North America

Hook-punch
Count Dante, Ray Scarica and Maung Gyi held the United States' earliest cross-style full-contact style martial arts tournaments as early as 1962. Between 1970 and 1973 a handful of kickboxing promotions were staged across the USA. In the early days the rules were never clear, one of the first tournaments had no weight divisions and all the competitors fought off until one was left. During this early time, kickboxing and full contact karate are essentially the same sport.

The institutional separation of American full contact karate from kickboxing occurs with the formation of the Professional Karate Association (PKA) in 1974 and of the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) in 1976. The impact of the WKA on world martial arts as a whole was revolutionary. They were the first organised body of martial arts on a global scale to sanction fights, create ranking systems, and institute a development programme.

In the eighties, many fighters defected to the rival World Karate Association (WKA) because of the PKA's policy of signing fighters to exclusive contracts; plus, the PKA sanctioned fights exclusively with what has become known as "full contact rules" which permit kicks only above the waist as opposed to the international rules advocated by the WKA which is similar to kickboxing promotions in Japan and other countries in Asia and Europe. Because of the cost vs. revenue contracts within the PKA, many of the promoters also left the organization and formed the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) in 1985, and in the late eighties a struggle for control of the PKA developed between the Quines and equal partner Joe Corley, leading to the decline of the organization as a business entity.[12] The right to use the organization title was afterward contested.

The International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) was founded in 1992. It is the most active kickboxing sanctioning body in North America and one of the top 3 worldwide organizations. The IKF also hosts the Largest All Amateur – Full Contact & Muay Thai – Kickboxing Tournament in the World, the IKF World Classic.