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WAKO Point-Fighting

Semi-contact on a tatami: the referee halts the bout after every scoring technique, so the sport rewards explosive first contact above all else.

Origin

Formalised by WAKO from the late 1970s as the amateur descendant of American and European sport karate.

Point-fighting is the discipline that looks least like the rest of kickboxing and confuses newcomers most. Fighters compete on a tatami rather than in a ring, wear open-palm gloves and foot protection, and the referee stops the action the instant a clean technique lands. Points are then awarded and the fighters reset to the centre.

Because every exchange is a fresh start, the entire sport optimises for one thing: arriving first. Distance management is measured in centimetres, the blitz — an explosive linear entry off the back foot — is the signature technique, and there is no value in accumulating damage because damage is not what scores. Excessive contact is penalised rather than rewarded.

That makes it a genuinely different athletic problem from ring kickboxing, and the crossover in either direction is poor. A point-fighter entering a full-contact ring has world-class entries and no answer to a leg kick or sustained pressure; a ring fighter entering a tatami tournament is repeatedly beaten to the punch by opponents whose whole game is the first half-second.

Legal

  • Controlled hand techniques to the head and body
  • Controlled kicks to the head, body and legs above the knee
  • Foot sweeps below the ankle, followed by a scoring technique

Illegal

  • Excessive contact — penalised, not rewarded
  • Knees and elbows
  • Leg kicks in the Muay Thai sense
  • Clinching, grabbing or holding
  • Continuing after the referee calls a halt

What sets it apart

  • The bout is stopped after every scoring technique
  • Contested on a tatami, not in a ring
  • The blitz entry is the defining technique
  • Excessive contact is a foul rather than an advantage

Scoring

System
Points awarded per scoring technique, bout stopped after each
Rounds
2
Round length
2 minutes
Extension rounds
An extra round or sudden-death point settles a tie.

Judging criteria

  1. 1Hand technique to a legal target: 1 point
  2. 2Kick to the body: 1 point
  3. 3Kick to the head: 2 points
  4. 4Jumping kick to the head: 3 points
  5. 5Foot sweep followed by a scoring technique: 1 point