Boxing today is a popular professional, amateur and Olympic sport. Boxers are
made to follow strict rules and undergo strict medical tests before, during and
after a bout. Boxing has not always been the well run sport it is today though.
Boxing's story begins back in the civilisations of Ancient Greece and then Rome. A
description of a fight scene in the Iliad, (an ancient story), is the first known record, but
as nobody is quite sure when Homer was writing it is hard to put any kind of date on it.
Nevertheless, anyone who thinks Muhammad Ali was the inventor of the art of psyching
out opponents should read what Homer's character Epeius had to say about his
forthcoming fight -"The Mule is mine," he said referring to the prize at stake. "I'm going
to tear the fellow's flesh to ribbons and smash his bones. I recommend him to have all the
mourners standing by to take him off when I'm done with him!"
Bare-knuckle boxing has existed in Britain for hundreds of years and was legal until the
19th century. The first recognised British champion was James Figg of Thames who set up
his own Boxing Academy at the Adam and Eve Tavern in London around 1719. Four years
later King George ordered a permanent ring be erected, surrounded by railings, in Hyde
Park for the use of any members of the public who wished to box. It was torn down by
religious fanatics in the 1820's. The first rules were drawn up in the name of John
Broughton, the most successful of Figg's students. These were introduced after the first
major ring fatality in 1741 when Broughton injured George Stephenson of Hull so severely
that he died of his injuries.
In the Nineteenth century
social reformers had their way
and old country sports like
badger-baiting and cockerel
fighting were outlawed, prize
fighting drew increasing
attention from abolitionists. In
1845, The Illustrated London
News called it a "a practice
revolting to mankind." It almost
died out as fights became
decided increasingly often with
foul blows.
Boxing declined slowly until the acceptance of the Marquis of Queensberry Rules allowed it to
survive and prosper as a sport with gloves. Before this, rules were basic and sometimes were
not always properly followed. Rules published in August 1743, outlawed the more grotesque
fouls like gouging at the eyes, "purring" or raking a man with spiked boots, and landing blows
when the opponent was on the floor. This suggests that this type of foul play was common.
In the United States, bare-knuckle fighting had developed throughout the
century, in spite of the opposition of would-be abolitionists, anxious that
their new country grew along supposedly civilised lines. British boxers
fought in America from the 1830's.
The last Bareknuckles Rules champion was
American-born, John L Sullivan, a loud and flashy
character who was adored by his fans and despised
by the "right-thinking, moral majority." He reigned
from 1882 to 1892, and was involved in the last
bare-knuckle fight, when he defeated Jake Kilrain in
the 75th round in Richburg, Mississippi, in July
1889.
When he lost the title in New Orleans in September 1892, it was a gloved bout. James J.
Corbett, a young, scientific boxer from San Francisco, knocked him out in the 21st round.