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Boxing is a sport involving attack and defense with the fists. Boxers
wear padded gloves and fight bouts of 3 to 15 three-minute rounds,
with one minute intervening between rounds, in a four-roped square
ring.
The earliest evidence of boxing as a sport is found in the
Mediterranean area from about 1500 BC. Boxing as a sport had
reappeared in England by the early 18th century. Until nearly the end
of the 19th century, gloves were not used, and at first there were no
rules. In 1839 the London Prize Ring rules, the first since
Broughton's, were introduced. These rules (revised in 1853) provided
that bouts be fought in a 24-foot-square ring with ropes surrounding
it. The rules for rounds and for ending a fight remained the same as
Broughton's except that a fighter knocked down had to come to his feet
under his own power. Kicking, gouging, butting, biting, and blows
below the belt were explicitly made fouls. In 1867 the Marquess of
Queensberry rules were introduced The American champion John L.
Sullivan was the last of the great fighters to box under the London
Prize Ring rules. The first world champion under the Marquess of
Queensberry rules was James J. ("Gentleman Jim") Corbett, who defeated
Sullivan in 1892.
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From Sullivan on,
the United States became the premier boxing scene After World War
II the sport spread to East Asia and in the 1950s to Africa's
newly emergent nations. In the second half of the 20th century,
American domination remained only in the heavyweight division.
Boxing events were held in the Olympic Games from 1904.
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The first great period of boxing popularity began in the 1920s. While
boxing at all weights was popular, the heavyweight division
predominated. Jack Dempsey was the first popular idol.
When amateur boxing became popular in the late 19th century, it
allowed knockouts (a count of 10 over downed opponents) but primarily
emphasized points (solid blows struck) and decisions rendered by
judges. In time, professional boxing adopted the decision system, so
that a fighter can now win by amassing a larger number of points than
his opponent, as well as by knockout. |
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