The retired kickboxing legend Andy Souwer is looking to grow the sport of kickboxing worldwide as he relaunches his new pro-am promotion, the World Kickboxing Series (WKS). Souwer's partner in this venture is Jonathan Paul Ruiz, a striking coach based out of Queens, New York. WKS seeks to provide for potential amateur and professional kickboxers with sponsorship deals and athletic development plans. WKS last held events in 2023.
The World Kickboxing Series is looking to develop across all continents, with lesser represented areas in kickboxing, such as the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania, even getting representation. Each region will have its own team captain to help develop talent and represent them with the most respected name in kickboxing from that region. As of now, Gabriel Varga (Canada), Duane Ludwig (United States), Andy Souwer (Europe), Regian Eersel (South America), Lerdsila (Asia), and Anissa Meksen (France) have been announced as team captains for their respective regions.
The Dutch kickboxing legend is hoping to build up a kickboxing scene modeled after boxing with national, regional, continental, and global level competitions under one banner.
WKS has 3 planned events in the first half of 2025. The first is a US Grand Prix in Brooklyn, New York, USA from March 28th to 30th. The event notably is hosting fights for children and novices all the way up to professionals and will be streamed for free on their YouTube channel.
The winners is will become the US representatives for the WKS “Grand Finale”, to be held in St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands at an unannounced date.
WKS also plans to host an event at Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok May 22nd, where WKS Asia Team Captain Lerdsila will be present. The next event is the South American Grand Prix held July 4th to 6th in Rio de Janeiro, with WKS South America Team Captain Reigen Eersel presiding.
