Boxing can be considered to be one of the oldest sports in the world. At its very core, it is all about fighting. It can also be seen as the oldest activity because since humans have existed, there has been some conflict or other. It is at least as old as nearly 700 BC when it was included in the Olympic Games that used to take place in ancient times. The more regulated and professional boxing rules happened after the 1400s. But carvings have shown people fist-fighting in front of crowds around the third millennium BC. Thus, it can be safely said that the art of boxing is a very ancient one. The more modern professional boxing rules include Broughton's, the London Price Ring rules, and the popular Marquess of Queensbury Rules. The sport is explosive, elegant, and graceful when it partakes to its highest capacity. It gives a great instance of the human body's abilities, and there are few things in the world that can make the sight of some of the best heavyweight boxers go against each other.
The basic aim of boxing could be to hit your rival standing in the ring with you till he is knocked out of his senses for some seconds. The precise specification of the equipment of the sport differs according to the sanctioning body. But the boxing ring is usually the same for each body. It is square in shape and is usually twenty feet along each side. The post at the corners is five feet above the level of the boxing ring. The ring is about four feet raised from the ground as it is placed on a platform. The boxers who take part in the match wear gloves. There has been a long history of boxing with bare knuckles. The first recorded history of hand protection goes back to ancient Greece. The modern gloves have a weight of twelve to sixteen ounces and have been created to safeguard the rival and the hand of the boxer. But there have been arguments that they increase the injuries caused to the brain by allowing the boxers to give more damaging blows to each other. The boxers are separated according to their weight. The various governing bodies of the sport have different names and weights for each grouping.
The boxers only go against rivals of similar weights. This is because the physical size of the boxers is very important for the match. At the professional level, the matches are scored by several judges that sit ringside. They use a subjective method based on which fighter they felt got a victory in each of the individual rounds. Suppose the boxing match is undecided by any knockouts, disqualifications, or retirements. In that case, the victor is decided using the scoring given by the judges. If all judges agree that one person has won that match, it is said to be unanimous. If that is not the case, then it is a split decision. If most of the judges mark the fight as level, or they are divided, then the fight is seen as a draw. But it is usual to see that a boxing match, more so at the heavier weight classes, is stopped before the end of all the rounds. The boxers taking part in the match are considered to be knocked out if they collapse to the floor and cannot get up within the count of ten. A referee can also disqualify a boxer for getting involved in foul play. The other way of winning a boxing match is through a technical knockout. Suppose any fighter is unwilling to continue with the match or is considered to be unable by either the medical staff, his corner team, or the referee.
In that case, it is a technical knockout. This can also be given if a boxer is knocked down a number of times in a round. According to our professional boxing rules, the victor of a boxing match is either decided by a knockout or scored by the judges for the match lasts for the entire duration. In amateur boxing matches, there are different ways that are used to decide the match. For instance, the referee may decide the match's outcome, or the ringside judges may utilize electronic scoring to find out the number of blows that were landed by the boxers on each other to decide the winner.
The main element of boxing is simply to try and land some punches on the head of the rival or torso by utilizing the area of the knuckles of the fist. The boxers also have to dodge the hits of their rivals. Any fighter gets points when they get successful hits on their rivals. All the fighters wear protective gloves in the Olympics too to avoid any type of injuries. It is not allowed to hit the rival anywhere on the back of the head or below the belt. A professional boxing match in the Olympics lasts three rounds of three minutes. Each of the rounds is divided by a break of a single minute. The boxers can get victory in any match by a few means. When any boxer gets enough hits on their rivals to knock them down on the mat of the boxing ring and the rival is unable to stand up and start the match again within a count of ten, it is seen as a knockout victory for the fighter. In case of a knockout, the fight is ended immediately, and the victor of the match is declared.
Any Olympic boxing match which lasts for all three rounds is decided by the points awarded by the judges. There are five judges that are seated at the ringside. They score the fighters based on the number of blows they landed on the main areas, their tactical and technical superiority, domination of the match, and overall competitiveness. There can also be some deductions in the points based on infringements. At the culmination of each round, all the judges determine the victor for the round based on the overall criteria for judging and give the winner ten points for the round. The loser of the round can be given points ranging from seven to nine based on the level of performance they displayed in that round. After the match is finished, each judge adds up the scores of the round to find a final victor. A fighter can get a victory through a unanimous decision if all the judges agree that the victor has won in more than a single round. The main consensus is considered in scenarios where the judges have differing opinions, and the victor is found through a split decision.
Earlier, the Olympics boxing scoring system was more in sync with amateur boxing and was based on the hits that were landed. But the professional boxing rules were changed during the Rio Olympics. The International Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association adopted the ten-point must system. This made the scoring of the boxing matches in the Olympics more similar to how it is done in professional boxing. A Referee Stop Contest can also decide the victor of any boxing match in the Olympics. This is where the ringside doctors or the referee think one of the fighters is unfit to continue with the match. There are also walkovers and disqualifications that happen when any fighter retires or his corner throws the towel inside the ring. The disqualifications happen when the fighter gets more than two warnings for utilizing means that are against the rules of fair play. Any unsportsmanlike conduct can also result in direct disqualification. In women's Olympic boxing, protective headgears are compulsory for the boxers to wear. But men no longer have to wear the headgears in the Olympics.
The referee can also give instructions to the judges to deduct a point from the score of a boxer in any given round. This happens when the boxer has done something to break the professional boxing rules. This can be an intentional foul such as biting a rival's ear, headbutt, or low blow. The referee can also decide whether a boxer has committed accidental fouls too often or not. They can go ahead and deduct a point for offenses that are repeated. Suppose no boxer has won through knockout after completing the match. In that case, the round-by-round scorecards of the judges throughout the match will help to find out the victor of that match. All of the judges will have an overall winner. They may even score the match as dead even. There are a lot of results that can happen. These include a unanimous decision, where all the judges have the same boxer ahead on their scorecards. It can be via split decision, where a few judges have one boxer ahead. In contrast, the other judge has another boxer ahead. This means that the first boxer wins the match.
In a majority decision, two judges score one boxer to be ahead. The third judge scores the match as a draw. The winning boxer, in this case, did not get a unanimous decision. But he took the majority of the cards. A draw occurs if one of the judges has one boxer ahead, the second one has their rival ahead, and the third person has scored it as a draw. Then the overall result is deemed to be a draw. This is also called a split draw. There may also be a case where all the judges score it even on their scorecards. Then it is called a unanimous draw. Finally, there is the majority draw. Two judges scored the fight as a draw, but the third judge had one of the boxers ahead. But this narrow lead is not enough for the boxer to be seen as the victor. In this case, it is deemed to be a majority draw.
Conclusion
Professional boxing rules are necessary for the sport of boxing to control the boxers and the outcome. Without regulation, no sport can advance in the proper manner. Professional boxing has always appealed to a large segment of humans because it is based on the premise of brutal, dramatic, and spectacular knockouts. The professional boxing rules dictate that when any boxer lands a combo or a finishing shot on their rivals to the point that they cannot continue in the match any longer, the contest comes to a complete stop. This is regardless of how many rounds were remaining in the match. There are also various other professional boxing rules which ensure that the matches are conducted in a proper and fair manner for all the parties involved.