BoxRec

Over the years i have seen a increase in Kickboxers turning over to the paid ranks in hope for some glory in the Professional boxing game,many come with World,European and commonwealth titles etc etc which are obviously the top prizes in there sport..however they never seem to meet the levels of boxing and leave the domestic scene,Kris Carslaw isnt too far from a British Title challege,why arent they meeting this criteria? is it too difficult? is it the transition? Tickets..who was the last 'kickboxing world champion' to win a title of recent???

DanielGraham73 wrote:Over the years i have seen a increase in Kickboxers turning over to the paid ranks in hope for some glory in the Professional boxing game,many come with World,European and commonwealth titles etc etc which are obviously the top prizes in there sport..however they never seem to meet the levels of boxing and leave the domestic scene,Kris Carslaw isnt too far from a British Title challege,why arent they meeting this criteria? is it too difficult? is it the transition? Tickets..who was the last 'kickboxing world champion' to win a title of recent???

Scott Quigg and Marco Huck both come that background I think. Pretty sure Wanheng Menayothin and Knockout CP Freshmart (maybe Amnat Ruenroeng as well?) have a Muay Thai background. All of those are current world champions.

Forgot about quigg,didn't know Huck done abit before either

And too be fair Scott quigg done abit of muay thai when he was a boy and not Kickboxing

Chris Algieri and Vitali Klitschko was a kickboxer before becoming WHC.

Vid here of him KTFO by Pele Reid 1992.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9n7zExsuCRU

was Matt Skelton not into that before turning pro?

Jon Thaxton, Pele Reid

Fair enough but still very slim in comparasion to how many turn over to the sport of boxing

Maybe kicking is a different thing to punching!

British titles don't mean much in kickboxing. There are many different organisations and styles of fighting, light continuous, semi contact, full contact... It's pretty crap to be honest. Heavy handed kids get dq'd for hitting too hard. Muay Thai, on the other hand, is brutal.

In kickboxing you merely have to pay whichever sanctioning body you fight under a sanction fee and they will give you a title. Its a joke really.

My nephew had his first three fights on the same day. Won a British title... Won a few more titles before moving to boxing. 4-0 now.

Nigel Benn started in kickboxing.

Troy Dorsey from US was a kickboxer before turning to pro western boxing.

As mentioned earlier Jono Thaxton and Pele Reid had notable kick boxing backgrounds.

Roy Rutherford was a teenage kick boxing phenom before winning the ABAs in short order and going on to a pro British title.

Hughie Forde was another excellent kickboxer who made the transition seamlessly.

Boxrec's own Ronnie The Shark Clarke was a very good kickboxer before going into pro boxing.

Comments re: title proliferation in British kickboxing are true - its an absolute mess.

I don't think you can say kickboxers don't make good boxers, however - there are a lot of parallels between the sports in terms of technical base, ring generalship, fitness etc

Lots of kickboxers are big fish in small regional ponds - the competition levels and talent pools are far deeper in pro boxing, however.

George Groves is another who started out in kickboxing as a kid.

Goes without saying that most Thai greats started in Muay Thai incl the incomparable Samart Payakaroon - he was a fluid and equally capable boxer/muay Thai fighter.

Samart Payakaroon Highlight: http://youtu.be/cd5leBJ_zTM

TerribleTerry wrote:George Groves is another who started out in kickboxing as a kid.

Goes without saying that most Thai greats started in Muay Thai incl the incomparable Samart Payakaroon - he was a fluid and equally capable boxer/muay Thai fighter.

Samart Payakaroon Highlight: http://youtu.be/cd5leBJ_zTM

I love Samart's "matrix-esque" finish against..Meza?

He was also awesome in The Bodyguard and released several albums. Still looks incredibly young considering his age and career.

Boxing Prospect wrote:

TerribleTerry wrote:George Groves is another who started out in kickboxing as a kid.

Goes without saying that most Thai greats started in Muay Thai incl the incomparable Samart Payakaroon - he was a fluid and equally capable boxer/muay Thai fighter.

Samart Payakaroon Highlight: http://youtu.be/cd5leBJ_zTM

I love Samart's "matrix-esque" finish against..Meza?

He was also awesome in The Bodyguard and released several albums. Still looks incredibly young considering his age and career.

Yeah it was Meza in defence of his world title.

Here is a nice little breakdown of what made Payakaroon such a brilliant, natural fighter

Samart Payakaroon: A Taste of Brilliance: http://youtu.be/VP_RgylalNA

R hatton as a toddler dabbled with kickboxing.

Rumour has it, so did the wealdstone raider!!!

tsunami wrote:In kickboxing you merely have to pay whichever sanctioning body you fight under a sanction fee and they will give you a title. Its a joke really.

Hmmmm. This sounds strangely familiar.............

Ustinov was a kick boxer to wouldn't want to mess with him on a night out

theres a fair few thai boxers in the UK who also train in boxing.

a few of the lads from when I used to train did anyway.

Julius Francis is another British champ of recent times who had grounding in kickboxing prior to his pro career

Current pro heavy Dillian Whyte started out in K1/thai

Anyone remember Adam Watt? Former kick boxer who challenged Nelson for cruiser title, lost by KO.
But he did beat Bruce Scott over here by KO.
Retired with a 14-4 record, all wins and losses by KO.
Complete loon out of the ring as well

Didn't he have a fight with rothmann?

Good shout Ian - your reference to Adam Watt reminded me of another Antipodean kickboxer turned boxer; the colourful and exciting Paul Briggs.

Here is a 17 yr old Paul Briggs taking on Thai champion Jomod in a full muay Thai rules fight...

Paul Briggs Vs Jomod: http://youtu.be/hnW7SC95awI