Boxing Rules

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 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.

Boxing Rules

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