Boxing is a sport in which two fighters battle with their fists. The boxers wear heavily padded gloves. They fight in a square, roped-off area called a ring. Boxers try to hit their opponent and also to avoid getting hit. Some fighters emphasize their defensive skills. Others focus on offense. Some take pride in their ability to absorb punches.
Boxers may fight as amateurs or professionals. Amateurs are not paid. They fight for recognition and trophies. The highest award is a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games. Amateur boxing is often the training ground for a professional career. Professionals get paid. They are often called prizefighters. The highest prize is a title belt. Wealth also comes with recognition as a world champion.
Boxing requires quickness, strength, and endurance. Boxers must train hard. The simple act of moving to throw or avoid punches is strenuous. It requires expert footwork and arm movements over the length of a fight. Boxers thus must be in excellent condition to survive the physical demands of a bout.
Most boxers are guided by a manager called a handler, and by a trainer. Among those who help a boxer during a fight is a ringside assistant called a cut man. The cut man (who may actually be a woman) deals with cuts the fighter might suffer during the bout.
Boxing is a controversial sport. Those who dislike boxing claim it is cruel and dangerous. Fans of the sport view fighters as courageous, skillful, and graceful. But both sides agree that boxing is violent by its nature.
Rules attempt to reduce the chance of damage to a fighter. For example, amateurs must wear headgear. Professionals now wear gloves with additional padding. Championship bouts have been reduced from 15 to 12 rounds. The shorter bouts decrease the possibility of injuries due to fatigue in the late rounds.
Boxing regulations
Weight classes.
Boxers compete in classes, or divisions, based on their weight. To fight in a particular class, a boxer’s weight cannot exceed the maximum for that class. The tables in this article give the weight range in each class for amateurs and professionals.
During the early and middle 1900’s, there were eight weight classes in professional boxing. Today there are 18. They range from 105 pounds (47.6 kilograms) to the unlimited weight of heavyweights. Amateur boxing has 11 weight classes, including an unlimited super heavyweight class for boxers who weigh more than 201 pounds (91.2 kilograms).
The increased number of weight classes has resulted in smaller differences between each class. Many professional boxers move up or down in weight, seeking to become champions in multiple weight classes.
The ring
has four sides, with three or four ropes marking each side. The ring floor stands 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 meters) higher than the surrounding arena. Canvas covers the floor. The ring may vary in size. The ring ranges from 16 to 20 feet (4.9 to 6.0 meters) to a side for amateur bouts. It may extend up to 24 feet (7.3 meters) to a side for professional fights.
Equipment.
Boxers wear trunks and lightweight shoes. They also wear rubber mouthpieces to protect the teeth, and a protective cup over the groin. Women fighters also wear a chest protector. In training, all fighters wear cushioned headgear to protect the sides and backs of their heads. Only amateurs may wear headgear in competition.
Gloves may weigh from 6 to 12 ounces (170 to 340 grams). Heavier gloves are considered safer. They help shield the boxer’s hands as well as protect the opponent from injury. Before a fighter puts on gloves, assistants wrap the hands in cloth bandages and tape to protect bones and support the wrists. Some state boxing commissions in the United States require the use of thumbless gloves to lessen the risk of eye injury.
Rounds.
A fight may last from 4 to 12 rounds. The length of the round varies, depending on the category of the fight. Rounds in major professional bouts last three minutes for men and two minutes for women. Amateur bouts for experienced fighters consist of four two-minute rounds. In professional events, preliminary bouts range from 4 to 10 rounds. Title bouts are scheduled for 12 rounds. A one-minute rest period separates rounds in both amateur and professional bouts.
Officials.
The referee is the only person besides the two boxers inside the ring. The referee enforces the rules. He or she warns fighters who violate a rule. However, scoring is usually the job of the judges. There are three ringside judges in professional fights and five judges in amateur fights.
A timekeeper sounds a bell to start and end each round. After a boxer is knocked down, the timekeeper immediately begins a 10-second count. The referee picks up the count and continues until the fighter rises. If the boxer cannot return to the fight after the referee counts to 10, the fight is over. 
An officially designated physician sits at ringside to provide medical treatment for an injured fighter. The doctor also determines the severity of an injury. In addition, the doctor advises the referee of the extent of the injury. If necessary, the doctor recommends that the fight be stopped.
Fight rules.
