The World Kickboxing Network (WKN) is an international

Kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

governing body established in 1994.

History

In 1994, the World Kickboxing Network was founded as a subsidiary of

International Sport Karate Association The ISKA (originally International Sport Karate Association, later also called the International Sport Kickboxing Association) is one of the major international bodies regulating sport karate and kickboxing matches, and is based in the Unite ...

(ISKA) to capture new markets. The ISKA's operations were concentrated in the North American market, while WKN was focusing in Europe. In the 1990s there was strong competition between kickboxing federations. Both organizations split in late 1998 due to minor disagreements. The newly created team was chaired by Frenchman Stephane Cabrerra, Billy Murray and Olivier Muller. On September 19, 1998, WKN became the first organization to promote a world championship in

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

on the same event as a

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

world championship.

Jérôme Le Banner Jérôme Philippe Le Banner (; born December 26, 1972) is a French kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. ...

vs. Espedito Da Silva for the WKN World super heavyweight Muay Thai title was sanctioned on the undercard of

Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean, billed as "The Power and the Glory", was a professional boxing match contested on September 19, 1998 for the WBA and IBF heavyweight championships. Background WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield ...

for the WBA and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

heavyweight titles at

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. The event was organized in collaboration with promoter

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing Promoter (entertainment), promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cas ...

whom raised the hand of Le Banner, crowned new WKN Muay Thai world champion after knocking out Da Silva in the first-round. On October 22, 2004, WKN made history in kickboxing by promoting the first kickboxing world championship bout in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. Samir Mohamed vs. Alexander Kozachenko for the WKN World super lightweight title headlined the

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

and

Pro TV PRO TV (, often stylized as PRO•TV as of 2017) is a Romanian free-to-air television network, launched on 1 December 1995 as the fourth private TV channel in the country (after TV SOTI, Antena 1, and the now-defunct Tele7ABC). It is owned by CME ...

televised event Local Kombat 10 in the city of

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

. The local Kombat promotion later developed into the Superkombat Fighting Championship, with its winners competing for the WKN titles. In January 2011,

International Vale Tudo Championship The International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC) was a Vale Tudo and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting promotion based in Brazil starting in 1997. The IVC was a fundamentally important platform in the promotion of Brazilian MMA in the late 1990s a ...

(IVC) announced its return with a new ruleset based on the

Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts Most rule sets for mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions have evolved since the early days of Vale Tudo. As a result of health, legal, and moral concerns, many different rulesets were created, which give different countries and promotions very dif ...

. On August 20, 2016, WKN brought IVC back to the international scene by co-promoting ''Micheletti Vs. Ortiz'' for the WKN World super cruiserweight World title in the main event of IVC 15 in

Sao Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

. The event also included MMA bouts. Micheletti defeated Ortiz and took the title by knockout in the first round. After IVC 15, there were no more events and the organization is currently on hiatus. After IVC 15 there were no more events and the organization is currently on hiatus. In 2014, WKN launched a world series of international kickboxing events named ''Simply the Best'' which was broadcast on

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

and SFR Sport 5.

WKN World Cup

WKN World Cup 2009 Paceville, St. Julian's, Malta The event took place in

St. Julian's, Malta Saint Julian's ( mt, San Ġiljan) is a town in the Central Region of Malta. As of 2020, its registered number of inhabitants stands at 13,792. It is situated along the coast, north of the country's capital, Valletta. It is known for tourism-or ...

on September 19, 2009 with up to 13 countries partaking, including Malta, Corsica, Belgium, Egypt, France, Poland, UK, among others. WKN World Cup 2019 Auckland, New Zealand The event was held from November 28 to November 30, 2019, as an amateur championship contested by international athletes in their respective weight classes. It took place at

The Trusts Arena The Trusts Arena is an indoor arena located in Henderson, New Zealand, Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a multi-purpose stadium that primarily holds sports events and music concerts. The Arena was opened by then Prime Minister of New Ze ...

