retired before regaining the title. Re-retired after 2 straight losses complaining of no money and no glory in fighting anymore.

1970
JOE LEWIS AND THE FIRST ACKNOWLEDGED 'AMERICAN KICKBOXING' FIGHT Eventually Lewis found an opponent and had his first Kickboxing match on January 17th, 1970 by knocking out Greg Baines (a San Jose Kenpo stylist) to become the first U.S. Heavyweight 'Kickboxing' Champion. During the bout, the announcer kept calling the bout 'American Kickboxing'. The mistake in terminology caught on and Joe Lewis became known as the man who pioneered 'American Kickboxing' in North America. Joe Lewis defended his title ten times with no opponent lasting through the second round.

MARTIAL ART MAGAZINE FROM THE 1970'S FEATURING KICKBOXING: (Above photo) Martial Arts Illustrated Magazine (January 1972): One of a multitude of Martial Arts magazines from the period featuring Joe Lewis on the cover.

'AMERICAN' KICKBOXING IS BORN In 1970, full contact Kickboxing invaded America largely through the efforts of Californian Lee Faulkner. Faulkner presented the first Kickboxing bout, between Joe Lewis and Greg Baines. It took place at the Long Beach Arena in conjunction with a noncontact professional tournament. Lewis gained the first American Kickboxing Title with a 3rd round KO. Aaron Banks and Allen Steen both also picked up on American Kickboxing immediately. No one knows exactly how many Kickboxing events were held in the US during this time but it is known that Lewis was the most sparkling champion. He successfully defended his US title, all with 1st or 2nd round KO'es. In Thailand, Muay Thai may be known as the 'Sport of Kings', but in America American Kickboxing only lasted until 1970 and it failed miserably. Kickboxing experienced one last ditch effort when Lee Faulkner introduced locally televised matches in Los Angeles. These matches employed authentic Muay Thai athletes against each other and it enjoyed moderate popularity. The California Athletic Commission which regulates all boxing and wrestling contests conducted in the state altered its existing provisions to include Kickboxing. For reasons undisclosed, the weekly broadcast was discontinued soon afterward.

'1st USA Pro Team Karate Championships'
The cause for the failure of the 1st USA Pro Team Karate Championships must be placed squarely on the shoulders of promoter Lee Faulkner. The event was held on January 17th, 1970. The most controversial event was the featured bout between Lewis and Baines. Both athletes wore 12 oz. gloves and wore sneakers. At the last moment Baines decided to fight barefooted. No kicks to the head or groin were allowed. Both men fought cautious and Baines delivered a roundhouse that was one of the few kicks that was close to being effective. When the two would exchange flurries Lewis would dance harmlessly out of the way of Baines punch attacks. Lewis landed a combination to the head and the body and stunned Baines. Lewis danced out and then knew Baines was hurt so he stepped back in and dropped a right cross which knocked Baines out cold. The KO took place at around 1 minute into the 2nd round. (Jeet Kune Do practitioners look at this fight as the birth of competition JKD because Lewis was a student of Bruce Lee).

MARTIAL ART MAGAZINE FROM THE 1970'S FEATURING KICKBOXING: (Above photo) Official Karate Magazine (April 1971): This magazine deals with the controversy surrounding 'American Kickboxing' and founder Lee Faulkner. It also has an article on fighting Pioneer and Legend Joe Lewis who is also featured on the cover.