Some basic rules apply to all levels of amateur and professional boxing. For example, a boxer commits a foul whenever he or she hits below the belt or in the back of the head. It is also a foul to strike an opponent who is down, even if only on one knee. Other fouls include kicking, tripping, wrestling, and excessive holding. Hitting with the forearm or elbow is a foul. Butting with the head and slapping with an open glove are fouls. In addition, a fighter commits a foul by thumbing an opponent’s eye.
The referee is instructed to warn a boxer for a first violation, and possibly a second. The referee then is allowed to penalize by taking away points. The referee may even disqualify a repeat offender.
If a fighter knocks down the other fighter, he or she must go to the farthest neutral corner. A neutral corner is either of the two corners not occupied by the fighters and their helpers between rounds. There, the fighter waits until the referee finishes the 10-second count or the opponent regains his or her footing.
In amateur bouts and some professional bouts, the referee must offer a mandatory eight-count. A fighter who is knocked down, willingly drops to one knee, or appears momentarily unable to continue gets an eight-count. The fight cannot continue until the referee counts to eight. The referee also can stop the fight if he or she feels the fighter cannot safely continue.
Scoring a fight.
A boxer may win in four ways—by a knockout (KO), by a technical knockout (TKO), by a decision based on the scoring by a majority of judges, or by a disqualification.
A knockout
occurs when a fighter is knocked down and cannot rise before the referee reaches the count of 10. Under the unified rules of boxing in the United States, a timekeeper should not sound the bell to end a round while a referee is counting over a downed fighter. The timekeeper must withhold ringing the bell until the referee’s count is over. A fighter can be “saved by the bell” only in the sense that the fighter could be knocked down again, and possibly knocked out, if not for the bell ending the round.
The referee or ringside doctors may determine that an injured fighter cannot continue. In addition, an injured boxer’s own handler may stop the fight by “throwing in the towel.” The handler does so by tossing a towel from the fighter’s corner into the ring. The opponent is declared the winner unless the fighter’s injury was not caused by a punch. If the cause was an accidental collision of heads, for example, the bout may be declared no contest. But if enough rounds have been fought, the winner can be decided by the judges’ scores of the completed rounds.
A technical knockout
occurs when a boxer is judged unable to continue. This decision may be made by the referee, the ringside physician, the fighter, or the fighter’s handler. In all amateur bouts and many professional fights, if a fighter is knocked down three times in a round, the bout is over. The opponent is declared the winner by a TKO.
A decision
results when a scheduled number of rounds is completed without a KO or a TKO. In a professional fight, the winner is decided by the scorecards of three judges or two judges and the referee. If all three agree on the winner, the decision is called unanimous. If one disagrees, it is called a split decision. In a majority decision, two scorecards agree on a winner and the third calls the bout a draw.
A disqualification
occurs when a fighter commits a serious violation of the rules or an accumulation of violations. The other fighter is then declared the winner.
A draw.
In a professional bout, if all three judges score the bout even, or if two judges disagree on the winner and the third calls it even, the fight is called a draw. This means there is no winner or loser. If two judges score the bout even, it is called a majority draw regardless of the third judge’s scoring. Amateur fights cannot end in a draw. The tiebreaker is decided in favor of the fighter who has the fewest violations or who is judged to have the better style.
Scoring systems.
Under the unified rules of boxing in the United States, scoring is done on a “10-point must” system. The winner of a round must be awarded 10 points. The loser gets nine points or fewer. For example, the loser gets eight points if knocked down once. He or she gets seven if knocked down twice. Loading the player...
Boxing
Beginning with the 2016 Olympic Games, new rules were approved to make amateur bouts more like professional fights. Changes include removing protective headgear for male fighters, raising the minimum age from 17 to 19, and allowing professional boxers to compete. In addition, ringside judges now score bouts round-by-round based on effective punches, rather than by a computer-count total based on each landed punch, effective or not. In other amateur bouts, such as the Golden Gloves, judges press buttons on clickers to record punches landed by each fighter. Each judge keeps and submits a separate scorecard.
Amateur bouts can end by a KO, by a decision, or by disqualification. The referee can also stop the contest if one fighter seems unable to continue or is being outclassed—that is, facing a fighter much better than he or she is.