in Auckland, New Zealand with up to 60 countries participating. The event marked the first time kickboxing and mixed martial arts world championships were contested at the same event in New Zealand. The WKN World Middleweight MMA title bout between Kelvin Joseph and

Roan Carneiro Roan Carneiro Pereira (born 2 June 1978) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2000, Carneiro was ...

as well as the WKN World Super Heavyweight championship bout between the champion

Gregory Tony } Gregory Scott Tony (born 1978) is an American law enforcement officer and the 17th Sheriff of Broward County, Florida. Tony was initially appointed sheriff in 2019 by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, to fill a vacancy. In November 2020, T ...

and former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Heavyweight title challenger and former

Cage Rage Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, was a United Kingdom-based, mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on 7 September 2002 in London. Cage Rage went into liquidation and is now no longer trading. Cage Rage had been owned and ma ...

World Heavyweight champion Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva were expected to headline the last day of competition. The fight between Tony and Silva was cancelled, as Silva was not medically cleared after being knocked out in his previous bout. Carneiro won the fight against Joseph and took the title by submission in the first round. WKN World Cup 2017 Tehran, Iran The event was held in

Tehran, Iran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

on March 10, 2017 with 12 countries participating.

WKN Champions

Tyrone Spong Tyrone Clinton Spong (born 3 September 1985) is a Surinamese-Dutch professional boxer and mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. As a boxer, he held the WBC and WBO Latino heavyweight titles in 2018. In kickboxing, he is the former WFCA cr ...

Jerome Le Banner Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...

Batu Khasikov Batu Sergeyevich Khasikov (born June 28, 1980) is a professional Russian kickboxer, multiple world champion, social and political activist, member of the People's Khural of Kalmykia (2008–2012) and representative for the Republic of Kalmykia ...

Nathan Corbett Nathan "Carnage" Corbett (born 23 October 1979) is a retired Australian Muay Thai kickboxer, color commentator for Lion Fight Promotions on CBS Sports and feature author at Fightmag. He is a former 11-time Muay Thai World Champion. Hailing out ...

John Wayne Parr John Wayne "The Gunslinger" Parr (born 25 May 1976), also known as JWP, is a retired Australian Muay Thai fighter, kickboxer and boxer, fighting out of Boonchu Gym in Gold Coast, Queensland. He is a former 10-time World Champion and was the ...

Artem Levin Artem Valeryevich Levin (russian: Артё́м Вале́рьевич Ле́вин; born December 8, 1986), also known as Artem "The Lion" Levin, is a Russian middleweight Muay Thai kickboxer fighting out of Prokopyevsk. He is the former Glory ...

Corentin Jallon Corentin Jallon is an Algerian- French Kickboxer. He is the former World Kickboxing Network (WKN) Cruiserweight World Champion as well as the Muaythai & K-1 FFSCDA France -91kg Champion, King of the Ring -91kg Champion and he has competed in S ...

Riyadh Al-Azzawi Riyadh Al-Azzawi ( ar, رياض العزاوي) (born February 20, 1986, in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi-British kickboxer and the 2008 World Kickboxing Network (WKN) World Champion after a fight against 3-times world champion Tomasz Borowiec in ...

Vladimir Mineev Vladimir Konstantinovich Mineev (russian: Влади́мир Константи́нович Минее́в; born February 16, 1990) is a Russian Middleweight kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Biography Vladimir Mineev was born on February 16, ...

Andrei Kulebin Andrei "Bullet" Kulebin (born 14 May 1984 in Neustrelitz, Germany) is a Belarusian Muay Thai welterweight kickboxer fighting out of Minsk, Belarus for Gym "Kick Fighter". He is an 18 time Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion who has won int ...

Yohan Lidon Yohan Lidon (born March 28, 1983) is a French Muay Thai kickboxer. He is a 3-time world champion in Muay Thai and kickboxing - including being the first ever It's Showtime 73MAX world champion. As of July 2021, he is the #9 ranked welterweight ...

