Linda Denley

Linda Denley

The 1980ies and 1990ies women’s fighting crown on the open sport karate curcuit was pretty much in her hands. Linda Denley of Texas dominated the ring winning all major torunaments in the USA. In 1985 she became the first American woman to win a semicontact kickboxing world title at the WAKO world cup in London’s Wembley centre. She repeated her world title performance by winning the championship again in 1987 in Munich, Germany and then again in 1990 in Mestre, Italy becoming the first women ever to hold three consecutive kickboxing world titles. A record that still holds.

WAKO woman
1985: Linda Denley becomes the first American woman to capture a WAKO world championship title in London.
Denley celebrates her world championship victory at the 1987 games in Munich.