What Exactly Is Boxing?

Boxing is a sport that has been around for thousands of years, becoming an official Olympic event in 688 B.C. Modern day sport boxing
involves two athletes punching each other with padded gloves, trying to knock their opponent down and out. These fights usually last three
to twelve rounds, with each round usually lasting three minu.tes.
In the fitness industry, there are countless boxing gyms and boxing boot-camps across the country that can be joined by pretty much
anyone. These types of workouts usually include various types of punches bags, jumping rope, and other common exercises performed by
boxers (think about all the training montages in the Rocky movies).
These high intensity types of exercise in boxing makes it a great form of aerobic exercise.

Rules of Boxing
There are several different rules that are followed in professional boxing. Some common ones include:

 A referee much be present in the ring.

 A boxer cannot wrestle or hug their opponent.
 If a boxer gets knocked down, he must get up on his own with any assistance from other people.
 Boxers are classified based on their weight (boxers only fight an opponent in the same weight class)
 A boxer hanging helplessly on the ropes is considered knocked-down
 A boxer cannot punch an opponent who is knocked down
 Gloves must weight between 8-10 ounces in professional fights
 A boxer cannot punch their opponent below the waist

A Brief History of Boxing

By Lee Allen
Boxing is one of the oldest known sports, with 2,000-year-old depictions on the walls of tombs in Egypt and stone carvings
indicating that Sumerians, boxed at least 5,000 years ago.

In ancient Greece, two men would sit face to face with their fists wrapped in strips of leather. They would hit each other until one of
them fell to the ground unconscious--or dead. Roman fighters wore cestuses (leather straps plated with metal) to shorten the length
of the bouts. Shortly before the birth of Christ, Romans prohibited boxing.

Boxing disappeared until the late 1600s, when it surfaced again in England. Modern boxing was introduced there in the early 1700s,
with bare-knuckle fighting that continued without respite until one fighter could not continue. Boxing was made a bit less savage in
1743, when the London Prize Ring Rules were enacted.

In the mid-1850s, British boxers visited the United States and tried to create interest in boxing, but many Americans opposed the
bare-knuckle sport, and the last such fight, a 75-round main event, took place in 1889. A British sportsman, the Marquess of
Queensberry, introduced new professional tournament rules in which boxers were required to wear gloves and fight three-minute
rounds with a one-minute rest period between rounds.

What was called the golden age of U.S. boxing began in 1920 in New York with legislation that permitted public prizefighting.

Attendance at boxing matches declined during the '50s with the advent of television. Many fight fans preferred to watch major fights
on TV at home rather than watch from a ringside seat.

Scoring

The sport occasionally throws up such rows but considering how many fights take place around the world each
week, the system usually works extremely well.
There will always be matters of each judges’ opinion involved in close contests although their verdicts can
differ wildly – and be at odds with the opinion of managers, promoters, corner-men and spectators.

But in some cases a draw can turn out to deliver unexpected bonuses. For instance, there will now be huge
interest in the potential re-match between Fury and Wilder.

Here is a guide to how the system work…

1. The scoring is carried out by three ringside judges.

They operate what is known as a “10 must system.” This

means that the fighter deemed the winner of each round is
awarded 10 points with the loser usually receiving nine.
However, rounds which are viewed as equal are scored 10-
2. 10.

Judges hand in a scorecard to the referee at the end of each

3. round and they are then given to a ringside official.

At the finish of a 12-round fight which has gone the distance,

the tallies of all three judges are added up to determine three
4. “final scores.”

5. Hence if Fighter A has won eight of the rounds on by one

judges’ reckoning and lost four, he will receive eight scores of
 10 and four of nine – making a total of 80 plus 36 to make a
final amount of 116.

Conversely, Fighter B must then have won only four rounds

6. and lost eight, making a total of 40 plus 72, equalling 112.

If all three judges score it in favour of Fighter A, it is a

7. Unanimous Decision win.

If two judges score for Fighter A and one judge scores for
8.. Fighter B, then it is a Split Decision win for Fighter A.

If two judges score for Fighter A and one judge scores a draw
9. then it is a Majority Decision win for Fighter A.

If all judges score a draw then it is a draw by Unanimous

10. Decision.

If two judges score a draw and one judge scores for either
11. boxer then it is a Majority Draw.

If, as in the case of Fury and Wilder, one judge scores for
Fighter A, one judge scores for fighter B and one judge
12. deems it a draw, then it is a Split Decision Draw.

13. Scores can vary from the usual 10-9 outcome. If Fighter A
 knocks down Fighter B, the round is scored 10-8 to Fighter A.
If there is a second knockdown, it is scored 10-7.

Some state athletic commissions in the USA employ a three

knockdown rule- meaning that a fighter will be declared to
have been knocked out if he is knocked down for a third time
in a round. However, the four major global commissions
14. – WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO - do not apply this rule.

A fighter can also be deducted a point or two points in each

round by the referee for persistent rule-breaking. There will
15. usually be a warning first.

16. Some fights in Britain are scored solely by the referee.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) rules detail

what aspects of a fighter’s performance in each round will
17. determine the scoring.

18. Rule 3.31 says Points will be awarded:

For “attack” – direct clean hits with the knuckle part of the
glove of either hand to any part of the front or side of the head
or body above the belt.

The “belt” is defined as an imaginary line drawn across the

body from the top of the hip bones.
For “defence” – guarding, slipping, ducking or getting away
from an attack. Where contestants are otherwise equal the
majority of points will be given to the one who does most
leading off or displays the better style.