The History of Professional Boxing
- The sport of boxing goes back thousands of years. The ancient Greeks said the gods on Olympus competed in fist fights, therefore the sport was established as one of the Olympic Games sports in approximately 690 BC. Similarly, during the early Roman civilization, boxing was enjoyed by many. Boxers' fists were wrapped with leather bands with metal studs, or "cesti." The fighters would often box until one of them died a bloody death. The sport lost its following for quite a long time, but was revived during the late 1600s in England. Heavyweight champion James Figg held that title for more than 10 years. Since then, boxing has become structured, with rules and regulations.
- Boxing needed rules and regulations because there was too much flexibility from one match to another. The English heavyweight champion Jack Broughton defined his own rules in 1743. These included the elimination of "dirty fighting" methods, such as hitting below the belt. Broughton also changed the configuration of the matches, from being surrounded by a ring of viewers to being enclosed in a squared-off area. In 1866, the Marquess of Queensberry altered the rules, with the addition of three-minute rounds, elimination of gouging and wrestling, and mandatory use of gloves instead of fist fighting.
- As boxing became popular, additional weight classes were added to the already established heavyweight title. Now there are eight professional divisions: flyweight, up to 112 pounds; bantamweight, as much as 118 pounds; featherweight, up to 126 pounds; lightweight, no more than 135 pounds; welterweight, as much as 147 pounds; middleweight, a maximum of 160 pounds; light heavyweight, up to 175 pounds; and heavyweight, no limited weight. More recently, junior or between weights, such as junior lightweight and cruiserweight, have been included.
- The United States became the center of professional boxing at the beginning of the 20th century, although professional boxing is performed internationally. Numerous organizations contended to recognize who was the world champion. The National Boxing Association (NBA) began sanctioning "title fights" in 1921 and the newly published "Ring Magazine" listed the winners and their championship belts. The NBA was re-established in 1962 under the name World Boxing Association (WBA). The World Boxing Council (WBC) was formed a year later. Another organization, the International Boxing Federation (IBF), was created in 1983. The World Boxing Organization (WBO) was established in 1988. There are about a dozen organizations that sanction professional fighting.
- Championship title winners are frequently awarded an ornate belt. It is possible to have more than one organization sanction the same fighter for the title, but usually there are several winners due to different rules and regulations in the governing bodies. When a boxer actually is named the winner by all of the major organizations, he is given the "unifying" title and recognized as the "undisputed" champion.
- Historically, women have been banned from fighting in professional or amateur boxing matches. It was not until the 1970s when women fighters began to gain equal status in the sport, including numerous states eliminating bans against women boxers, issuing licenses to female contenders and agreeing to boxing matches with more than four rounds. The women boxers are getting more exposure on TV and many organizations, such as WBC, Women's International Boxing Association (WIBA) and the Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF), sanction world championship bouts in over 100 countries. The latest coup was the International Olympic Committee's acceptance of women's boxing for the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games.