Professional Karate Association

Professional Kickboxing Association
Company typeMartial Arts Organization
IndustryKarate & Kickboxing
Founded1974
FounderDon Quine, Judy Quine, Mike Anderson, Mike Haig (UK)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Don Quine, Judy Quine, Joe Corley, Jeff Smith, Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Rich Rose, Howard Dolgon, Jerry Piddington [1][2]
ServicesOrganization of karate and kickboxing professionals and promoters
OwnerJoe Corley
WebsitePKA Worldwide Website

The Professional Karate Association (PKA), later Professional Karate & Kickboxing Association, now—effective March 1, 2022 PKA Worldwide--was originally a martial arts sanctioning organization, now transformed into a martial arts promotion company.

Through the 1970s, the PKA was the major professional kickboxing organization in the United States and in Europe, featuring such fighters as Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Joe Lewis, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez, The Iceman Jean-Yves Thériault, Dennis "the Terminator" Alexio, Rick "the Jet" Roufus, Jerry Trimble and Jeff Smith.[3][4]

The original design of the PKA logo is a silhouette of Bill "Superfoot" Wallace performing a roundhouse kick.

The PKA introduced Kickboxing to the world when it originated in the 1970s and was brought to prominence in September 1974, when the Professional Karate Association (PKA) held the first World Championships. American Kickboxing was first known as Full Contact Karate before becoming known or referred to as Kickboxing as it amalgamates Karate & Boxing and aspects of various other Martial Arts into one sport. The pro full-contact version of karate is akin to boxing in that the fighters wear boxing gloves within a roped ring. Its resemblance to pure karate is that the fighters wear pads on their feet and must deliver a minimum of eight above-the-waist kicks in each two-minute round.[5]

  1. ^ "Pro Karate Makes Debut". The New York Times. 1 May 1981. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  2. ^ "Call This One A Game Of Feet". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Corcoran was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Not Just A Lot Of Kicks". Sports Illustrated. 24 January 1983. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  5. ^ "Pro Karate Makes Debut". The New York Times. 1 May 1981. Retrieved 7 November 2023.