International Kickboxing Day Date in the current year: November 30, 2024

Kickboxing is a form of boxing based on punching and kicking. The term can have two meanings. In the broad sense, it includes all modern stand-up combat sports that involve kicking and punching, such as full contact karate, Muay Thai, Lethwei (Burmese boxing), Ukrainian combat hopak, and many others. In the narrow sense, the term “kickboxing” refers to the styles of boxing that self-identify as kickboxing.

Although kicking and punching have been used in combat sports since ancient times, the modern sport of kickboxing is relatively new. The term was coined in the 1960s by Japanese boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi, who combined elements of karate and Muay Thai to create a hybrid martial art that is now known as Japanese kickboxing.

Japanese kickboxing was introduced to Europe and North America in the 1970s, which led to the development of American kickboxing and Dutch kickboxing. The popularity of kickboxing contributed to the emergence and popularization of mixed martial arts in the 1990s.

The world’s leading governing body of amateur kickboxing is the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO), founded in 1977 by American kickboxing promoter Mike Anderson and German kickboxing promoter Georg Brueckner. In 2006, WAKO merged with the International Amateur Kickboxing Organization (IAKSA) under the WAKO umbrella and was accepted into SportAccord (then named Global Association of International Sports Federations, GAISF).

Shortly after its recognition by GAIFS, WAKO was recognized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the International World Games Association (IWFA). The International Olympic Committee (IOC) provisionally recognized kickboxing as an Olympic sport on November 30, 2018 and gave it full recognition on July 20, 2021.

However, as of 2023, kickboxing was yet to be featured at the Olympics or Youth Olympics. It was not chosen by the IOC for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but WAKO President Roy Baker expressed hope that the sport would appear at the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane.

International Kickboxing Day was created to commemorate the provisional recognition of kickboxing by the IOC and popularize the sport of kickboxing around the globe. To celebrate the holiday, WAKO members organize competitions and other events in their respective countries.

It should be noted that, while WAKO is recognized as the international governing body of amateur kickboxing, there is no single international governing body of the sport of kickboxing in general and no single kickboxing world championship. International kickboxing associations include the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF), the International Sport Karate and Kickboxing Association (ISKA), the Professional Kickboxing Association (PKA), and the World Kickboxing Association (WKA).