Boxing is a combat sport where two opponents fight within a roped square ring. They use gloves to hit each other while avoiding blows, competing over a series of timed rounds with breaks in between. The sport originated in ancient Greece and grew popular among working classes in the 18th-19th centuries. Standard rules were established in the mid-19th century, requiring gloves and limiting rounds. Boxing remains controversial due to its violence but is internationally popular, especially certain heavyweight champions from the United States in the 20th century.

1. BOXING IN GENERAL
Boxing, often called "the manly art of self-defense," is a sport in which two competitors try to hit
each other with their glove-encased fists while trying to avoid each other's blows. The
competition is divided into a specified number of rounds, usually 3 minutes long, with 1-minute
rest periods between rounds.
Although amateur boxing is widespread, professional boxing has flourished on an even grander
scale since the early 18th century.
Rules
Amateur fights consist of 3 or sometimes 5 rounds. Professional fights range from 4 to 15
rounds. The recognized length of championship fights is 12 rounds. In most countries,
professional boxing is the more popular version, but the rules vary because there is no true
governing body. Even in the United States, boxing regulations vary from state to state.
In all boxing, however, winners are determined either by a decision of the judges (who keep
points or round victors on a scorecard as the fight progresses), the referee, or both. The winner
also may be decided by a knockout, in which one rival is sent to the floor by a punch and cannot
get up within 10 seconds. A doctor or referee can declare the boxer injured or defenseless even
if there is no knockdown. A tied or even match is ruled a draw.
The boxing ring is actually a square, 12 to 20 ft (3.7 to 6.1 m) on each side and enclosed on
each side by three or four ropes. Gloves have been worn by boxers as a general practice since
1892. Gloves are made of leather, have no finger holes except for the thumb, and weigh from 8
oz (227 g) for amateur bouts down to 6 oz (170 g) for professional and all title bouts.
Early History
Boxing originated when a person first lifted a fist against another in play. Different eras of the
sport have been distinguished by the use or nonuse of fist coverings. The ancient Greeks
believed fistfighting was one of the games played by the gods on Olympus; thus it became part
of the Olympic Games in about 688 B.C.. Homer has a reference to boxing in the Iliad. During
Roman times the sport began to thrive on a wide scale. Boxers fought with leather bands
around their fists for protection and sometimes wore metal-filled, leather hand coverings called
cesti, resulting in bloody, often duel-to-death, battles. Boxing diminished after the fall of Rome. It
was revived in the 18th century in England and became especially popular during the

2. championship reign of James Figg, who held the heavyweight title from 1719 through 1730.
Boxing became a workingman's sport during the Industrial Revolution as prizefights attracted
participants and spectators from the working class. Organization was minimal at first, and the
bouts resembled street fights.
The second heavyweight champion, Jack Broughton of England, drew his own set of rules for
his own fights, and these were recognized in 1743. They outlawed some of the gorier aspects
that the sport had acquired, such as hitting below the beltline. Instead of a ring of spectators —
hence, the name ring — Broughton insisted upon a squared-off area. His rules governed what is
known as the "bareknuckle era."
Modern Era
In 1865 the marquess of Queensberry gave his support to a new set of rules, which were
named in his honor. These rules limited the number of 3-minute rounds, eliminated gouging and
wrestling, and made the use of gloves mandatory. Bareknuckle bouts did not cease immediately
but did begin to decline. A new era dawned in 1892, when James J. Corbett defeated the last of
the great bare-fisted fighters, John L. Sullivan, under the new rules.
With the growing popularity of boxing, especially in the United States, weight classes other than
the unlimited heavyweights emerged. These classes became popular as world championships
were held at the new weights. Currently, there are eight major professional divisions: flyweight
(up to 112 lb/50.8 kg); bantamweight (118 lb/53.5 kg); featherweight (126 lb/57.2 kg); lightweight
(135 lb/61.2 kg); welterweight (147 lb/66.7 kg); middleweight (160 lb/72.6 kg); light heavyweight
(175 lb/79.4 kg); and heavyweight (unlimited). In recent years there has been some recognition
of junior weights, or between-weights, such as junior lightweight and cruiserweight.
Because of its violent nature and its identification with betting, boxing has had a controversial
history. Despite periodic efforts to outlaw the sport — including a condemnation by the
American Medical Association in 1984 — boxers are internationally famous, particularly
heavyweight champions, most of whom, in the 20th century, were from the United States.
Among the best heavyweights have been Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Joe
Louis, Rocky Marciano, Gene Tunney, Corbett, and Sullivan. Outstanding champions in the
lighter weights have included Benny Leonard, Mickey Walker, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong,
and Sugar Ray Robinson. Louis, Marciano, and Ali benefited greatly — both in popularity and
financially — from the promotion of televised fights.
Asia and Latin America have produced many champions in recent years in the lower weights;
Russia, Cuba, and Eastern Europe have done very well in the Olympics.

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