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The History of Boxing
Boxing most likely was invented in various cultures independently
and had their origins in prehistorical periods.
Archaeological evidence suggests boxing existed in Africa as early
as 4000 BC with the earliest visual evidence for boxing appearing in
Sumerian relief carvings from the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest
evidence for it in the Mediterranean was around 1500 BC.
A mythical Greek ruler named Theseus, said to have lived around
the 9th century BC, allegedly invented a form of boxing in which two
men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one
of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight while
standing and wearing gloves (with spikes) and wrappings on their
arms below the elbows, although otherwise they competed naked.
First accepted as an Olympic sport (the ancient Greeks called it
Pygme/ Pygmachia) in 688 BC, participants trained on punching bags
(called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes)
over their hands, wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect them from
injury. The straps left their fingers free.
In China in the Zhou Dynasty 12th Century B.C., Jiao li, a form
of wrestling that included boxing, was recorded in the Classic of
Rites. This combat system included techniques such as strikes,
throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks.
Forms of boxing are mentioned in early Buddhist sources. In the
Lotus Sutra (Chapter 14), Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) refers
to boxing while speaking to Manjusri. Another early Buddhist sutra
Hongyo-kyo describes a boxing contest between Gautama
Buddha's half-brother Prince Nanda and his cousin Devadatta. The
boxing martial art of Vajra Mushti was described in the
Buddharata Sutra, written in the 5th century, though it was used
by the Hindu Kshatriya caste centuries earlier.
In ancient Rome, fighters were usually criminals and slaves who
hoped to become champions and gain their freedom; however, free men
also fought. Eventually, fist fighting became so popular that even
aristocrats started fighting, but the practice was eventually banned
by the caesar Augustus. In 500 A.D., the sport was banned altogether
by christian Theodoric the Great.
London Prize Ring rules (1743)
Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall
of the Roman Empire. However, there are detailed records of various
fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and
provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. The sport
would later resurface in England during the early 18th century in
the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as
prizefighting. The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight
in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury,
and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719.
This is also the time when the word "boxing" first came to be used.
Early fighting had no written rules. There were no weight
divisions or round limits, and no referee. Modern rules banning
kicking, gouging, grappling, biting, headbutting, fish-hooking and
blows below the belt were absent.
The first boxing rules, called the London Prize Ring rules, were
introduced by heavyweight champion Jack Broughton in 1743 to protect
fighters in the ring where deaths sometimes occurred. Under these
rules, if a man went down and could not continue after a count of 30
seconds, the fight was over. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping
below the waist were prohibited. Broughton also invented, and
encouraged the use of "mufflers" a form of padded gloves, which were
used in training and exhibitions.
Although bare-knuckle fighting was in almost every aspect far
more brutal than modern boxing, it did allow the fighters a single
advantage not enjoyed by today's boxers: The London Prize Rules
permitted the fighter to drop to one knee to begin a 30-second count
at any time. Thus a fighter realizing he was in trouble had an
opportunity to recover. Intentionally going down in modern boxing
will cause the recovering fighter to lose points in the scoring
system.
In 1838, the London Prize Ring rules were expanded in detail.
Later revised in 1853, they stipulated the following:
- Fights occurred in a 24-foot-square ring surrounded by ropes.
- If a fighter was knocked down, he had to rise within 30
seconds under his own power to be allowed to continue.
- Biting, headbutting and hitting below the belt were declared
fouls
Marquess of Queensberry rules (1867)
You must jump on the player than start to viabrate In 1867, the
Marquess of Queensberry rules were drafted by John Chambers for
amateur championships held at Lillie Bridge in London for
Lightweights, Middleweights and Heavyweights. The rules were
published under the patronage of the Marquess of Queensberry, whose
name has always been associated with them.
There were twelve rules in all, and they specified that fights
should be "a fair stand-up boxing match" in a 24-foot-square ring.
Rounds were three minutes long with one minute rest intervals
between rounds. Each fighter was given a ten-second count if he was
knocked down and wrestling was banned.
