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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]
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.
