World Kickboxing Network

The World Kickboxing Network (WKN) is a professional Kickboxing organization and is one of the sport's largest governing bodies in the world.

World Kickboxing Network
Official logo of the World Kickboxing Network
AbbreviationWKN
MottoSimply the Best
FormationOctober 1994
FoundersStephane Cabrera, Olivier Muller, Billy Murray
Founded atFrance
Region served
Worldwide
Official language
English
President
Stephane Cabrera
Websitewww.worldkickboxingnetwork.com
RemarksWKN evolved as a subsidiary of International Sport Karate Association. The organizations split in 1998.

History

WKN was created in late 1994 as a subsidiary of International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) to capture new markets, as ISKA's operations were concentrated in the North American market.[1] The organizations split in late 1998. Ever since WKN operates as an independent organization.[2][3] Whilst in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s the other federations competed with each other,[4] the WKN has developed kickboxing on the territories where it practically did not exist.[5][6] As a result WKN grew, and is active on five continents.[7][8]

Facts

On September 19, 1998 WKN went in history as the first organization to promote the world championship in Muay Thai at the same event as the boxing world championship. Jérôme Le Banner vs. Espedito Da Silva for the WKN super heavyweight world title in Muay Thai featured in the undercard of Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at Georgia Dome in Atlanta, USA.[9][10][11][12][13]

On October 22, 2004 WKN made history in kickboxing by promoting the first ever world championship bout in Romania.[14] Samir Mohamed vs. Alexander Kozachenko for WKN super lightweight world title[15] headlined the Eurosport and Pro TV televised event Local Kombat 10 in the city of Brăila. The Local Kombat[16][17] project developed into the Superkombat Fighting Championship, with its winners to date competing for the WKN belts.[18][19][20][21][22]

On March 15, 2003 WKN made history by promoting the first ever Kickboxing event as well as the world championship bout in Nigeria. Habib Bakir vs. Fernando Loureiro for the WKN lightweight world title headlined the event that took place in the city of Lagos.[23][24]

Styles

WKN sanctions the championship bouts of the following styles.[25]

Weight Classes

WKN uses the following weight divisions.

Weight class name Upper limit Full Contact Champions Kickboxing Champions Oriental Rules Champions K-1 Rules Champions Muay Thai Champions
Flyweight 117 lb (53.070 kg) Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant
Super Flyweight 121 lb (54.885 kg) Ignacio Capllonch Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant
Bantamweight 125 lb (56.699 kg) Emidio Molinari Vacant Ignacio Capllonch Vacant Carlos Coello
Super Bantamweight 129 lb (58.513 kg) Gerard Linder Sinisa Kovavic Jan Szajko Vacant Federico Roma
Featherweight 133 lb (60.328 kg) Keith Azzopardi Gaylord Montier Keith Azzopardi Vacant Yordniyom Yuttakangumtorn
Super Featherweight 137 lb (62.142 kg) Sultanishvili Tsotne Brandon Vieira Brandon Vieira Vacant Benphet Asontep Phromsorn
Lightweight 142 lb (64.410 kg) Gary Hamilton Yannick Reine Lorenzo Piras Vacant Ghot Seur Noi
Super Lightweight 147 lb (66.678 kg) Kamel Jebir Vacant Eddy Nait Slimani Vacant Vacant
Welterweight 154 lb (69.853 kg) Bruce Codron Vacant Vacant Vacant Arbi Emiev
Super Welterweight 161 lb (73.028 kg) Ludovic Millet Lukasz Plawecki Jordi Requejo Vacant Youssef Boughanem
Middleweight 168 lb (76.204 kg) Vacant Vacant Milan Kratochvila Vacant Toby Smith
Super Middleweight 175 lb (79.379 kg) Vacant Dylan Colin Yohan Lidon Vacant Vacant
Light Heavyweight 182 lb (82.554 kg) Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant
Super Light Heavyweight 189 lb (85.729 kg) Vacant Vacant Gregory Grossi Vacant Christos Nicolaou
Cruiserweight 196 lb (88.904 kg) Mohammed Al-Azzawi Vacant Cristian Bosch Vacant Artem Levin
Super Cruiserweight 203 lb (92.079 kg) Riyadh Al-Azzawi Vacant Bob Dhcamad Armstrong Felipe Micheletti Vacant
Heavyweight 230 lb (104.326 kg) Vacant Vladimir Mineev Stephane Susperregui Vacant Vacant
Super Heavyweight Unlimited Vacant Vacant Tomasz Sarara Grégory Tony Yassine Boughanem

Notable Champions

Poland's Cezary Podraza is the first in WKN history world champion. He defeated England's Mark Waters in Katowice.[26][27] Some of the notable champions are Samir Mohamed,[28] Tyrone Spong,[29] Jerome Le Banner,[30][31] Batu Khasikov, Nathan Corbett, John Wayne Parr, Artem Levin, Riyadh Al-Azzawi, Jorge Cali,[32] Vladimir Mineev, Andrei Kulebin, Yohan Lidon, Xhavit Bajrami, Dmitry Shakuta, Alexander Ustinov, Daniel Ghiță, Cătălin Moroșanu, Lucian Danilencu, Ionuț Atodiresei, Amancio Paraschiv, Ionuț Iftimoaie, Nicolas Wamba, Siniša Kovačić, Ekaterina Vandaryeva,[33] Ondřej Hutník, Youssef Boughanem,[34] Brandon Vieira, Federico Roma, Gary Hamilton, Corentin Jallon,[35] Jacko Ali.

WKN World Cup

The WKN World Cup is an amateur championship contested by international athletes in their respective weight classes.

