Steve Shepherd

Steve Shepherd (October 10, 1950 – May 12, 2021) was a five-time world kickboxing champion and a top pioneer kickboxing promoter in the state of Florida. He defeated eight world champions from five weight divisions, four of them during their championship reigns. He also decisioned future world champions Don Wilson, Ted Pryor, Dale "Apollo" Cook and Bob "Thunder" Thurman.

Promoting events between 1977 and 1999, Shepherd was the first kickboxing world champion who was also a major event promoter.

Biography Shepherd was born on October 10, 1950, in New York City, New York. He later moved to Lake Worth and West Palm Beach, Florida. Steve died on May 12, 2021, due to injuries sustained in an accident in November 2020.

He studied karate with Mark Herman and Paul Anselmo, earning his black belt in Shotokan-Goju karate, before turning to the pro-kickboxing ring in early 1975.

In 1979, he founded Ringstar Promotions for his live event business (1979–1999), Ringstar Products for his kickboxing equipment and, in 2009, ArmorFit for his mixed martial arts equipment business. Six months later, in a bout broadcast over CBS-TV, he lost the title in a split decision to Earnest Hart, Jr. He rebounded in 1979, defeating Chris Gallegos for the WKA middleweight world title (at 160 pounds), and then became the first champion to unify the sport's two major crowns with a sixth-round knockout of Hart to regain the PKA welterweight world title. He was retroactively recognized as the undisputed STAR ratings world champion upon its founding in 1980. A few months later, Earnest Hart won Shepherd's involuntarily vacated title; Hart was the same contender Shepherd had just knocked out for a second time. a feat that made him the first middleweight kickboxer ever ranked number-one in the heavyweight division. He was also recognized as “Fighter of the Year” by Official Karate magazine's 1982 Kickboxing Hall of Fame. Moncayo also prevailed in the rubber match when Shepherd again sustained a broken jaw.

One year later, in 1983, Shepherd moved up in weight to capture the WKA super middleweight world title from Japan's Yasuo Tabata in a close split decision.

In a 1987 retirement interview, Shepherd told South Florida's Sun-Sentinel newspaper that his biggest fight purse was $45,000.00 and his smallest was $150.00.

Professional kickboxing record Below is the documented professional ring record of Steve Shepherd from the S.T.A.R. ratings website. Shepherd fought 56 fights from February 1975 to June 1999. Of those fights, 50 were wins (27 knockouts), 5 were losses, and 1 was a no-contest. Shepherd dominated as a kickboxing World Champion in 10 bouts over 4 weight divisions for 4 sanctioning organizations. As a middleweight, he also defeated one heavyweight world champion in a non-title bout.

Footnotes