Boxing skills
Building boxing skills, such as effective foot movement, strength, and stamina, requires dedicated training. Top fighters spend hours in a gym skipping rope, hitting punching bags, and doing sit-ups and pushups. They also practice their technique by shadow boxing and sparring (fighting). Outdoors they do roadwork—that is, run and jog. Boxers may hire a fighter called a sparring partner to fight with them as part of their training. Sparring partners generally imitate the style of an upcoming opponent. 
To create openings for punches, a boxer uses feints, jabs, and combinations. A feint is a faked punch. For example, a boxer may feint with the left hand to get a reaction that leaves the opponent open to an actual blow. A jab is a quick blow in which the arm is extended straight from the shoulder. The jab is effective as both an offensive and a defensive move. It is considered a defensive move if the fighter uses it primarily to maintain distance or keep the opponent off balance. But it also can be an offensive move. A fighter throws a jab to stun an opponent and set up a power punch with the other fist. A combination consists of two or more punches in rapid succession.
Styles differ in boxing as they do in other sports. But boxing requires basic techniques of offense and defense and basic skills to strike effectively and to dodge or block blows. For example, right-handed fighters keep their left side toward their opponent. They stand with their feet about shoulder width apart. The left hand is forward, usually to jab, block, and set up power punches with the right hand. The right hand is usually held close to the chin as protection before throwing a punch. Both elbows are kept close to the body to protect vulnerable areas, such as the ribs. Left handers may use this style in reverse. Some fighters, however, choose to jab with their more powerful hand.
The controversy over boxing
Boxing has created controversy throughout the modern era. Some attacks concentrated on claims of corruption. For example, some investigators charged that boxing promoters, managers, and others had connections to organized crime. Others claimed that promoters exploited boxers with unfair contracts. Betting on boxing is popular. Criminals sometimes bribed fighters to ”throw” (let the opponent win) a fight. Jake LaMotta stirred national sentiment against boxing when he admitted to throwing a fight. LaMotta told a U.S. Senate committee in 1960 that he “took a dive” in a 1947 fight against Billy Fox—that is, he deliberately lost.
The risk of permanent injury or even death in the ring has led some people to suggest an outright ban on the sport. Many medical professionals are among those suggesting that boxing be banned. In response to the health dangers of boxing, state and local boxing organizations have established measures to improve equipment safety and medical procedures.
Many people in the United States have called for a national regulating body and a national boxing commissioner to oversee the sport. A national board or commissioner would replace the present network of state boxing commissions. However, no national organization has yet been created.
Boxing in the United States
Amateur boxing.
USA Boxing is the national governing body of amateur boxing in the United States. The best-known national competition supervised by USA Boxing is the Golden Gloves. Golden Gloves tournaments in various regions lead up to an annual national tournament. USA Boxing operates training facilities for amateur boxers. It represents the United States to the sport’s worldwide organization, the International Boxing Association. The association is known by the initials AIBA, from its French name, Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur. USA Boxing also sponsors national competitions to select teams for international tournaments, such as the Pan American Games, Boxing World Championships, and Olympic Games.
Professional boxing.
State and local boxing organizations, often called athletic commissions, regulate professional boxing in the United States. Professional boxers must receive a license from a boxing commission. They must be at least 18 years old. Although their rules are not entirely the same, most state organizations belong to the Association of Boxing Commissions and comply with its standards and decisions.
Professional boxing is largely controlled by individual or corporate promoters. The promoters pay a fee to acquire rights to a fight, rent an arena, and make all necessary arrangements for the fight. The promoters also determine the purse, and they pay each fighter. They earn money by selling tickets and by selling the rights for television and radio coverage. Cable TV channels play a major role in determining which fighter match-ups will draw the biggest audiences. The most sought-after coverage for promoters is pay-per-view television, in which TV viewers are charged an added fee.
The total number of fights in a program is called the card. The fights leading up to the main event are called the undercard. Typically, the card starts with the undercard bouts, mostly four to six rounds. The undercard bouts are often followed by a major fight of 10 to 12 rounds. The program ends with the main event, a 12-round title fight.
Most professional fighters have a manager to negotiate with promoters and to set up training camps. As fighters work their way up to become contenders—that is, competitors for titles—their fees increase. Most fighters receive a flat fee from a promoter. Famous fighters and those in world champion fights may get a percentage of ticket receipts and a guaranteed share of TV and other entertainment revenue.