LEE FAULKNER - U.S. KICKBOXING ASSOCIATION Building on the pioneering concept of 'American Kickboxing', Los Angeles promoter Lee Faulkner founded the U.S. Kick-Boxing Association. Lee Faulkner, became involved with the Martial Arts on the most basic and functional level. This was as a Green Beret while serving in Vietnam. The Green Beret organization did field some of the most efficient and competently trained fighting men in the history of the modern world. Upon returning to the USA he decided to take work as a stunt man in Hollywood. He studied for a year and a half under Joe Lewis and two years under Chuck Norris. He also worked with Gene LeBell (an ex-professional wrestler renowned for his wrestling 'finishing' moves. Actually, Mr. LeBell was challenged to fight the far younger Royce Gracie in the early 1990's and he responded with a challenge to the older Gracie father who never responded to the challenge) to obtain a working understanding in Judo basics. His goal with the U.S. Kickboxing Association was to establish 'professionalism' in Kickboxing. His goal was full time paid professional athletes, which was unheard of at the time in the traditional Martial Arts community. At the time, there were even offers from the Orient to stage tournaments on an international level. At the time, had it come to pass, the term 'World Champion' would have finally had some validity. However, Faulkner ran into lots of opposition from the traditional Martial Arts world because athletes were finding out that techniques they relied on and regarded as being 'lethal' were anything but that when delivered with full force. As a result, Kickboxing's loudest opponents at the time were those who were unable to accept this as a basic truth. A pre-requisite to join the organization was that the athlete was a Black Belt. After the Joe Lewis bout, Faulkner went to work to try and put together a set of rules that everyone would follow. A few of the U.S. Kickboxing Association rules at the time included only using a five count (instead of the recognized ten count of today). The bouts consisted of 4 rounds of three minutes. Low (leg) kicks*, elbows and knees were also allowed at the time (*years ahead of the WKA). One of the more famous or noteworthy fights for the organization in 1970 was a confrontation between Victor Moore who was an experienced athlete and Jim Harrison in his first bout. Harrison was definitely on the losing end of the bout when he suddenly unloaded and caught Moore in the head. Moore went down and did not make the five count.

(Top photo) Joe Lewis (left, being hit by a sidekick) in a bout against pug Atlas King. Lewis easily won the fight but because King looked so bad, the bout was universally panned.

AMERICAN KICKBOXING - MISH MASH In the early to mid 1970's, a handful of events took place in the more densely populated areas such as Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York City. All had different organizations which had adopted different rules to follow. Other than the U.S. Kickboxing Association, in the early 70's, the sport of American Kick-boxing consisted of Karateka donning a pair of gloves and trying to kick and "box", though few, if any (other than Joe Lewis), had any understanding on how to properly deliver boxing techniques. The sport attracted negative attention in the Martial Arts media (an analogy for the sport during this period in time was "Kickboxing is as close to resembling its Thailand counterpart as a grape is to wine; there's a helluva lot of work to be done before you can achieve that end result"). In contrast to Muay Thai, 'American Kick-boxing' did not allow elbows, knees, clinching, and low kicks to the legs. Fighters wore a pair of Karate pants, boxing gloves, T-shirts were optional and athletes fought wearing runners (Safe-T Kicks were not invented and introduced until 1973). Possibly as a result of the criticism in the Martial Arts media, possibly the rules, and the poorly trained athletes (for the most part), when it was all combined, 'American Kickboxing' never gained acceptance in the USA at this time and it quietly faded away. Martial Arts tournament promoters who decided to try and promote Kickboxing were losing more money than ever because there was no spectator support. Thus in its original form 'American Kickboxing' survived for only a year.


COMPETITIVE BANDO HAS A LARGE DEBUT IN THE USA On February 29th, 1970 in Dayton Ohio, a traditional Bando boxing match took place featuring Dr. Maung Gyi against experienced KO artist Tim Fleming. Dr. Maung Gyi dropped Tim Fleming with a right hand after fast and furious full contact exchanges. Gyi dropped his foe once before but the second time was the final time. Dr. Gyi's 2nd fight of the evening was against a fighter by the name of Berdine (who was known as a quick and highly deceptive athlete). Gyi easily defeated his 2nd foe. 3000 people gathered to enjoy a synthesis of Bando (Burmese boxing), Thai boxing, Golden Gloves, Boxing, Olympic and Greco Roman Wrestling and the other Martial Arts. At this event the following claim was made, "Bando boxing is the father of Thai Boxing and the grandfather of Japanese Kickboxing."