Xhavit Bajrami Xhavit Bajrami (born October 30, 1975) is an Albanian-Swiss former Kickboxing, kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. A Seidokaikan, Seido karate practitioner and Andy Hug student, Bajrami built up an undefeated record domestically b ...

Dmitry Shakuta Dmitry "Shok" Shakuta ( be, Дзмiтрый Віктаравіч Шакута, born August 7, 1980) is a Belarusian Muay Thai super middleweight kickboxer fighting out of Minsk, Belarus for the SK-55 gym. He is an eight-time amateur and profess ...

Alexander Ustinov Alexander "Sasha" Ustinov (russian: Александр Устинов; born 7 December 1976) is a Russian professional boxer,. Retrieved 1 October 2016. former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In boxing, he has challenged once for the WBA (Re ...

Daniel Ghiță Daniel Florin Ghiță (, born 22 April 1981) is a Romanian politician and former kickboxer, who serves as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania since December 2020. Ghiță is the former It's Showtime heavyweight champion. He formerly c ...

Cătălin Moroșanu Cătălin Moroșanu (30 June 1984) is a retired Romanian kickboxer, chanbara practitioner and professional rugby player. He is best known for his time in the Superkombat Fighting Championship (SUPERKOMBAT), where he competed in the heavyweight d ...

* Ionuț Atodiresei *

Amancio Paraschiv Amansio Andrei Paraschiv (born June 25, 1992) is a Romanian professional kickboxing, kickboxer and professional boxing, boxer. He won back to back gold medals in the List of WAKO Amateur European Championships, WAKO European Championships, and is ...

Ionuț Iftimoaie Ionuţ Iftimoaie (born August 26, 1978) is a retired Romanian kickboxer. Besides the K-1, Iftimoaie has fought for a number of other promotions including the Local Kombat and SUPERKOMBAT. He defeated names such as Freddy Kemayo, Petar Majstorov ...

Nicolas Wamba Nicolas Wamba-Barzic (born 12 February 1988), is a French heavyweight boxer and former kickboxer, former WKN World Super Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion, managed by ''WKN Top Team''. As of 2017, he was ranked the #17 heavyweight in the world by ...

Siniša Kovačić Siniša Kovačić (born 3 August 1977) is a former Croatian heavyweight kickboxer fighting out of Varaždin, Croatia. Career He started training martial arts with ten years, first karate, savate and later kickboxing, becoming Croatian champi ...

Ekaterina Vandaryeva Ekaterina Vandaryeva (born January 20, 1991) is a Belarusian kickboxer who defeated future UFC champion Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a controversial judges' decision to become the WKN champion in 2011. Career Before participating in Muay Thai, Ekate ...

Ondřej Hutník Ondřej Hutník (born February 19, 1983) is a retired Czech Muay Thai kickboxer. He is a former SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship title challenger. Biography and career On December 30, 2011, Hutník defeated Mohamed Boubkari and Frank ...

Youssef Boughanem Youssef Boughanem (born December 6, 1989) is a Moroccan-Belgian Muay Thai and kickboxer, who has held WKN super welterweight Muay Thai title. He is also a former Lumpinee Stadium, Rajadamnern Stadium and WBC Muay Thai World Middleweight Cham ...

* Brandon Vieira * Federico Roma * Gary Hamilton * Jacko Ali * * * *

Champions by weight class

WKN uses the following weight divisions.

Sources

Books and articles *
"A History of Full Contact Karate

– Mikes Miles * Delmas Alain, Callière Jean-Roger, ''Histoire du Kick-boxing'', FKBDA, France, 1998 * Delmas Alain, ''Définition du Kick-boxing'', FKBDA, France, 1999 * Miles Mikes, sit
''An interview with Joe Lewis, 1998''

References

External links

*{{URL , http://www.worldkickboxingnetwork.com/ , World Kickboxing Network (WKN) Official Website Kickboxing organizations Sports organizations established in 1994