By Sam Cortes, Communications Coordinator
Welcome to another inductee spotlight on the extraordinary individuals and teams who will take their place as Honoured Members in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
Baxter Humby (Athlete/Kickboxing)
A stand-up combat sport, kickboxing is a mixture of kicking and punching techniques developed by mixing karate and boxing. It is viewed as a self-defence style of martial arts and is one in which Baxter Humby excelled.
Born in Gillam, Manitoba and raised in Winnipeg, Baxter started getting involved in sports at a young age. Losing his right hand below the elbow at birth, Baxter was given the moniker of the “One-Armed Bandit” in kickboxing circles.
Before taking up kickboxing at the age of 17, he was an avid runner and excelled at that too as a member of the Canadian National Track team. He represented Canada at the Paralympics in Barcelona in 1992 and Berlin in 1994, finishing just outside of the top 3 in the 1500M and 5000M distances.
As good as he was at running, Baxter was even better at kickboxing. In 1996, he won his first major championship, becoming the Canadian Super Welterweight Kickboxing Champion. After this, he decided to move to California to continue to pursue his passion and establish his professional kickboxing career.
In 2003, he became the IKBA International Kickboxing Champion. A year later, he became the IMTC World Kickboxing Champion. His accomplishments did not stop there. He expanded his martial arts background in shoot boxing, which is a mixture of both kickboxing and wrestling, and became the Shoot Boxing Champion in Japan in 2005.
For the next several years, Baxter competed in many matches, winning most of them. In 2010, he became the WBC USA Muay Thai Champion and the World Muay Thai Council Intercontinental Kickboxing Champion.
A couple of years later in 2012, Baxter decided to call it a career and retired. He finished with an overall record of 70 wins, 11 losses, and 2 draws in 82 matches – meaning he won over 85% of his professional bouts.
In a sport that can be unpredictable at times, Baxter showed his resilience and dedication to his craft as he rose to and stayed at the top for a long time. He is rightfully deserving of his spot in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