The introduction of gloves of "fair-size" also changed the nature
of the bouts. An average pair of boxing gloves resembles a bloated
pair of mittens and are laced up around the wrists. Gloves protected
the hands of both fighters but their considerable size and weight
made knock-out victories more difficult to achieve. As a
result, bouts became longer and more strategic with greater
importance attached to defensive maneuvers such as slipping,
bobbing, countering and angling.
The English case of R v. Coney in 1882 found that a
bare-knuckle fight was an assault occasioning actual bodily harm,
despite the consent of the participants. This marked the end of
widespread public bare-knuckle contests in England.
The first world heavyweight champion under the Queensberry Rules
was "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, who defeated John L. Sullivan in 1892
at the Pelican Athletic Club in New Orleans.
"Gentleman Jim" Corbett
With the gradual acceptance of formalised rules, 2 distinct
branches of boxing emerged; Professional and Olympic. The boxing
rules enforced by governing bodies worldwide today at the local,
national and international level are all derived in some way from
the Marquess of Queensberry Rules.
OLYMPIC BOXING
Olympic (or Amateur) boxing is found at the Olympic Games and
Commonwealth Games. Olympic boxing has point scoring system rather
than physical damage or knockouts. Bouts comprise of four rounds of
two minutes in Olympic and Commonwealth, and three rounds of two
minutes in a national ABA (Amateur Boxing association) bout, each
with a one-minute interval between rounds, but more recently the
rounds are decided by the coaches and the timing is dependent on the
age group.
Competitors wear protective headgear and gloves with a white
strip across the knuckle. A punch is considered a scoring punch only
when the boxers connect with the white portion of the gloves. Each
punch that lands on the head or torso is awarded a point. A referee
monitors the fight to ensure that competitors use only legal blows
(a belt worn over the torso represents the lower limit of punches -
any boxer repeatedly landing "low blows" (below the belt) is
disqualified). Referees also ensure that the boxers don't use
holding tactics to prevent the opponent from swinging (if this
occurs, the referee separates the opponents and orders them to
continue boxing. Repeated holding can result in a boxer being
penalized, or ultimately, disqualified). Referees will stop the bout
if a boxer is seriously injured, if one boxer is significantly
dominating the other or if the score is severely imbalanced.
WOMENS BOXING
Women's boxing first appeared in the Olympic Games at a
demonstration bout in 1904. For most of the 20th century, however,
it was banned in most nations. Its revival was pioneered by the
Swedish Amateur Boxing Association, which sanctioned events for
women in 1988. The British Amateur Boxing Association sanctioned its
first boxing competition for women in 1997.
The first event was to
be between two thirteen-year-olds, but one of the boxers withdrew
because of hostile media attention. Four weeks later, an event was
held between two sixteen-year-olds. The A.I.B.A. accepted new rules
for Women's Boxing at the end of the 20th century and approved the
first European Cup for Women in 1999 and the first World
Championship for women in 2001. Women's boxing will not be at the
2008 Olympics, and it is very unlikely to become an official Olympic
sport at the 2012 Olympics.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING
Professional bouts are far longer than Olympic bouts (ranging
from four to twelve rounds, however there are some two or three
round bouts, the championship limit of 12 rounds has existed since
the late 1980's when it was shortened from 15 rounds in an effort to
increase fighter safety), headgear is not permitted, and boxers are
generally allowed to take much more punishment before a fight is
halted.
The referee may stop a professional contest if he
believes that one participant cannot intelligently defend him or
herself due to injury. In that case, the other participant is
awarded a technical knockout win, which appears on the boxer's
record as a knockout win (or loss). A technical knockout would also
be awarded if a fighter lands a punch that opens a cut on the
opponent, and the opponent is later deemed not fit to continue by a
doctor because of the cut. For this reason, fighters often employ cutmen, whose job is to treat cuts between rounds so that the boxer
is able to continue despite the cut. If a boxer simply quits
fighting, or if his corner stops the fight, then the winning boxer
is also awarded a technical knockout victory. In contrast with
amateur boxing, professional male boxers have to be bare chested.
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