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Boxing: From Ancient Greece to Modern Times

By: Fred Tresdale.. One of the favorite sports of North Americans is boxing. In fact it's still growing in popularity. Many other countries also have a number of boxing organizations.

The sport of boxing has been around for many more years than most people realize it has. Ancient historians have traced the beginnings of boxing back to 4000 BC during times when the empires of Rome and Greece were engaged in combat. Historians have found records that indicate that boxing, surely known by another name in ancient times, was fought with much more brutality than it is today.

Evidence shows that these ancient civilizations encouraged the boxing participants to fight each other using fists and metal spikes. It is believed that these battles often continued until one of the competitors was declared dead. These days boxing is much safer, with strict regulations in place to protect the boxer.

Both amateur and professional boxing requires the use of gloves, without the spikes, as well as a computer generated score that determines the final outcome of the match. Head gear specifically designed for the sport of boxing is also a safety requirement. Boxing, however, remains one of the bare bones hand-to-hand combats that still exist today.

Boxers nowadays are given special skilled training which makes the match between two worth opponents an exciting one to watch. They both battle it out for the trophy.

You will find it hard to believe that the sport that is so popular in North America was not so till 1800's. Nowadays it is Americans who are at the top of most International boxing competitions.

The popularity of the game has extended beyond all boundaries and the primarily masculine game is now being fought by women. They have entered the boxing ring and overtaken it becoming as experienced as men though they have yet to enter the Olympics arena.

In most cases professional boxers began as amateurs. Some well known names who have engaged in this sport are George Forman, Leon Spinks, Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson and Oscar de la Hoya.

Professional boxing and amateur boxing have some slight differences in the way the boxing match is laid out. Professional boxing consists of four to fifteen rounds, while amateur boxing has only three rounds. The average length of a professional match is twelve rounds.

Boxing winners are announced by the judges who make the final decision as to how many points each competitor has. A knockout, however, will be an automatic win for the boxer who throws the final punch, providing that his opponent is unable to get off the mat after ten seconds.

People of all ages can participate in the sport of boxing. Many people learn to box so that they (1) have a unique source of exercise, and (2) can work off the stresses and worries of everyday life.

Men more than women are armchair boxers and continue to make the sport a popular one to watch.

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

-------- Fred Tresdale is the webmaster for FT Boxing, the #1 source on the internet for information about boxing, For more articles on boxing visit: www.ftboxing.com/articles ============================================================
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