Sport and urban Free Boxing
Club training and self-defence on one side, educational and amateur competition on the other.
Free Boxing is practised in two main ways: urban Free Boxing, focused on self-defence, and sport Free Boxing, which comes in several forms.
Urban Free Boxing: self-defence and control
It lets you express your fighting system in the spirit of martial arts and self-defence, without the limits set by the rules of sporting competition.
The aim is to develop a system that adapts to different situations, while always keeping control and the legal framework in mind. Training covers distance management, escapes from grabs and reactions under stress.
Sport Free Boxing: educational, amateur and professional
In competition, Free Boxing comes in three forms, from the most technical to the most full-on.
Educational Free Boxing
A sporting and technical contest over a single round, with no decision. Even when a submission is secured, the bout restarts until regulation time is up. The goal is to fit in as many bouts as possible to gain experience against fighters with different styles.
Strikes are thrown at the intensity of a club training session. The focus is not on power but on technique, control and the ability to apply what you have trained. We call it a bout, not a fight. This is the format used at the Educational Free Boxing Opens.
Amateur Free Boxing
Here, the focus moves closer to how well techniques really work. The aim is to make your opponent give up, through strikes or submissions. This is the format used at the French Cup.
Semi-professional and professional Free Boxing
Mostly practised abroad, it goes further in seeking to put the opponent out of the fight, through striking as well as submission.
Key points from the federation rules
- Competitions open to ages 8 to 51, by age and weight category.
- Under 13: one 2-minute round, light contact.
- 14 to 17: one 3-minute round, semi-contact.
- 18 to 35: one 3-minute round, full contact, with a final of two 3-minute rounds.
- Masters, over 35: one 2-minute round, semi-contact, with a compulsory decision.
- Compulsory protective gear: headguard with visor, gum shield, open-finger gloves, shin guards with instep protection, groin guard.
The full rules are published by the International Mix Fighting System Federation.
One discipline, several ways to practise it
That is also what makes Free Boxing so rich: exploring different approaches, goals and intensities, while gradually building your own fighting system.
Freedom. Adaptation. Control.