Boxing in Canada
Boxing Canada oversees Canada’s 10 provincial boxing associations and one for each of the three territories. The Canadian Professional Boxing Federation governs professional title fights. Local commissions control other professional boxing.
Canada has produced several world champions. They include Jamaican-born Trevor Berbick, Tommy Burns, George Dixon, and Jimmy McLarnin. Other important Canadian fighters include George Chuvalo, Yvon Durelle, and Sam Langford.
Boxing in the United Kingdom
Boxing, both amateur and professional, is a popular sport in the United Kingdom. However, it declined in popularity during the late 1900’s, when some amateurs turned to judo, karate, and other martial arts.
Amateur boxing.
There are hundreds of amateur boxing clubs in the United Kingdom. They provide instruction and training facilities for young boxers. The Amateur Boxing Association of England organizes national and international amateur boxing matches. The Irish Amateur Boxing Association operates in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland.
Professional boxing.
The British Boxing Board of Control governs professional boxing in the United Kingdom. Professional boxers must obtain an annual license. When they apply or reapply for a license, they are required to pass a strict medical examination. Boxers who are knocked out during a bout are suspended for 28 days as a precaution for their health.
The Lonsdale Belt, established in 1909, is awarded to every winner of a United Kingdom boxing title. The belt becomes the winner’s property upon completing two successful title defenses.
English world champions include Jack (Kid) Berg, Len Harvey, David Haye, Ted (Kid) Lewis, Charley Mitchell, Owen Moran, and Randy Turpin. London-born Lennox Lewis, a dual British-Canadian citizen, fought as an amateur for Canada in the Olympic Games. Welsh world champions include Joe Calzaghe, Jim Driscoll, Freddie Welsh, and Jimmy Wilde. Scottish champions include Ken Buchanan and Benny Lynch.
Boxing in Australia and New Zealand
The Australian National Boxing Federation controls professional boxing in Australia. Boxing Australia Inc. supervises amateur boxing.
The first boxers in Australia were convicts transported from the United Kingdom in the early 1800’s. Larry Foley, known as the father of Australian boxing, taught many of the great boxers of the 1880’s and 1890’s. World champions from Australia include Les Darcy, Jeff Fenech, and Young Griffo.
In New Zealand, the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association controls professional boxing. Boxing New Zealand Inc. is in charge of amateur boxing. Bob Fitzsimmons of New Zealand became the first boxer to win world championships in three weight divisions. He won the middleweight title in 1891, the heavyweight title in 1897, and the light heavyweight title in 1903.
Boxing in Asia
Asian countries have contributed many boxing world champions, especially in the lighter weights. Asian countries with the most significant boxing histories include Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. Pancho Villa of the Philippines was the first Asian to win a world championship, taking the flyweight title in 1923.
Kickboxing, which originated in Thailand, is a martial art that resembles boxing. Kickboxers fight in a ring and wear gloves. Like boxers, they use their fists. But they also hit with their elbows, feet, knees, and shins.
History
Ancient history.
Boxing is one of the world’s oldest known sports. Through stone carvings and other records, scholars have traced boxing to the ancient Sumerians. The Sumerian civilization existed at least as far back as 3000 B.C. The Sumerians lived in what was then Mesopotamia and is now Iraq.
As boxing spread to other parts of the ancient world, its rules were crude. Particularly brutal boxing contests took place in Greece. For example, the strongest youths in Athens competed by sitting nose to nose, awaiting a signal to begin hitting each other with bare fists. Later, to heighten the bloody spectacle, the fighters’ hands were wrapped in leather strips embedded with metal studs or spikes. According to legend, the contest would continue until one of the opponents was killed.
The Romans adapted boxing to their culture. Gladiators fought brutal matches wearing cestuses. Cestuses were hard leather straps plated with metal worn on the hands and forearms. Starting in about 100 B.C., the Romans moved away from the savagery of boxing. First, they prohibited the use of cestuses. Then, they banned the sport altogether.
The revival of boxing.
Boxing reemerged in the late 1600’s in England. According to one popular story, the first boxing match took place on Jan. 6, 1681. On that day, the Duke of Albemarle arranged a boxing competition between his butcher and butler for his amusement.
