Different sports have different ways to maintain their excitement. Looking at kickboxing, we can see both strengths and weaknesses in the game. As devout fans, we look beyond the faults and see the quality. New fans will have some interesting factors to consider.

One main strength is the appeal of watching two trained fighters engage in combat. With well-honed techniques, they awe the spectators with skills and courage. Fans of other sports also enjoy similar aspects. Watching the top soccer, basketball or hockey players in action is also a mesmerizing experience. For kickboxing fans we get to marvel at Glaube Feitosa’s Brazilian kick, Ernesto Hoost’s punch to kick combinations or Alex Ignashov’s pinpoint knee strikes. The list goes on. Elite athletes make the impossible look easy regardless of the sport. Like Jordan and Gretzky in their sports, artistic wizards exist in kickboxing.

The time limit adds to the excitement. In high scoring games like basketball, this is the key element of excitement. As the clock counts down the final minutes and seconds, each successful point or missed point has more bearing on the outcome of the match, or at least has the illusion of greater importance. In low scoring games, like hockey or soccer, each goal sends the fans to their feet. As the fight nears the final bell in kickboxing, fans inch to the edge of their seats.

Some sports don’t have time limits. Baseball is played for 9 innings and volleyball decides a winner based on which team can tally 25 points the quickest. Even without a ticking clock, fans can see the end draw near. These games without a clock appear to have one advantage. The game isn’t over until it is over. In hockey, a team trailing by 3 points with only a minute to play must accept that they have lost. Even if they don’t, their fans are already leaving the building. In baseball or volleyball, there is always a possibility to make up the difference late in the game because the element of time (minutes and seconds) is not an issue. Instead, it becomes an issue of probability. Kickboxing enjoys the best of both worlds. The clock will end the fight, but a knockdown can make up for lost points and a knockout can decide the whole fight.

Another strength is that kickboxing is a sport where fans will watch the same match several times. It is rare in the sports world for fans to repeatedly watch the same footage. A more common scenario is for them to appreciate highlights. To pull an entire hockey game off the DVD shelf and watch it again (start to finish) is something rare among even the most ardent fans. This element alone should attract sponsors. Placing an advertisement on a kickboxer’s shorts will give it a longer life. Fans in the stands will see it. Viewers at home will see it on television. Then the internet will host highlight trading. When a rerun of “3’s Company” on television is too painful to bear, the fan will walk to the DVD shelf and watch some of the more memorable fights of the past.

One of the weak points we must tolerate as kickboxing fans is the scoring. Many fans still don’t understand the 10-point must system and the K-1 renegade judges of 2004 only complicated the issue. The ISKA and the Nevada State Athletic Commission refuse to discard the half-point system. In the game of basketball, fans know when a point is scored; they see the ball pass through the net. Kickboxing fans don’t know the score until the end of the match. This, unfortunately, lets passing viewers compare kickboxing to synchronized swimming or ice-dancing, beautiful to watch but impossible to know who is winning. The fact that I don’t particularly care who wins in synchronized swimming leads me to believe that the average couch potato would feel the same about kickboxing. Please click here for the basics on scoring a kickboxing bout.

Another weak point that the sport of kickboxing must endure is that unlike in baseball, kickboxers can’t compete 150 times a year. Some only get to fight once a year though in the K-1 Grand Prix, we can see 2 fighters compete 3 times in one night. Not only is it a matter of fighter’s health, but kickboxing doesn’t have a season per se. Before each fight, managers, matchmakers and promoters have to negotiate everything from scratch. This takes time and cuts down on the number of fight opportunities. Even fake-wrestlers can perform their stunts several times a month, giving them higher visibility. We cannot expect the human body to endure too much impact damage. However, one innovative promoter in the Oceania region, Dixon McIver has set up a very promising league-like system to streamline the matchmaking process.

Lastly, we recognize that accidents happen in all sports. If a gridiron player injures a knee and is removed from the game, the match will continue with a replacement. In kickboxing, an accidental twisted ankle can end the match and declare the winner. The only saving grace is that in kickboxing, several matches form an event unlike other sports where one match is one event. In other words, if the Aerts fight is a dud because of an accident, the Bonjasky match may be good enough to make up for the disappointment.

In brief, despite a few weak points, new fans can appreciate the world class skills of the athletes, the suspense of the ticking clock and the surprise of the out-of-nowhere KO. Sports are designed to excite and kickboxing succeeds in this objective. See you ringside!