Georg Frederic Brueckner (30 July 1930 - 30 December 1992) was a German martial arts pioneer and inventor of fighting sports gear used for boxing, kickboxing and other pugilistic sports. He died in Berlin aged 62.
In 1952 he began practicing martial arts and studied judo, karate, jujutsu. [1] In 1961 he opened his first karate dojo in Wilmersdorf, West-Berlin. When Mike Anderson and Hans Vierthaler opened the first Taekwondo sports club in Garmisch Partenkirchen in January 1963 he started studies in Taekwondo. [2] He and Vierthaler became the first Germans to receive black belt diplomas from Korean Grandmaster Choi Hong Hi. Starting in 1974 Bruckner promoted the first kickboxing and martial arts shows in Europe which earned him recognition as the "Father of European Kickboxing". [3] [4]
Together with Mike Anderson Brueckner went on to create sport karate tournaments where contact was allowed. In 1976 they founded WAKO, a global sanctioning body for amateur kickboxing. Brueckner went on to promote the first WAKO World Championships in 1978 in Berlin and the fifth WAKO World Championships in 1987 in Munich's Olympic Hall. Both events created large crowds and publicity for the sport of kickboxing. He promoted many more events staging the heroes of martial arts including Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Jhoon Rhee, Fumio Demura, Bruce Lee widow Linda Lee, Jeff Smith and many others.
Georg Frederic Brueckner was a vivid proponent of fair sports competition and sought to create safety gear for the martial arts that would allow practitioners of various styles competing against each other without the risk of serious injuries. With the support of the medical and scientific community Brueckner created the Top Ten equipment using a highly flexible polyurethane padding for head, foot and hand protectors for pugilistic sports. [5] Initially designed for kickboxing competition, Brueckner modified the hand protectors to become boxing gloves used in amateur boxing competition. Many of his inventions were patented in the USA, Germany, Japan and other countries. [6] His boxing gloves and headgear were introduced as official gear for the Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. It was the first modern boxing glove made with highly shock dampening polyurethane padding.
Kickboxing is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and bare feet to favor the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general fitness, or for competition. Some styles of kickboxing include: full contact karate, Muay Thai, Japanese kickboxing, Lethwei, Sanda, and Savate.
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage.
Full contact karate is any format of karate where competitors spar full-contact and allow a knockout as winning criterion.
A punch is a striking blow with the fist. It is used in most martial arts and combat sports, most notably western boxing, where it is the only type of offensive technique allowed. In sports, hand wraps or other padding such as gloves may be used to protect athletes and practitioners from injuring themselves.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to martial arts:
Branko Cikatić was a Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, the first Croatian-born fighter to achieve international success. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. He was the first K-1 World Grand Prix Champion. The tournament was held on April 30, 1993 in Japan.
A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the opponent, or attacking the opponent in a specific or designated technique. Combat sports share a long history with the martial arts.
Troy Glenn Dorsey is a former U.S. boxer and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight, featherweight and lightweight divisions. Known predominantly for his physical endurance and power, Dorsey began his martial arts training in karate and taekwondo at the age of ten before later making the switch to full contact kickboxing. He was a three-time kickboxing world champion as well as a gold medalist of the WAKO Amateur World Championships in both 1985 (London) and 1987 (Munich). He then began dedicating himself to boxing in 1989. He won the IBF World Featherweight Championship and IBO World Super Featherweight Championship before retiring in 1998.
The ISKA is international bodies regulating sport karate and kickboxing matches. It is based in the United States. It was established in 1985 as a response to legal and revenue issues that sent the Professional Karate Association (PKA) into decline.
A contact sport is any sport where physical contact between competitors, or their environment, is an integral part of the game. For example, gridiron football. Contact may come about as the result of intentional or incidental actions by the players in the course of play. This is in contrast to noncontact sports where players often have no opportunity to make contact with each other and the laws of the game may expressly forbid contact. In contact sports some forms of contact are encouraged as a critical aspect of the game such as tackling, while others are incidental such as when shielding the ball or contesting an aerial challenge. As the types of contact between players is not equal between all sports they define the types of contact that is deemed acceptable and fall within the laws of the game, while outlawing other types of physical contact that might be considered expressly dangerous or risky such as a high tackle or spear tackle, or against the spirit of the game such as striking below the belt or other unsportsmanlike conduct. Where there is a limit as to how much contact is acceptable most sports have a mechanism to call a foul by the referee, umpire or similar official when an offence is deemed to have occurred.
Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including rowing, weight lifting, and especially combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Alternatives to formal weight classes include catch weight and openweight.
Joe Lewis was an American martial artist, professional kickboxer and actor. Originally a practitioner of Shōrin-ryū karate and champion in point sparring competitions, he became one of the fathers of full contact karate and kickboxing in the United States, and is credited with popularizing the combat sport in North America.
The Professional Karate Association (PKA), later Professional Karate & Kickboxing Association, and now effective from March 1, 2022 PKA Worldwide was originally a martial arts sanctioning organization, now transformed into a martial arts promotion company.
Dale Cook is an American former kickboxer who competed in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions. With a background in karate and taekwondo, Cook debuted professionally in 1977 and spent the early part of his career as a full contact rules fighter. In the 1980s, he began fighting under Oriental and Muay Thai rules and took two world titles under the WKA banner. A short stint in shoot boxing towards the end of his career in the mid-1990s resulted in another world title in that discipline.
The World Kickboxing Association (WKA) also known as World Kickboxing and Karate Association, is one of the oldest and the largest amateur and professional sanctioning body for kickboxing and Karate.
Raymond Daniels is an American professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and former sport karate competitor. He currently competes for Karate Combat in the Welterweight division. He has formerly competed for Bellator MMA and Bellator Kickboxing, where he was the Bellator Kickboxing Welterweight Champion and was a 2 time runner up for the Glory welterweight title.
W.A.K.O. European Championships 1977 were the first ever W.A.K.O. European kickboxing championships introduced by the pioneer of German Karate Georg Brueckner and the first ever event hosted by the W.A.K.O. organization – then known as the W.M.A.A. who itself had only just recently been founded in 1976. There had actually been an amateur kickboxing European championships held a year previously but this event was not officially recognized by any federation. The W.A.K.O. championships were open to amateur men based in Europe only and all bouts were fought under Full-Contact kickboxing rules, with each country allowed more than one competitor in each weight category. By the end of the championships the Netherlands were the most successful nation, with West Germany second, and Norway a distant third - more detail on the winners and medal tables can be found in the sections below. The event was held in 1977 in Vienna, Austria.
W.A.K.O. World Championships 1978 were the first ever W.A.K.O. World kickboxing championships introduced by the pioneer of German Karate Georg Brueckner and the third major event hosted by the W.A.K.O. organization – formerly known as the W.M.A.A.. The W.A.K.O. championships were open to amateur men only from eighteen countries across the world and all bouts were fought under Full-Contact kickboxing rules - differing from modern rules in that there was a platform instead of a ring and fighters wore no protective clothing or head guards. Semi-Contact, which had been introduced at the 1978 European championships, would have no place at this event. At the end of the championships, the USA was the top nation, with hosts West Germany a close second, and the Dominican Republic in third. The event was held in West Berlin, West Germany on November 5, 1978.
W.A.K.O. World Championships 1987 were the sixth world kickboxing championships hosted by W.A.K.O. and arranged by the German Karate pioneer Georg Brueckner and Carl Wiedmeier. The event was open to amateur men and women, with 290 competitors from 29 countries taking part. The styles on offer were Full-Contact, Semi-Contact and Musical Forms. Typically, each country was allowed one competitor per weight division, although in some instances more than one was allowed. Participants were also allowed to compete in more than one style. By the end of the championships, USA was the top of the medals tables, with hosts West Germany in second and Canada in third. The event was held at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany over two days and were attended by an estimated 11,000 spectators.
The first American sanctioning body to regulate kickboxing matches, the United States Kickboxing Association (USKA) was established in early 1970 by former Green Beret Lee Faulkner following his promotion of North America’s debut kickboxing bout featuring Joe Lewis’ knockout victory over Greg Baines. The USKA’s rules permitted kicking, punching, knee and elbow strikes, and footsweeps. Only crescent kicks and round kicks were allowed to the head. Hitting below the belt and striking-and-holding were prohibited. Bouts consisted of four by three-minute rounds inside a boxing ring, with one-minute rest periods. Contestants wore twelve-ounce gloves and elective gym shoes or no shoes.