Boxing is a sport in which two competitors try to hit each other with their padded glove-encased fists while trying to avert each other's punches. Boxing is separated into a specific number of rounds, usually each being 3 minutes long, with 1-minute rest periods between rounds. Although amateur boxing is widespread, professional boxing has prospered on a monumental scale since the early 18th century.

The rules for boxing differ somewhat between amateur fights and professional fights. Amateur boxing consists of only three rounds where as professional fights range anywhere from four to fifteen rounds. The recognized length of professional championship fights is twelve rounds. In most countries around the world, professional boxing is the more popular version of the sport. The rules do vary somewhat due in part that there is no true governing body. In the United States for example, boxing regulations vary from state to state.

However, in all boxing winners are decided by a ruling of the judges, who keep track of punches and rounds won using a point system or by the referee, or both of them. The winner can also be decided by a knockout, which is when one boxer falls to the floor after a punch and he or she cannot get up after the referee counts out 10 seconds. A doctor or referee can also declare the fight over and award the victor if one of the boxers is severely injured or defenseless even if there is no actual knockout. Winners can also be declared if the trainer or bench of one of the boxers “throws in the towel” because they feel their boxer has had enough. If after the twelve rounds the points are even, a tie or even match is called and it is ruled a draw.

The boxing ring, although rings are usually associated with something round, is actually square. The ring itself is 12 to 20 ft on each side and surrounded on each side by three or four padded ropes.

Boxing gloves have been worn as a general rule since 1892. The gloves are made of leather, have no finger holes except for the thumb like a big padded mitten. Each glove weighs 8 oz for amateur fights and 6 oz for all professional fights and all title fights.

Boxing started when one person first lifted his fists against another person, probably in anger. This eventually turned into a sport for a man to prove his manliness. Throughout the years, the sport has been determined by the fighters use or nonuse of fist coverings.

The ancient Greeks were thought to believe that fist fighting was one of the games played by the gods, therefore it became part of the Olympic Games around the year 688 BC. Homer has a reference to boxing in the Iliad.

During the Roman Empire, the sport began to flourish on a wide scale. Boxers usually fought with leather bands wrapped around their fists in order to protect their hands. Sometimes they even wore metal-filled leather hand coverings called cesti. These usually resulted in extremely bloody and often fight to the death boxing matches.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, boxing popularity declined. It was revived in England during the 18th century. It became extremely popular from 1719-1730, when boxer James Figg held the heavyweight title during that time.

During the Industrial Revolution boxing became a working class sport as prizefights attracted both boxers and spectators to the sport from the working class. Most of the fights at that time resembled street fights more then the modern boxing you see today. There was no organization at first and the bouts usually started with a challenge from man to another.  

Jack Broughton of England, the second heavyweight champion after Figg’s, drew up his own set of rules for his fights, and these rules were officially recognized in 1743. The rules forbid some of the gorier aspects that boxing had acquired, such as hitting below the belt.

Broughton also changed the ring, which at first was actually a ring of spectators, hence, the name ring. Broughton demanded a squared-off area. His rules governed what is known as the "bareknuckle era, because no gloves were used". 

In 1866, the Marquees of Queensberry gave his approval to a new set of rules, which were named in his honor. These new rules limited the number of 3-minute rounds and also eliminated gouging and wrestling in the ring. These rules also made the use of gloves mandatory during boxing matches.

Bare-knuckle matches did not end immediately but they did begin to drop. When James J. Corbett defeated the last of the great bare-knuckle boxers, John L. Sullivan in 1892 under the new rules, a new era began to develop in boxing.  

With the growing popularity of boxing all over the world but especially in the United States, weight classes other than the unlimited heavyweights came into play. These classes became just as popular as world title fights were held in the new weight classes.

Currently, there are eight major professional divisions:

Flyweight (up to 112 lb/50.8 kg)

Bantamweight (118 lb/53.5 kg)

Featherweight (126 lb/57.2 kg)

Lightweight (135 lb/61.2 kg)

Welterweight (147 lb/66.7 kg)

Middleweight (160 lb/72.6 kg)

Light heavyweight (175 lb/79.4 kg)

Heavyweight (unlimited)

In recent years, there has also been some acceptance of junior weights, or boxers that are between the specified weights, such as junior lightweight and cruiserweight.

Although still popular, boxing has had a controversial history because of its violent nature and its association with gambling. There have been periodic efforts throughout history to make boxing illegal.

The death of South Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim in November 1982, for example, incited two editorials calling for a ban on all boxing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The results of a study by an American Medical Association sponsored scientific council appeared in that same issue. The council, expressed the official American Medical Association position and called not for a ban, but for improved controls and medical facilities at ringside, centralized record keeping, and standardization of all safety regulations for boxing.

Despite these intermittent efforts, boxers still remain internationally famous, specifically heavyweight champions, most of whom, have come from the United States.

Among the best and most renowned heavyweights throughout history have been Muhammad Ali, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, and Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson, and Evander Holyfield. Louis, Marciano, and Ali benefited greatly, both in popularity and financially, from the promotion of fights on television. Tyson and Holyfield benefited greatly, both in popularity and financially, from the promotion of fights on cable television and pay per view offerings.

Outstanding champions in the lighter weights have included Benny Leonard, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Asia and Latin America have produced many champions in recent years in some of the lower weight classes, which are less popular then the heavyweight class in the United States. In Olympic competition, the Communist bloc including Russia and China has done extremely well.

However, boxing is not limited to only men. Womens boxing has grown throughout the years and since the 1990’s, has boomed in popularity coinciding with the boom of professional women sports leagues such as the WNBA and WUSA.

Female boxers such as world champions Stephanie Jaramillo, Delia 'Chikita' Gonzalez, Laura Serrano, Christy Martin, Deirdre Gogarty, Lucia Rijker, Ada Velez, Ivonne Caples, Bonnie Canino, Sumya Anani, and Laila Ali and Jackie Frazier-Lyde, who are the daughters of former World Heavyweight Champions Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier, have jumped onto the boxing scene.

These days the women's boxing fan base is growing with a lot of television exposure. There are a few organizations that recognize female world championship bouts, and fights are held in more than 100 countries worldwide. However, women's boxing is not as widespread or popular as men's boxing and probably never will be.