THURSDAY, July 23rd, 1998, AT 3:30 PM

A Fan Who Wants Some Answers!!!

The following message was sent to the IKF by a kickboxing fan. We thought the contents might be interesting to some of you...

• From: momoney@netmagic.net
• To: IKF
• Subject: ISKA Response
• Date: Thursday, July 23, 1998 9:15 AM

Dear IKF,
I just wanted to forward this email to you and others that I had "cc'd" in a prior email. I really like watching kickboxing, even better when on TV. But when I attended some fights awhile back for ISKA bouts I noticed two amateurs that were fighting for the same title that I saw won 6 months before. That makes you really think gee "Will the real HeavyWeight Champ please stand up!" Granted I'm just a fan and I made a misteak when I said WAK. I ment to put WKA. This Alphabet thing gets crazy after awhile. Boxing is now working more towards unifying, it's too bad kickboxing can't do the same. Anyway, down below is the response I recevied from ISKA. They don't sound like they want to work with anybody. (Just GREEDY, I think) I wish your Body or somebody elses would land a TV contract and give them a run for their money.

Responses from ISKA;

1. QUESTION: Why don't you up date your rankings list?
   • ANSWER: We do. It's the website thats still a challenge.
     
     
2. QUESTION: Why don't you break your rankings list out into the different types of rules?
   • ANSWER: Good idea, but it would take up a lot more space on press releases etc. and we haven't needed to do that for matchmaking purposes.
     
     
3. QUESTION: Why don't you rank your amateurs?
   • ANSWER: They quit too quickly sometimes. There is some ranking done by Reps on a Regional basis. We keep records of the titles.
     
     
4. QUESTION: Do you know that there are multiple title holders of the same belt in the amateurs?
   • ANSWER: Not as far as I know.
     
     
5. QUESTION: Are you going to clean this up?
   • ANSWER:No Answer
     
     
6. QUESTION: Why don't you have unification bouts with the IKF or WAK (Meant WKA) or any of the other bodies?
   • ANSWER: Who is the WAK? The IKF is a California based association. (Obviously they don't check the IKF website..See for yourself....) Good folks but they do not do what we do. The easiest method of unification would be just to have everyone sanction ISKA.
     
     
7. QUESTION: How come you charge so much for your tapes if there is only 1 or 2 fights on them? Or you'll have one fight and some forms! Twenty dollars is a lot of money.
   • ANSWER: Its a one hour TV show. Selling tapes is quite a lot of hassle. If you order more than one tape #'s 2-n are only $14.95.
     
     
8. QUESTION: Do you feel that ISKA is losing ground?
   • ANSWER: To whom? There is no one else doing what we do and no other fights on TV.
     
     
9. QUESTION: You should update your web page more often and list your promoters.
   • ANSWER: If we list our promoters the other 2,000 people who think they run a sanctioning body will call and offer a lesser fee for a bigger, though meaningless title and hassle the promoters to death. Pseudo sanctioning bodies abound for kickboxing. I would like the sport to be better organized, but I cannot do the job without cooperation from those who claim to care about its progress.

IKF RESPONSE
We believe that what we are doing for the sport of kickboxing speaks for itself. Those involved in kickboxing have no problem seeing the great things the IKF is doing which explains our rapid growth. But it's not the IKF. It's the IKF TEAM! Everyone involved in the IKF has helped us grow for the better of everyone. ALL our Pro AND Amateur titles are current and listed on our website. Our event promoters are made available to EVERYONE. Our ranked fighters are made available to EVERYONE, Hometown, Trainers AND PHONE NUMBERS. We feel if someone wants to contact these people, let them. If a fighter can make a better living because a promoter found him/her on our web site, than we did our job. If a promoter wants to use another sanctioning body, than OBVIOUSLY someone else had something better to offer them and we wish them success. Simply put, WE KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING. Others truly are doing great things for the sport, ISKA, WKA and some other organizations. However, there ARE some smaller organizations that are a JOKE! Simply putting letters together does not give you credibility as an organization, nor does fighting for these organizations give you a good standing. It makes the fighters look bad. It seems EVERYONE HAS A TITLE in kickboxing and as the fan above said, "Several hold the SAME TITLE!" These small organizations with no rankings, rules, regulations, etc. are jokes! What are they for? THESE organizations are destroying the sport! If you have no rankings, YOU ARE NOT A SANCTIONING BODY! Fighters... Next time you are asked to fight on an event, "Ask what sanctioning organization is behind it." Ask to see their rankings. If they don't have any rankings, how will you EVER know where you stand? The fact is, with no rankings, THEY ARE NOT LEGIT. Don't make yourself a joke of a fighter. Fight for an organization that represents you as a RANKED FIGHTER. An organization that means something, not just letters on a title belt. Sometimes, all you fight for is PRIDE. Be PROUD of what you do, and who you will represent. This way, others will be proud of you and respect you more as a true kickboxer.

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