Karate vs. Kickboxing and Muay Thai

[Okinawan Warrior]

I'd say Karate was far superior than Kickboxing. Karate has many more moves and much more knowledge. Kickboxers tend to have no control what so ever and have to make contact where as karate can stop the kick without trying to kill someone if needed. I have been to quite a few kickboxing classes and found them to be nothing more than fitness classes with a few bad techniques added in. Of course it all comes down to opinion, I've allways beleived that Kickboxing comes from Karate-Do

[Goju1]

I'd say Karate was far superior than Kickboxing. Karate has many more moves and much more knowledge. Kickboxers tend to have no control what so ever and have to make contact where as karate can stop the kick without trying to kill someone if needed. I have been to quite a few kickboxing classes and found them to be nothing more than fitness classes with a few bad techniques added in. Of course it all comes down to opinion, I've allways beleived that Kickboxing comes from Karate-Do

 

Probably generally true, but try fighting a professional kickboxer sometime, it'll change your mind. It all really boils down to how much you practice, who your teachers are, things like that. All in all I agree an average karate-ka could usually take an average kickboxer.

[Okinawan Warrior]

I have fought pro's im semi professional myself and all that i could say about the experience is if your that light and train that often then yeah you will be pretty good no matter what the style.......

[Nick_14]

Alot of it dpends on the style of karate,for example,kickboxing is far better than shotokan,however uechi-ryu&kickboxing is pretty close,but overall i would say kickboxing

[cross]

kickboxing is far better than shotokan

 

How do you come to that conclusion?

[SevenStar]

I'd say Karate was far superior than Kickboxing.[/b]

 

and I'd disagree.

 

Karate has many more moves and much more knowledge.

 

It does have more "moves" and may or may not have more knowledge...knowledge comes from experience, and that will vary from fighter to fighter. As far as "moves" that's a good and bad thing. since you fought semi pro, how many times did you use an ox-jaw hand in a fight? a ridgehand? what about a flying sidekick? you spend all that time training so many techniques - most of which you will never even use - while the kickboxer/thai boxer repetitively trains the same core techniques that he will fight with. there's an old saying: fear the man who practices one punch 1,000 times more than the man who practices 1,000 punches one time.

 

Kickboxers tend to have no control what so ever and have to make contact where as karate can stop the kick without trying to kill someone if needed.

 

Not true at all. kickboxers have plenty of control. however, if you're sparring full contact, that's exactly what it is - full contact. If you're just playing around, or sparring in class, especially with a newer guy, sure we can use control.

 

I have been to quite a few kickboxing classes and found them to be nothing more than fitness classes with a few bad techniques added in.

 

unfortunately, you've never been to a good kickboxing class.

 

Of course it all comes down to opinion, I've allways beleived that Kickboxing comes from Karate-Do

 

I agree with you there...kinda it doesn't necessarily come from karate - don wilson was a kung fu guy, and many tkd guys competed. kickboxing is more of a format than a style. people whose style is kickboxing merely train under the kickboxing ruleset. I've trained karate and currently train muay thai, but when I fight american rules, it's still kickboxing...that is merely a format.

[SevenStar]

First, take a look at the stances. In karate, the stance is firmly rooted to the ground, and often quite deep.

 

but when you fight, you don't fight in the deep stance... that is for training purposes.

 

In Kickboxing, the stance is very tall, and the fighter will often be bouncing up and down on his toes.

 

the good ones don't bounce. there are too many flaws inherent to bouncing.

 

Secondly, the hand positions are different. A karate practicioner will usually keep his/her hands open, so that they can block, grab, and punch. In kickboxing, the hands are always kept closed.

 

depends on what type of kickboxing. Have you put on a put on a pair of thai boxing gloes? they open and close pretty easily. That's because a commonly used tactic of theirs is to catch or scoop kicks. They will then step in and take you down, or throw the leg away, messing up your balance, then kick the supporting leg, knocking you down. There are various other things that can be done also.

 

By the time they become good kickboxers, you can no longer tell that their original style was karate.

 

does that even matter? If I'm fighting, be it in the ring or the street, I don't want someone to say "yeah, he got his butt kicked, but at least he looked like he knew karate!"

[SevenStar]

Hey, I was reading a thread a little earlier that compared Karate to Kickboxing. I think that this is worth discussing further. Let me know what you think.

 

Well, here's my story: while training for a black belt test a couple of years ago, I felt that my sparring needed to be taken up a notch. Not that I was bad, I could more than hold my own, but I wanted to expand my knowledge. So I met a guy who was a semi-professional kick boxer who wanted a sparring partner and we started training together. We used heavy gloves, so I was unable to use open handed techniques, which I prefer (ed). The first time we sparred, this guy almost killed me! Even though I was 6" taller and 30 lbs heavier and in better shape. I was not used to the power of the blows, or the speed and angles of the kicks. So we trained and trained, I stopped trying to fight karate style for a while and just focused on learning new stuff. Jab, cross, hook over and over.

 

The next time I went to the dojo and sparred (2 months) I went up against the one guy that always gave me fits (lots younger, just as strong and had studied some wicked Chinese stuff) and boy was there a noticeable difference! Anyway it ended with him bent over double from an inside roundhouse I had learned...hehe.

 

I'll stop rambling, but I guess I'm trying to say, yes they are quite different and overall I don't know which is "superior". If I had used all of my karate knowledge and open handed/pressure point/grappling stuff with the kick-boxer would I have done better? Sure, but the bottom line for me was taking the strengths of both and putting them together. Even know when I spar, I sure remember to keep my hands up and elbows in because I paid such a price against that guy! I notice almost uniformly that karate stylists relax their hands and arms way too much and are easy targets for anyone looking for that.

 

Enough for now, hope that helps!

 

good post.

[SevenStar]

but remember karate has more moves than kickboxing where it is only round, spinning back kick and four punches.

 

quick lesson about MT.... there are more than four punches...you're thinking jab, cross, hook, uppercut. What about the straight right? the shovel punch? the body hook? Also, read what the saying I posted above about practicing 1 technique 1,000 times...

 

as for kicks, MT actually does have side and hook kicks. the roundhouse and the teep are the most commonly seen kicks for efficiency reasons. But, MT classifies kicks in 2 categories - thrusting and arcing. roundhouse, hook kick, etc. are arcing kicks. teep, sidekick, etc. are thrusting.

[SevenStar]

Basically I would agree, except in a traditional MA, there is more to it. The entire training session is rooted in history in many cases. Its not just about bowing or wearing a Gi, much deeper than that and not available in kickboxing (though I have practiced that form and respect it greatly)

 

In the case of MT, that's not true. The bowing - wai - and the tradition is there. However, it doesn't overshadow the training. It's not as apparent in many schools as it is in say, karate, but it's definitely there.