THAI BOXING VS. KARATE IN THE USA - A SURPRISING OUTCOME The 1970 Captain Weber Days Karate Championships took place in Stockton California. The event was co-promoted by Ron Marchini (a Renbukai stylist /full contact karate in armor) and Leo Fong. The event featured a 3 round Full Contact bout between a Thai boxer and a Karateka. Thailand's Viji Jiraphan took on Bill Rodriguez. Viji had just arrived in the USA to try and promote Muay Thai. The bout was to be 3 rounds of 2 minutes with both athletes wearing 6 oz. gloves. Rodriguez a lightweight boxer as well as Kenpo stylist won a draw with the Thai. In the Karate (Tae Kwon-Do) vs. Boxing bout, a 6 round bout took place between a Korean Karate champion and a boxer. Byong Yu squared off with Leo Agbulos (a former professional boxer and Karate stylist). Yu won by a split decision. Yu relied on his kicks while his opponent boxed and tried to press to choke out the Korean's kicks.

BOXE FRANCAISE-SAVATE VS. JAPANESE KICKBOXING: (Top photo left) Guillaume stands over his vanquished Japanese foe. (Top photo right) An exchange with Guillaume taking a kick to the head. (Middle photo) Guillaume delivering a coup de pied bas. A Boxe Francaise-Savate technique also called by some an 'oblique' kick. Notice Guillaume is wearing fight shoes. (Bottom photo left) Japanese athlete attacking with a leg kick. (Bottom photo right) Guillaume delivering a chasse median comparable to a sidekick at his Japanese foe.

BOXE FRANCAISE SAVATE VS. JAPANESE KICKBOXING French Savate Champion Christian Guillaume finished his 6 week visit to Japan with 5 wins in 5 fights with Japanese Kickboxers. The Savate expert proved that La Boxe Francaise-Savate is not inferior to Oriental methods. He won 3 of his bouts with KO'es and 2 of them by decisions. 2 of the 3 KO'es were in the first round. There are many other things to consider in these bouts including the length of the bouts and the types of strikes that were allowed. A lot of this favored the Frenchman's fight.


KUNG FU VS. MUAY THAI San Francisco hosted the 1970 All-America Kung-Fu Karate Championships. The highlight of the evening was a Muay Thai bout between 2 authentic Muay Thai athletes. Thai boxers Dean Hongmanee battled with Chat Chinsakul. At the conclusion of the 3 round match, the referee declared Dean Hongmanee as the winner. The exciting conclusion of the event was a bout between a Muay Thai stylist and a Kung fu stylist in a Full Contact match. The final match pitted Thay Prasert, a Muay Thai stylist against Chong Orgard, a local Kung fu practitioner. The Thai boxer pressed forward making the Kung fu mans strikes ineffective. The bout was stopped in the 3rd round after the Kung fu man had been floored several times and was unable to continue. The Thai won the bout by TKO.


AMERICAN KICKBOXING ALMOST HAS IT'S FIRST RING FATALITY 'USA Pro Open Karate Championships is promoted by Lee Faulkner. On June 20th, 1970 in Dallas, Texas, Joe Lewis faced Texan Big Ed Daniel*, In the first round both men were aggressive and Daniel threw more punches but the shorter Lewis just ducked under, covered or moved out of range of the punches. The first round was given to Daniel. In the 2nd round, Lewis looked warmed up and he dropped Daniel to the canvas with a right cross. Daniel was counted out but he finally did get up. On the undercard Jim Harrison and his face get beaten to a pulp over 2 1/2 rounds. His face was bloody and it looked like an easy victor for his foe Victor Moore who suddenly got hit with a beautiful clean punch which dropped Moore for the count.

*ED DANIEL
In 1970 Daniel is a challenger to the title Joe Lewis owns. Daniel takes a hard uppercut in the third round and goes down, but in truth Daniel has a stroke. The athlete almost dies but finally pulled through. In a few years, Daniel and Pat Burleson put together a Full Contact team called the Texas Gladiators.

Continued on the Next Page! - 1971 -