The Advancements Of Boxing

Boxing has been about since as early as 3000BC, but formal boxing was first documented in the late 1700’s. The ancient Greeks believed that pugilism or fist fighting was a past-time in which the Gods of Greece played; this was then incorporated into the Olympic Games in 688BC. However back then there were no padded gloves, they only used leather bound hand wraps sometimes fitted with metal, which you can imagine led to some fierce and bloody duels some even ensuing in battles to the death. Unfortunately fist fighting started to fade away after the fall of Rome on September 4th, 476AD, when the last Ruler of the Western Roman Empire was deposed.

It wasn’t until the 18th century it started to gain fans and sportsmen back to the game when it changed into a working man’s game during the Industrial Revolution which changed the make-up of Britain’s agriculture. The bouts and fights in the 18th and 19th century weren’t well structured and came across more like savage street fights rather than the current day performances that we observe now.

The sport was ultimately acknowledged as bare-knuckle boxing and the first champion was James Figg back in 1719, the only dilemma surrounding this was there were no regulations set out, so competitors were able to hit below the belt and sometimes fights ended with death.

Fortunately this wouldn’t last forever and in 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 eventually the Marquess of Queensbury’s Rules which are today’s set values. These regulations helped look after all contenders by enforcing the 30 second rule which meant if a man was down for 30 seconds or longer the fight was completed, so ultimately a downed man could not be continually struck. Jack Broughton also produced the first form of padded gloves which were called mufflers; these majorly cut the amount of blood and harm taken from a jab.

Moving towards present times, one of the most significant and inspirational boxers of all time, and perhaps the best of all time is Muhammad Ali who won the World Heavyweight Title on three separate occasions which makes him the only man to have done so in the complete 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 labelled 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 triumph. Following this massive win Ali kept his form going as he went into the Thrilla In Manila bout against Joe Frazier and defeated him in a boxing match that Ali described as the closest he has felt to death.

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