Related to another thread I made.
Why did Western martial arts eliminate leg moves (esp kicks) as they became sportified (esp boxing)? | MartialTalk.Com - Friendly Martial Arts Forum Community
I am curious why boxing became hands down the most popular fighting sport of the west before MMA, overshadowing indigenous European styles that are centuries, if not thousands of years old and existed in some form (or had an ancestor style) such as Pankration, Savate, and local wrestling styles such as Icelandic (that more often than not was pretty much MMA utilizing handstrikes beyond punching and kicks or at least was No-Holds-Barred if it was purely grappling)?
I mean considering many of these styles used a variety of moves with different parts of the body and MMA today had quickly overshadowed boxing and is considered far more exciting than the sweet science by this generation (and even older people who grew up with boxing), I'm quite surprised these styles never became big in the West outside of their countries or specific regions. I mean with MMA exploding so much, you'd think that the people who codified the rules of the glove era would at least realize how exciting it is to see fighters attempt to knee, throw, sweep, kick, and other techniques in addition to punch.
Even boxing closest rival collegiate wrestling was never anywhere close in popularity.
So I am curious about this.
Why did Western martial arts eliminate leg moves (esp kicks) as they became sportified (esp boxing)? | MartialTalk.Com - Friendly Martial Arts Forum Community
I am curious why boxing became hands down the most popular fighting sport of the west before MMA, overshadowing indigenous European styles that are centuries, if not thousands of years old and existed in some form (or had an ancestor style) such as Pankration, Savate, and local wrestling styles such as Icelandic (that more often than not was pretty much MMA utilizing handstrikes beyond punching and kicks or at least was No-Holds-Barred if it was purely grappling)?
I mean considering many of these styles used a variety of moves with different parts of the body and MMA today had quickly overshadowed boxing and is considered far more exciting than the sweet science by this generation (and even older people who grew up with boxing), I'm quite surprised these styles never became big in the West outside of their countries or specific regions. I mean with MMA exploding so much, you'd think that the people who codified the rules of the glove era would at least realize how exciting it is to see fighters attempt to knee, throw, sweep, kick, and other techniques in addition to punch.
Even boxing closest rival collegiate wrestling was never anywhere close in popularity.
So I am curious about this.