A dedicated, talented kickboxer with a skilled coach will beat a mediocre or unmotivated boxer, and vice versa.

Between two equally talented athletes, one a boxer and one a kickboxer? Coffman says "it will boil down to who wants it the most on that particular day".

Fitness Training Boxing. What is Better for Fighting: Boxing or Kickboxing? Henry Halse. Henry is a freelance writer and personal trainer living in New York City.

A player can even hit the opponent using his elbows and knees. To a neutral observer, kickboxing appears to be an interesting blend of karate and American boxing.

Boxing is an intense combat sport that is played at the level of Olympics though there is also the World Cup of boxing.

If the opponent moves the hand guarding their other hand, the next best move is the hook. Another strong punch is the uppercut, which is mostly used when the boxer is in close quarters.

It is landed below the chin of your opponent, and is a very common knockout strike in both kickboxing and boxing. The main benefit of kickboxing is that it involves a wide range of activities.

Kickboxers train their feet, hands, knees, elbows, among other parts of their body. Not only do they learn how to use these body parts, but they also learn the art of defense.

Kickboxing focuses on many things but boxing specializes in punches only. Nobody can punch better than a skilled boxer. Moreover, moving away from the opponent will only make it hard for blocking the kicks.

In boxing, no strikes are allowed below the belt. But a kick boxer can hit anywhere. Circling is an important manoeuvre in boxing to change guard.

But it is considered less important in kickboxing as you can strike an opponent without changing guard or moving away. While the left jab has much defensive value in boxing, it has less value with kickboxing.

Another difference that can be noticed is that the head is the main target in boxing which is not so in kickboxing. Clinching is another important defensive method in boxing used to stop an opponent from attacking.

But this clinching technique has no influence in Kickboxing, as there is a great chance of being thrown away by the opponent.

In sport Karate, sparring kumite , and in training, attacks are more similar to point sparring in Kickboxing.

This means that any time a punch or kick is landed, the attacker gets a point, and the match is reset. This attack usually focuses on speed and precision rather than power, due to the nature of the point scoring.

Karate students also train in katas. Due to their nature, no contact conditioning of the body takes places as the techniques are performed in the air.

This will not condition your shins, elbows, or knees as you will find in Kickboxing. The spiritual side of Karate will depend on the school, but they are a great meditation and mental strengthening tool.

Kickboxers often spend time conditioning their shins and various other body parts in preparation for a fight. A fighter without conditioning will struggle once they receive a clean shot.

Even a student practicing Kickboxing for leisure, will find that padwork drills and sparring will condition their body over time.

Many who practice traditional Martial Arts will find that after a Kickboxing session they are not as fit as they might believe. Their punches and kicks will not be effective enough, and they also struggled to stay in the ring to fight 10 rounds.

This is partly because in traditional Martial Arts, students are taught to pull back their kicks and punches, as contact sparring using gloves was extremely rare.

Those classes are there to help you burn calories, and are more like aerobics than Kickboxing. The likelihood is that you will be training at most, three times a week, and this is not enough if you want to build your strength and conditioning.

To build good foundational and functional strength, incorporate Functional Training into your training routine. Karate and other Martial Arts became the centre stage for s action scenes, boosting its popularity and wow factor.

The popularity Karate had in the 70s and 80s led to Dojos popping up on every street. Proving that popular culture plays a big part in the Martial Arts industry.

It became very easy for anyone who knew a few Karate moves to open up their own Dojo, and to start charging students to teach them.

The standardisation of Kickboxing as a competitive sport, leaves less room for interpretation of correct form than in Karate.

This helps Kickboxers find common ground, and can make it simpler to find the right school. It is more about where the Martial Art is going moving forwards.

Strictly speaking, where nuber of students are considered, Karate seems to have more students and schools than many other Martial Arts. Karate is still seen more of an activity that children do, and quickly grow out of as they approach their teens.

More adults take up Kickboxing as a hobby, and we are now seeing more parents signing up their children without fear that their child will get knocked out in class.

My guess is that the high energy, fast paced brutality of MMA keeps viewers eyes fixed to the screen, without being able to look away. Just like the old fashion gladiator fights.

With MMA has truly taking off in a relatively short amount of time, it shows that with evolution, Martial Arts will not disappear. Which raises the question… Is Karate getting pushed to the side in favour of more modern Martial Arts?

Modern day living looks for convenient, fast, and effective. All of that, and we want it cheap too! But really what it means is disposable, because when things are disposable, it is easier and quicker to get something new and shiny.

Most schools have a free trial offer, and if you need longer to try it out just ask.