Historians credit James Figg, one of England’s most famous athletes in the early 1700’s, with introducing bare-knuckle (gloveless) boxing. Bouts in Figg’s day involved a great deal of wrestling, kicking, and eye gouging. But Figg found success by punching instead of grappling. He became the leading bare-knuckle boxer and teacher of his day, He opened a school for boxing in 1719. At that time, boxing was still a savage sport that left many fighters permanently injured, blinded, or even dead. Figg did not propose a time limit or rest periods during a bout. However, he did believe that a fight should end when either opponent had clearly won.
Jack Broughton, another respected British fighter, modified Figg’s rules in 1743 to make boxing less hazardous. Broughton’s rules were adjusted, standardized, and accepted as the London Prize Ring Rules in 1838. They declared the bout over whenever one fighter was knocked down and could not get up within 30 seconds. But fights remained continuous, without rest periods.
Bare knuckles to gloves.
A British sportsman named the Marquess of Queensberry sponsored a new set of boxing rules in 1867. Called the Queensberry Rules, they were first used in a London tournament in 1872. The Queensberry Rules, with slight modifications, still govern amateur and professional boxing worldwide. For example, fighters must wear gloves. Fights must be divided into three-minute rounds with a one-minute rest period between rounds. 
While the Queensberry Rules were taking hold in the United Kingdom in the late 1800’s, British boxers brought bare-knuckle fighting to the United States. The sport made little headway at first. It was illegal in most areas and attracted little interest anywhere.
The person most responsible for popularizing boxing and making it a legitimate sport in the United States was John L. Sullivan. He claimed the world heavyweight bare-knuckle title in 1882. In the last heavyweight bare-knuckle championship fight, Sullivan defeated Jake Kilrain in the 75th round in 1889. 
Even before the Kilrain fight, Sullivan realized that bare-knuckle boxing had no future. Sullivan had a showman’s flair. He realized that the police would tolerate boxing with gloves. He joined a traveling theater company that staged fights as part of the show. The company toured the country offering cash to anyone who could last four rounds with Sullivan. These audience participation contests drew huge crowds. The fights helped popularize boxing in the United States and made Sullivan famous. His championship reign ended in 1892 when James J. Corbett knocked him out in the 21st round of their title fight under the Queensberry Rules.
Official acceptance of boxing in the United States remained uncertain. During the early 1900’s, boxing remained illegal in parts of the United States. New York passed a law that legalized public prizefighting in 1896. The state repealed the law four years later, then passed the Walker Law in 1920 that again legalized boxing. Many other states soon followed. The states created athletic commissions to regulate the sport.
Heavyweight champions ignored one group of contenders—African Americans—until 1908. In that year, a black challenger named Jack Johnson persuaded titleholder Tommy Burns to fight him in Sydney, Australia. Johnson defeated Burns by a technical knockout in the 14th round to become the first African American champion. He held the title for seven years.
Boxing’s Golden Age.
In the early 1900’s, boxing grew as a sport. Its growth came partly through the efforts of a colorful promoter named George L. “Tex” Rickard. He promoted two of the most famous fights in boxing history. 
The first fight matched Jack Johnson against former heavyweight champion James Jeffries on July 4, 1910, in Reno, Nevada. The fight created huge national interest, tinged with racism. Jeffries, who was white, admitted that his comeback was driven by anger that a black man held the title. Johnson defeated Jeffries in a knockout. The defeat stirred widespread race riots. After Jeffries, a procession of challengers, each called “the great white hope,” tried to unseat Johnson.
Rickard’s second famous fight took place in 1921 in Jersey City, New Jersey. It matched heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey of the United States against challenger Georges Carpentier of France. Carpentier was then the light heavyweight champion. Dempsey won the fight. It was the first fight to earn $1 million. 
Rickard staged a series of million-dollar matches during the 1920’s. In 1926, Gene Tunney defeated Dempsey in a world championship fight. Rickard promoted a rematch in Chicago in 1927. More than 100,000 fans crowded into Chicago’s Soldier Field. They paid a record $2.6 million. Tunney defeated Dempsey again in the famous “long count” fight. Dempsey knocked Tunney down in the 7th round. But he forgot the recent rule that he should go to a neutral corner. By the time Dempsey went to the corner and the referee began his count, Tunney had sufficiently recovered to rise at the count of 9. It was estimated that the time elapsed was actually 14 seconds.
