The Advancements Of Boxing | Boxing

By chloeramsbottom
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Word Count: 528

The sport of boxing has been about since as early as 3000BC, but official boxing was first first began in the late 1700’s. The ancient Greeks understood that pugilism or fist fighting was a game played by the Gods in Olympus; this was then integrated into the Olympic Games in 688BC. Back in 688BC there was one slight predicament, they didn’t have padded gloves, they only used leather bound hand wraps sometimes fitted with metal, which you can envision led to some brutal and bloody duels some even resulting in battles to the death. Unfortunately fist fighting started to die away after the fall of The Roman Empire on September 4th, 476AD, when the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was deposed.

It wasn’t until the 18th century it started to gain fans and sportsmen back to the sport when it became a working man’s sport during the Industrial Revolution which altered the face of Britain’s agriculture. The bouts and fights in the 18th and 19th century weren’t well organised and came across more like savage street fights rather than the current day materpeices that we witness now.

The past-time was ultimately identified as bare-knuckle boxing and the first victor was James Figg back in 1719, the only dilemma surrounding this was there were no regulations set out, so competitors could punch their opponents below the waist and sometimes fights ended with death.

Something had to be done about this and in the year 1743 Jack Broughton a heavy weight champion decided to set seven rules for how boxing should be carried out, these rules eventually adapted and became part of the London Prize Rules and the Marquess of Queensbury’s Rules which are today’s set principles. These regulations helped look after all contenders by implementing the 30 second rule which meant if a man was down for 30 seconds or longer the fight was finished, so ultimately a downed man could not be persistently struck. Jack Broughton also produced the first form of padded gloves which were called mufflers; these seriously cut the amount of blood and injury taken from a jab.

Advancing towards current times, one of the most dominant and inspirational boxers of all time, and perhaps the best of all time is Muhammad Ali who won the World Heavyweight Title three times during his career which makes him the only man to have done so in the whole history of boxing.

One of the most famous fights of all time also included Muhammad Ali and was staged in 1974 which was promoted by Don King and named as The Rumble In The Jungle which saw one of the biggest upsets in boxing history as the underdog Ali faced defending champion George Foreman, in which Ali "danced" his way to victory. Following this massive win Ali kept his form going as he went into the Thrilla In Manila fight against Joe Frazier and defeated him in a boxing match that Ali described as the closest he has felt to death.

Muhammad Ali altered the world of boxing and left a legacy of prominence in the golden age of boxing.

About the Author

Chloe is a dedicated writer writing about the history of boxing on behalf of Setanta Online

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