# Early Boxing History



## Jonathan Randall (Feb 19, 2007)

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing*





*Origins*



 


Youths boxing in a Minoan fresco on the Greek island of Santorini


Archaeological evidence suggests boxing existed in North Africa as early as 4000 BC[_citation needed_] and had developed in the Mediterranean by 1500 BC.
A mythical Greek ruler named Theseus, said to have lived around the 9th century BC, allegedly invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight while standing and wear gloves (with spikes) and wrappings on their arms below the elbows, although otherwise they competed naked.
First accepted as an Olympic sport (the ancient Greeks called it Pygme/ Pygmachia) in 688 BC, participants trained on punching bags (called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes) over their hands, wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect them from injury. The straps left their fingers free.
Forms of boxing are mentioned in early Buddhist sources. In the _Lotus Sutra_ (Chapter 14), Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) refers to boxing while speaking to Manjusri. The _Lotus Sutra_ also refers to another boxing martial art called _nara_. Another early Buddhist sutra _Hongyo-kyo_ describes a boxing contest between Gautama Buddha's half-brother Prince Nanda and his cousin Devadatta.[1] The boxing martial art of _Vajra Mushti_ was described in the _Buddharata Sutra_, written in the 5th century,[2] though it was used by the Hindu Kshatriya caste centuries earlier.[1]
In ancient Rome, fighters were usually criminals and slaves who hoped to become champions and gain their freedom; however, free men also fought. Eventually, fist fighting became so popular that even aristocrats started fighting, but the practice was eventually banned by the caesar Augustus. In 500 A.D., the sport was banned altogether by christian Theodoric the Great. [3]
http://martialtalk.com/forum/
*[edit] London Prize Ring rules (1743)*

_Main article: London Prize Ring rules_


 


The beginnings of the modern right cross demonstrated in Edmund Price's _The Science of Self Defense: A Treatise on Sparring and Wrestling_, 1867


Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. However, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 18th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the _London Protestant Mercury_, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719.[4] This is also the time when the word "boxing" first came to be used.
Early bare-knuckle fighting was crude with no written rules. There were no weight divisions or round limits, and no referee. Modern rules banning kicking, gouging, grappling, biting, headbutting, fish-hooking and blows below the belt were absent.
The first boxing rules, called the London Prize Ring rules, were introduced by heavyweight champion Jack Broughton in 1743 to protect fighters in the ring where deaths sometimes occurred.[5] Under these rules, if a man went down and could not continue after a count of 30 seconds, the fight was over. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping below the waist were prohibited. Broughton also invented, and encouraged the use of "mufflers" a form of padded gloves, which were used in training and exhibitions.
Although bare-knuckle fighting was in almost every aspect far more brutal than modern boxing, it did allow the fighters a single advantage not enjoyed by today's boxers: The London Prize Rules permitted the fighter to drop to one knee to begin a 30-second count at any time. Thus a fighter realizing he was in trouble had an opportunity to recover. Intentionally going down in modern boxing will cause the recovering fighter to lose points in the scoring system.
In 1838, the London Prize Ring rules were expanded in detail. Later revised in 1853, they stipulated the following:[6]

Fights occurred in a 24-foot-square ring surrounded by ropes.
If a fighter was knocked down, he had to rise within 30 seconds under his own power to be allowed to continue.
Biting, headbutting and hitting below the belt were declared fouls.


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## crushing (Feb 20, 2007)

Thank you for the history.

Looking at the pictures I wonder if keeping your guard up was once considered a 'sissy' move, or frowned upon?  Perhaps I am reading too much into the pictures.  I didn't see anything in the article or links about the guard, in fact, the early form where "two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed" would seem to indicate that you just took the punches.


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## Jonathan Randall (Feb 20, 2007)

crushing said:


> Thank you for the history.
> 
> Looking at the pictures I wonder if keeping your guard up was once considered a 'sissy' move, or frowned upon? Perhaps I am reading too much into the pictures. I didn't see anything in the article or links about the guard, in fact, the early form where "two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed" would seem to indicate that you just took the punches.


 
I imagine that the Romans, at least, kept their guard up - particularly gladiators.


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## Steel Tiger (Feb 20, 2007)

crushing said:


> Thank you for the history.
> 
> Looking at the pictures I wonder if keeping your guard up was once considered a 'sissy' move, or frowned upon? Perhaps I am reading too much into the pictures. I didn't see anything in the article or links about the guard, in fact, the early form where "two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed" would seem to indicate that you just took the punches.


 
Written sources from ancient Greece indicate that the normal boxing stance was with one hand extended and open while the other was held in a fist and cocked for striking.  

Of the three fighting arts used at the ancient Olympics (boxing, pankration ,and wrestling) boxing was considered the most brutal even though pankration allowed kicking and the use of elbows.  This was because a competitor could submit in pankration and wrestling.  The only way to win in boxing was to beat your opponent until they were physically incapable of continuing.  I guess it got kinda messy at times.


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