wako worlds

[big kick]

i thought the wako world championships had over 2,000 fighters? i just read on their own web page that there was only 610 competitors in kickboxing, musical forms and aero-kickboxing from some unhear of number of countries. was this the one the amateurs from usa fought in against pro fighters? was i reading the right article? :confused:

[Cellar Fight Team]

Here are the stats I was sent from Ronnie Copeland:

"The 2007 WAKO World Championships had 44 countries attend. 10 countries were denied visas such as Iran, and Egypt and other Muslim countries. There were 258 full contact competitors. This number is astounding when you consider the fact that this was adults 19-45 ,only one rule style, and that point fighting (semi contact) only had 191 competitors. Between the aero kickbox and forms there was another 161 competitors. I don't know the split numbers there. The numbers for full contact stayed about the same since 2005. In Hungary there were 267 full contact fighters. The over all numbers were greater in 2005 due to the fact instead of forms in Hungary they had continuous contact (light contact) which is always a huge division and 70 countries attended."



Big Kick - I'm not sure where you heard that 2,000 number, everything I read on websites and emails leading up to the event estimated between 500 and 700 participants.

My only guess is maybe the 2,000 number you saw also included the WAKO World Championships numbers for the Low Kick, K-1, and Semi-Contact divisions that took place in Belgrade, Serbia; September 24th to October 1st. I have no numbers on that event though.

Either way it's good for the sport; I hear the U.S. team is really inspired to get back in the gym and start taking a lot more fights to get ready for 2009.

[big kick]

thanks cellar,
that sounds great for the sport. the 2000 or some ungodly number was from a post here from that same ronnie guy or some other wako guy earlier this year. maybe they were including all the point fighters too. whatever the numbers, that sounds like a good event. those are both pro and amateur fighters togenter right? thats the only negative about that event. other than that, its a great gathering of kickboxers. :)

[Cellar Fight Team]

Big Kick - I have no idea what the percentages are of Pro and Am at the event, but the U.S. did send a very talented team of all amateurs this year, and most of the European countries send their top professional fighters.

From what I hear, the definition of professional and amateur is very different in the U.S. from what it is in Europe. I believe you are only considered pro in many countries if kickboxing is your full time career. If that same definition was used in the U.S. I'm not sure we'd have any pro kickboxers here any more.

I've also heard the classification between Pro and Am depends on whether or not you are competing with a headgear. A lot of fighters end up bouncing back and forth between pro and am from one event to the next.

Personally I haven't witnessed or experienced the "flip-flopping" of fighters between pro and am so I can't say if it's a negative or not. But I do respect the fact that there's a much more distinct line being drawn here in the U.S. I know the IKF is working hard to eliminate that "gray" area with the sport and it is one of the reasons a few of the big U.K. promoters have aligned themselves with the IKF recently.