The event is scheduled from November 28 to November 30 at The Trusts Arena in Auckland, New Zealand with up to 60 countries participating. The roster includes over 30 amateur title matches, followed by two professional title bouts. The headline-bout contested on the last day of competition is expected to see Gregory Tony in defense of his WKN World Super Heavyweight title against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva,[36] following the WKN World Middleweight MMA title bout between Kelvin Joseph (15-0) and Roan Carneiro.[37][38]

The event was held on March 10, 2017 with over 12 countries participating, including Iran, Japan, Italy, Malta, Afghanistan, Cyprus, France, Belgium. Japanese referee Atsushi Onari officiated the bouts.[39]

The event was billed as "Malta vs. The World" taking place on September 19, 2009 with up to 13 countries partaking, including Malta, Corsica, Belgium, Egypt, France, Poland, UK, among others.[40][41]

WKN and IVC

WKN and its president Stephane Cabrera[42] represent the International Vale Tudo Championship in Europe, being the pioneer to promote MMA bouts on the continent. The WKN held IVC events in Finland, Spain, Czech Republic, Bosnia and Serbia.[43][44][45]

On August 20, 2016 WKN brings IVC back to the international scene by promoting Micheletti Vs. Ortiz for the WKN super cruiserweight world title in the main event of IVC 15 in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo, Brazil.[46][47][48][49][50][51]

Simply the Best (TV Series)
Emblem of kickboxing series Simply The Best

Simply the Best [52] - is the worlds series of international kickboxing events, broadcast by SFR Sport 5[53][54] (formerly Kombat Sport[55]).

Season I

  • Ep 1 - November 23, 2014: Simply the Best 1 Charleroi: Gozdzicki vs. Dongsu Kim [56][57]
  • Ep 2 - December 19, 2014: Simply the Best 2 Caseros: Bosch vs. Benacci [58]
  • Ep 3 - March 29, 2015 - Simply the Best 3 Budapest: Gabor vs. Renna [59]
  • Ep 4 - May 24, 2015: Simply the Best 4 Prague: Vondracek vs. Wamba [60]
  • Ep 5 - June 5, 2015: Simply the Best 5 Caseros: Bosch vs. Dussan [61]
  • Ep 6 - October 3, 2015 - Simply the Best 6 Poprad: Hadzima vs. Hyeong Lee [62][63]
  • Ep 7 - October 9, 2015 - Simply the Best 7 Caseros: Bosch vs. Benacci 2 [64]
  • Ep 8 - October 17, 2015 - Simply the Best 8 Borlange: Chorr vs. Maertens [65][66]
  • Ep 9 - November 22, 2015 - Simply the Best 9 Farciennes: Saidane vs. Araneda [67]

Season II

  • Ep 10 - April 15, 2016 - Simply the Best 10 Prague: Wamba vs. Hutnik [68][69]
  • Ep 11 - October 1, 2016 - Simply the Best 11 Poprad: Idranyi vs. Kohout [70]
  • Ep 12 - November 20, 2016 - Simply the Best 12 Farciennes: Bellahmar vs. Vakakis [71]
  • Ep 13 - December 3, 2016 - Simply the Best 13 Nowa Sol: Makowski vs. Canu [72][73]

Season III

Season IV

  • Ep 18 - March 16, 2018 - Simply the Best 18 Poprad: Idranyi vs. Colin [79]
  • Ep 19 - May 18, 2018 - Simply the Best 19 Buenos Aires: Bosch vs. Perea [80][81]
  • Ep 20 - June 9, 2018 - Simply the Best 20 Cordoba: Acero Cali vs. El Toro Visotzky [82]
  • Ep 21 - July 22, 2018 - Simply the Best 21 Buenos Aires: Benitez vs. Garcete [83]
  • Ep 22 - September 22, 2018 - Simply the Best 22 Buenos Aires: Bosch vs. Dussan 2 [84]
  • Ep 23 - November 10, 2018 - Simply the Best 23 San Luis [85]
  • Ep 24 - November 25, 2018 - Simply the Best 24 Farciennes [86]

Girl Power Kickboxing (TV Series)

Girl Power [87] is a series of women's kickboxing tournaments produced by the World Kickboxing Network and the Bigger's Better Boxing[88] on SFR Sport 5 and B1B. The contest is a one-night eight-woman single elimination tournament in a featherweight class with international competitors battling out for the WKN belt.

  • Girl Power 1 Liepaja (Pilot) was held on Pay-Per-View with Dailymotion on November 14, 2014.[89] The event marked the date when the IBHOF referee Steve Smoger made his debut as a referee in kickboxing.[90]

Season I

  • Girl Power 2 Stara Zagora - the series made a debut live on SFR Sport 5 on February 10, 2017 with Mallaury Kalachnikoff of France winning the contest.[91][92]
  • Girl Power 3 Sunny Beach - the series returned to Bulgaria with the third episode held on June 23, 2017 live on SFR, where Irem Akin of Turkey took all tournament.[93][94][95]
  • Girl Power 4 Varna - the series returned to Bulgaria on Friday October 13, 2017 live on SFR Sport 5.[96]
  • Girl Power 5 Stara Zagora (Final), Season 1 Finale, was held on February 9, 2018 live on SFR Sport 5 and B1B Action TV.[97]

Season II

  • Girl Power 6 Sunny Beach was held on June 29, 2018 live on SFR Sport 5 and B1B.[98]
  • Girl Power 7 Kladno - October 19, 2018 [99]
  • Girl Power 8 Bedzin - June 7, 2019 [100]

Sources

Books and articles

References
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  3. "Kickboxing". Dragon MMA Academy.
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