What is Olympic Boxing?

Boxing may be a brutal sport for some people today but during the Ancient Olympic Games which first featured the sport, it was considered to be one of the most illustrious sports. It was also one of the bloodiest.

The boxing gloves that we see today were originally long strips of leather that were wrapped around the fists of the boxers. There were no referees around to call for fouls or violations. The boxers will continue to fight until one of them is unable to get up or concedes to the fight.


Romans also used gloves with spikes or with lead wrapped into the leather strips. Deaths were a common occurrence in boxing matches but men who won were lauded with praise from all over the empire and achieved superstar status. However, this presented problems to the participants.


When the modern Olympic Games returned in 1896, the organizers decide that they cannot continue with the ancient rules attached to boxing so they omitted it from the Games. It was only allowed back in the 1904 Sts Louis Olympic Games. In the 1912 Games in Stockholm, boxing was again disallowed due to Sweden’s ban on the sport.


Boxing finally returned (and stayed) to the Olympics in 1920 due to the popularity of boxers like Muhammad Ali. In order for boxers to qualify for the Games, they have to go through regional qualifying tournaments. The geographic areas are divided into Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Oceania.


Each boxer is judged according to their boxing skills, the country they represent as well as their weight division. They must also be at least 17 years old and not more than 34 on the day of the match. The boxers are randomly paired and will fight in a single-elimination match. Weight divisions include light flyweight, flyweight, bantam weight, feather weight, light weight, light welterweight, middle weight, light heavy weight, heavy weight and super heavy weight.


The gloves used weigh 10 ounces and they must conform to the standards set by the AIBA. Boxers are identified with red or blue colored shorts. The bouts are held in rings measuring 6.1 meters and each side of the square has four ropes running parallel to it.


There are four rounds for each bout with one-minute intervals between rounds. Competitors are scored according to points or knockouts and judged by a panel of five judges. Scoring is electronic and judges have buttons in front of them that they can push to register the points and whoever has the most points, wins.

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Boxing Today

As what it is today, the game is regulated with a three minute interval series called “rounds” and a one minute rest intervals between rounds. The player is considered the winner if he is able to knock down an opponent. The player is considered defeated if he is no longer able to get up before the tenth second count made by the referee which is qualified as a Knockout or KO; and if too injured to continue fighting which is qualified as a Technical Knockout or TKO. If the fight continued on without stops in between agreed rounds, the judges’ or the referee’s decision will determine the winner. Wrestling type of fighting is totally banned in boxing.

A pair of average “fair sized” gloves changed the nature of the fight. It resembles a pair of bloated mittens laced up around the wrist. It protects both the fighter and the opponent from serious hand and facial injuries. It is also used to block the strong blow of the other player making it even harder to achieve victory through a knockout or a technical knockout. It explains why the bouts of modern boxing are longer and needs skilled strategies and maneuvers to achieve success.


As time went on, it wasn’t only the men who were heroes in the boxing rings. Women were brave enough and started to invade the world of fighting sports as well

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Boxing as Combat Sports

Boxing is a combat sports with two participants fighting with similar heights and weights. The two opponents fight each other using their fists.


Fighting with fists come naturally to human beings. It was the ancient Greeks who were able to establish a sport out of the natural act. Rules eventually evolved and staged the tournaments with two professionals playing.

The official birth of boxing was in 688 B.C. when it was played at the Olympics. It was called Pygme or Pygmachia then. The players trained on korykos or punching bags and wear himantes or leather straps. The straps did not cover the whole hand but left the fingers exposed and free. It was believed that the Spartans were the first to experience boxing to prepare them to battle using swords and shields.


Boxing mainly focuses on striking an opponent. It is also known as pugilism, coined by the Greeks and later on the Romans, or fist fighting. During this time, there were no weight classes, no separating of fights in rounds, and no time limits. The fight would only end if one of the fighters is unable to get up, gave up the fight, or died during the battle. Gloves were only used during practices. In actual fights, players wrap their hands with strips of hardened leather. The material protects their fists but causes unlikely injuries on the opponent.

Traditional boxing practiced two forms: the athletic form and gladiatorial form. Fighters were mostly criminals and slaves who would fight to gain their freedom. However, there were also free men who fought to gain honor. Then the elite started to join the fighting sport making it sophisticated rather than survival.


As years passed, ancient boxing started to evolve in Europe and Great Britain to become the modern boxing recognized today. There are numerous boxing styles practiced in the world. Generally, it is considered the “English Boxing” though in France it is called “French Boxing”. Others call it “American Boxing” or “Western Boxing”.

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Types of Martial Arts

Generally, martial arts can be broken down into five distinct categories: Stand-up or striking styles, grappling styles, low impact styles, weapons based styles, and MMA (A Hybrid Sports Style). Along with this, the emergence of MMA has caused quite a bit of mixing of styles in recent years to the point that a lot of dojos don't look quite the same as they used to. Regardless, below are some of the more well-known styles.

Striking or Stand-Up Styles

• Boxing
• Karate
• Krav Maga
• Kung Fu
• Kickboxing
• Tae Kwon Do

Grappling or Ground Fighting Styles

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
• Russian Sambo
• Shootfighting
• Wrestling

Throwing or Takedown Styles

• Aikido
• Judo
• Hapkido
• Shuai Jiao

Weapons Based Styles

• Iaido[/link">
• Kali
• Kendo

Low Impact or Meditative Styles

• Baguazhang
• Tai Chi
• Chi Gong based styles

MMA- A Hybrid Sports Style

• MMA

Martial Arts Basics

The term martial arts refers to all of the various systems of training for combat that have been arranged or systematized. Generally, these different systems or styles are all designed for one purpose: physically defeating opponents and defending against threats. In fact, the word ‘martial’ derives from the name Mars, who was the Roman god of war.

 

History of Martial Arts: Ancient peoples of all types engaged in fighting, war, and hunting. Thus, each and every civilization subscribed to a version of martial arts or combat all their own. Still, most people think of Asia when they hear the term martial arts. Along with this, around the year 600 BC trade between India and China flourished. It is believed that during this time information regarding the Indian martial arts was passed onto the Chinese and vica versa.
According to legend, an Indian monk named Bodhidharma facilitated the transmission of Chan (China) or Zen (Japan) to China when he moved to southern China. His teachings lent a lot to martial arts philosophies like humility and restraint that continue even today. In fact, some have credited Bodhidharma with the initiation of Shaolin martial arts, though this assertion has been discredited by many.