In 1976, when the best American and European full-contact kickboxers squared off in an uneven matchup in Paris, France, American fighters Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis and Jeff Smith were still unbeaten. They fought in Jhoon Rhee’s original Safe-T gear, which was still relatively new at the time. While the gear was great when new, it showed signs of wear and tear after short periods of heavy usage, and the headgear would quickly slide off of fighters' heads when they were sweating and engaged in close-range combat. Georg F. Brückner, a German taekwondo and karate pioneer widely respected as the father of European kickboxing, wanted to improve the gear. He was the first European to import Rhee’s gear, but he was unable to convince Rhee of the need for significant changes. Rhee simply wanted his protective gear to suit sparring in the dojo, whereas Brückner demanded gear suitable for professional full-contact fights. That's when the journey to the development of Top Ten gear started.
Two years earlier American promoter, magazine publisher and commercial karate school owner Mike Anderson had created the first American fullcontact karate and kickboxing events together with legendary fighter Joe Lewis. Anderson had created a new clothing brand called Universal that catered to the demands of top performers in tournament competition. Anderson and Brückner were both part of the new contact karate movement. Both promoted the development and international standardization of point fighting and fullcontact into an organization called WAKO that was seeded at the previously mentioned event in Paris in 1976.
First TopTen advertisement in an American martial arts magazine from 1977 with legendary karate champion Joe Lewis.
Anderson fine-tuned the clothing line and Brückner decided to take on the challenge of creating protective gear providing an even playground for fighters from different styles while providing maximum security for the health of the participants. Due to his background as an engineer of mechanics with a degree from Switzerland he made it a point to create an invention that would also be extremely long lasting and durable.
German fighter Michael Kuhr presenting the complete Bayflex made protective gear made in Germany and sold between 1983 and 1987.
It took nearly a decade until Brückner presented his first complete set of protectors for kickboxing. In 1983 his Top Ten gear equipped fighters from head to toe with a protective layer designed from patented Bayflex polyurethane, a material sourced from top-luxury car brands' safety zones. The Bayflex gear became mandatory in WAKO kickboxing competition until it was replaced by leather covered items in 1987.
During the 1980ties TopTen founder Brückner's attempt to steer WAKO kickboxing towards Olympic recognition. One of the options opened by cooperating with amateur boxing organization AIBA. While those talks went nowhere, AIBA became very interested in TopTen's safety record. AIBA suggested a bright future for TopTen should Brückner be able to produce boxing gloves and headguards for amateur boxing. At the time boxing was suffering a bad reputation due to high injury rates. Its status as an Olympic sport was at stake. Within a few years Brückner produced leather covered boxing gloves for competition and a competition headguard. Starting with the junior World Championships in Moscow in 1987 TopTen showed dramatic reduction in fighters' injuries. It was said, TopTen boxing gloves played a vital role in preserving the future of amateur boxing inside the Olympic Games.
The production process of leather covered paddings implied a cost saving factor which made the products more readily available. Since 1987 TopTen protectors are no longer molded in one piece, but paddings and covers are produced separately. After the patents for the gloves expired, the majority of products and brands on the market adapted the technology of a singular anatomically molded cushioning to reduce impact related injuries. Another innovation TopTen brought to the game was the use of velcro straps for fastening. TopTen held the first patent for a boxing glove with velcros replacing traditional laces. It made getting in and out of gear a lot easier. Today, many of the concepts that were introduced by Georg F. Brückner remain in use by TopTen and were adapted by competing brands.
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