Introduction:
In the present age we have many sports that are
popular, but one sport which has millions of viewers all around the world and
is as old as ancient Egyptians is considered one of the most watched and
attended sport ever. In this essay I will talk about the history of this sport;
it is very rich in history with many great men that contributed to it and it
has many controversial moments. I will go into some details about how it was
conceived and how it evolvedI will write until the present time and in the end
I will give my opinion on this sport.
History (Ancient Times)
In Ancient times
evidence of a form of boxing was found in Ancient Egypt around the 2nd
millennium B.C. It was as two brawlers and they didn’t use gloves and fought
with bare hands; also boxing roots can be seen in the Mesopotamian nations of
Assyria and Babylon and art works of the Hittites. At around 900 to 1500 B.C.
some evidence of fighters using gloves can be found on Minoan Crete and
Sardinia.
In Roman times,
boxers used leather which was strapped on their hands; it was believed that the
fighters would consist of offenders and slaves; the slaves fought for their
independence and freedom, but also free men would fight in competition as a
form of sport.
In those times boxing
didn’t really form any rules or safety procedures; it was crude and was mostly
a form of entertainment for the kings and rulers
Documented records
were found in the year 1681 in Britain. It was believed that the Duke of
Albemarle held boxing competitions between his servants, usually his butcher
and butler, but the reason for this was not to form a sport, it was made for
his amusement.
A man named Jack Boughtonis
was credited with establishing a set of rules for boxing; he decided to do it
when he fought a man in a match and he died during the match in 1743 and Jack
Boughtonis was later known as the “Father of boxing”. He made seven rules and
they are:
· There should be a
square of yard chalked to show the stage where the fighters would stand and
that every set of rounds it should be redrawn.
· No one should
interfere if a man is knocked down for a minute and a half and if that time
passes the fallen would be considered lost.
· In every main battle
no one is allowed on the stage except the principals and their seconds.
· A champion won’t be
considered beaten until the time limit has passed if he has fallen or his own
second declares him beaten
· The winning man should
have two thirds of the winnings and it should be distributed publically.
· To prevent disputes
in main battles the principals should choose two umpires to decide and if they
can’t they should choose a third who would announce the winner.
· No person is to be
hit when he’s down, no hits should be aimed towards the fighter’s lower waist
and if he is on his knees it’s considered a down.
Queensberry Rules
In 1867 a man named
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry who was born in England released a
set of rules that changed boxing forever. Although these rules came from a
sportsman named John Graham Chambers, John Douglas added one of the most
important aspects of boxing now, the gloves.
These rules were
meant to be used for amateur boxing and professional boxing. These rules persuaded
the boxers "you must
not fight simply to win; no holds barred is not the way; you must win by the
rules"(Wikipedia).
An early match
that was under this rule was the match of Jem Mace, who won the English
heavyweight championship and later on those rules were applied to American
boxing and Canadian boxing.
(Amateur vs. professional)
Most of the boxing fights in the 17th
and 18th century was known as prize boxing where the fighters will
only fight for money and the promoters controlled the gates and people would
bet money. In the1908 Olympics, amateur boxing was introduced. The rules followed
the existing ones, although the way amateur boxing is handled is different; the
fighters wear protective gear like the headgear, and this reduces the number of
injuries and knockouts. Points are counted by how many clean blows are hit
without caring about the impact of the hit. Also what’s different from the
professional boxing is that the numbers of rounds are 3 to 4. There would be a
ringside judge who would count the points and stop the fight as required.
Professional boxing is quite different than
amateur boxing; just by the name you can know that this kind of boxing is more
serious. First the fighters do not wear any protective gear like the headgear,
or torso belt, the only things worn are the gloves and mouthpiece. This boxing
has considerably more rounds ranging from 10 to 12 rounds, but before the
1980’s it was 15 rounds, this was changed due to a fight that caused Duk Koo Kim
to his death, this incident caused the world boxing council to change it to 12
rounds. The fighting in professional boxing is more aggressive, the fight wont
be over until a knockout or usually until it is bloody and the referee sees
that the other fighter cant handle it, also usually if a fighter has a cut on
his eye or anywhere a doctor would check him and if he sees him not fit to
continue then he would have to stop him or his corner would stop the fight for
any reason then the winner would be awarded a technical knockout.
Conclusion
I think boxing has a very rich history that is
interesting to read, because it started as a barbaric way to prove who is the
man, then started to gain interest with the people as a way to make money and
also prove who is strong, then it evolved into a controlled sport that millions
of people love to watch and get really excited over their favorite boxer. Boxing sometimes seems to be very
violent, bloody or scary in some cases, but you usually see sportsman ship
after the fight where the boxers would hug each other or bump fist. Although I
didn’t mention him in this essay in any detail, I think boxing brought one of
the most iconic person in the world, where everyone knows him and respects him,
which is Mohammed Ali, he got famous from his style of boxing and his wise
words and funny attitude.
In the other hand this sport caused lots of people
to die or get seriously injured and they always try to improve the rules to
make the fighters safer and not get seriously injured.
So I think boxing has its cons and pros, for me
in the end it is more entertainment then anything, unless you box yourself as
an exercise.
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