The Early Years Of Boxing

Boxing has been about since as early as 3000BC, but formal boxing was first acknowledged in the late 1700’s. The ancient Greeks understood that pugilism or fist fighting was a sport that the Greek Gods took part in; this was then integrated into the Olympic Games in 688BC. The only disadvantage in these early times were that competitors didn’t have any padded gloves, they simply used leather bound hand wraps sometimes filled with metal, which you can picture led to some aggressive and bloody duels some even leading in battles to the death. Unfortunately fist fighting started to fade away after the fall of Rome on September 4th, 476AD, when the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was removed from power.

Some time later, in the 18th century, it started to gain fans and sportsmen back to the game when it changed into a working man’s game during the Industrial Revolution which completely altered the face of Britain’s agriculture. The bouts and fights in the 18th and 19th century weren’t well planned and looked a lot like rough street fights rather than the present day showcases that we witness now.

The past-time was ultimately known as bare-knuckle boxing and the first victor was James Figg back in 1719, the only dilemma surrounding this was there were no rules set out, so sportsmen were able to hit below the belt and sometimes fights ended with death.

Fortunately this wouldn’t last forever and in the year 1743 Jack Broughton a heavy weight champion took it upon himself to set seven rules for how boxing should be carried out, these rules in due course adapted and became part of the London Prize Rules and the Marquess of Queensbury’s Rules which are today’s set standards. These set of laws helped defend all contenders by implementing the 30 second rule which meant if a man was down for 30 seconds or longer the fight was finished, so ultimately a boxer that is on the canvas could not be persistently hit. Jack Broughton also created the first form of padded gloves which were called mufflers; these majorly cut the amount of blood and damage taken from a strike.

Moving towards current times, one of the most significant and popular boxers of all time, and possibly the best of all time is Muhammad Ali who won the World Heavyweight Title on three occasions which makes him the only man to have done so in boxing history.

There were a number of fights that can be claimed as the best of all time, but two key ones stand out. The first being in 1974 which was promoted by Don King and branded as The Rumble In The Jungle which saw one of the prime upsets in boxing history as the underdog Ali faced defending champion George Foreman, in which Ali "danced" his way to victory. After this bout Ali was on top of his game and kept his form going as he went into the Thrilla In Manila fight against Joe Frazier and defeated him in a boxing match that Ali described as the closest he has felt to death.

Muhammad Ali transformed the world of boxing and left behind a legacy of prominence in the golden age of boxing.

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