Also known as | French boxing, French footfighting[1] |
---|---|
Focus | Kick |
Hardness | Full contact |
Country of origin | France[2] |
Creator | Michel Casseux, Charles Lecour |
Famous practitioners | (see notable practitioners) |
Parenthood | Boxing, Ancient footfighting |
Descendant arts | Kickboxing, Jeet Kune Do,[3][page needed] Mixed Martial Arts |
Olympic sport | only the 1924 Summer Olympics[4] |
Savate (French pronunciation: [savat]), also known as French boxing (boxe Française), is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with kicking techniques.[5][6][7][8]
Only foot kicks are allowed, unlike some systems such as Southeast Asian boxing or kickboxing, which allow the use of the knees or shins, but it allows strikes in any part of the body.
Savate is a French word for "old shoe or boot". Savate fighters wear specially designed boots. A male practitioner of savate is called a tireur while a female is called a tireuse.[9]