Boxing is a type of combat sport in which two competitors throw punches at each other. Originally the main goal of boxing was to knock the opponent unconscious, nowadays the winner can be determined by points awarded throughout the fight. There are two forms of boxing: amateur boxing and professional.
Amateur boxing is part of the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games, and at the collegiate level in the USA. It has a scoring system that will measure the number of clean blows landed by the boxer rather than the physical damage. The boxers are required to wear headgear and gloves, and the gloves should have white strip or circle across the knuckle, this makes it easier for the judges to score.
Professional boxing bouts are longer than amateur boxing. In professional boxing, the boxers cannot wear headgear. The boxers are allowed to take more damage before a fight is stopped. The referee can stop the match any time if he thinks that the other boxer cannot defend himself anymore.
Similar Sports
- Bare-Knuckle Boxing — two individuals participate to fight against each other without using boxing gloves or any other type of padding on their hands.
- Slapboxing — like boxing, but using open handed slaps instead of punching with the fist.
- Karate — a martial art developed in Japan that uses punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and some open-hand techniques.
- Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) — a full-contact individual combat sport that includes aspects of several other combat sports and martial arts.
- Drunken Boxing or Drunkard's Boxing, Zui Quan — a concept in traditional Chinese martial arts, as well as a classification of modern Wushu forms.
- Kickboxing — a group of stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching.
- Slap Fighting — competitors take turns slapping each other until one is knocked out or quits.
- Horseback Boxing — competitors fight each other while riding on the back of a horse. (unusual historical sport)
Related Pages
- More about Boxing
- About the sport of Chess boxing — a combination of chess and boxing.
- Muay Thai vs. Boxing: Which Martial Art Reigns Supreme?
- Complete List of Sports
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
Comments
- Boxing is unethical, because it is the intentional concussion of the opponent's head into a coma. (from Boghos, March 2023)