I talked to this dude online, and he said that 'kick boxing is full contact karate without a shirt'. But when i asked my master about this, but my master doesnt have much theoretical knowledge besides karate, muaythai and judo. He told me he never studied kickboxing so he would not know whether it is. So, obviously the comment is not completely accurate, but how much of it is? NOTE: I am not asking which is better, im asking if they are very DIFFERENT.
kick boxing is fairly different, especially these days. originally, american kickboxing was karate and tkd style kicks with boxing punches and backfists. nowadays kickboxing is usually associated with k-1 rules, where knees and low kicks are allowed, and muay thai kicking techniques are usually used instead (except for a few fighters such as francisco filho who come from a kyokushin background)
not just shirts, what about Gloves? Fransico Fihlo from Kyokushin was ot used to wearing gloves or punching to the head.