After Rickard and Dempsey ushered in boxing’s Golden Age, African American fighter Joe Louis became the most celebrated boxer in the world. Louis won the heavyweight title in 1937. He burst into prominence in 1938 by knocking out German challenger Max Schmeling. The fight took on significance beyond sports because of tensions rising between the United States and Nazi Germany. The Nazis claimed that Aryans—a term they used for Germans and certain other people of northern Europe—were superior to all other peoples. 
Joe Louis held the heavyweight championship from 1937 until he retired in 1949. It was the longest heavyweight reign in history. Debt forced him to try a comeback. He won several fights but lost to champion Ezzard Charles and then to champion Rocky Marciano in Louis’s final fight in 1951.
While heavyweight fights dominated boxing’s Golden Age, lighter boxers captured public attention and acclaim. Several boxers became champion in multiple weight classes in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Light heavyweight champion Harry Greb moved down in weight in 1923 to win the middleweight crown. Welterweight Mickey Walker moved up in weight in 1926 to win the middleweight title. Henry Armstrong held the welterweight, lightweight, and featherweight titles at the same time in the 1930’s. Other American fighters who won more than one weight division title included Tony Canzoneri and Barney Ross.
The 1940’s produced a number of noted lower weight fighters. One fierce rivalry pitted Tony Zale and Rocky Graziano. All three of their middleweight bouts ended in knockouts. Zale won the first and third fights.
The 1950’s.
The most famous fighters of the 1950’s were champions Rocky Marciano in the heavyweight division, light heavyweight Archie Moore, and welterweight and middleweight Sugar Ray Robinson. Marciano achieved the rare feat of going undefeated in his professional career, winning all 49 of his bouts. Moore fought 218 bouts over 27 years, winning 183, including 141 by knockout. Many experts consider Robinson the best fighter in boxing history. He held the welterweight title for five years before moving up to win the middleweight title five times. Robinson defeated such top-ranked boxers as Henry Armstrong, Carmen Basilio, Gene Fullmer, Kid Gavilan, and Jake LaMotta. Robinson beat LaMotta four times in five brutal fights. 
As television expanded in popularity during the 1950’s, it provided a new outlet for boxing. Televised “Friday Night Fights” became popular. But even as TV exposure brought new viewers to boxing, it started a decline in attendance at fights. That, in turn, led to the closing of many of the small boxing clubs where young fighters trained at the start of their careers.
The Ali era.
The early 1960’s were dominated by the rise of a heavyweight champion named Sonny Liston. He twice knocked out previous heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in the first round in 1962 and 1963 bouts. But in 1964, in an upset, Liston lost the title to a colorful young fighter named Cassius Clay.
Clay was a fast-talking and fast-moving Olympic champion. He rapidly became the best-known boxer in the world and perhaps the sport’s most controversial figure. In 1964, he joined the Nation of Islam (also called Black Muslims) and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Ali refused induction (enrollment) into the U.S. Army in 1967. He was convicted on charges of refusing induction. Boxing groups stripped Ali of his title. After his conviction, he did not fight for 3 1/2 years. Ali ultimately regained the heavyweight championship in 1974 by knocking out defending champion George Foreman.
The late 1900’s.
The heavyweight division was the most publicized division in the 1900’s until Ali retired in 1979. Public interest in boxing then shifted to champions and rivalries in lower weight classes. Sugar Ray Leonard, a welterweight, was one of the most popular fighters of the 1980’s. Leonard fought a series of memorable fights against Roberto Duran and Thomas Hearns. 
The heavyweight division regained widespread public attention with the rise of Mike Tyson. Tyson knocked out 26 of his first 28 opponents, 16 of them in the first round. In 1986, at the age of 20, Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. He won the title by knocking out champion Trevor Berbick in the second round.
Tyson’s career took a bizarre downward turn in the 1990’s. In 1990, he lost the title to Buster Douglas in one of the biggest upsets in sports history. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of sexual assault. He served three years in prison. After his release, he began a successful comeback to again win the heavyweight title in 1996 by defeating champion Frank Bruno. In 1997, the referee disqualified Tyson for biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a championship fight. In 1999, Tyson returned to jail for about four months on an assault charge. 
A Mexican American fighter named Oscar De La Hoya helped rescue boxing from the bad publicity surrounding Tyson. De La Hoya won his first world championship in 1994. By the time he retired in 2009, De La Hoya had won world championships in six weight classes. He had also earned a reputation as one of the sport’s great fighters and businessmen.
Women’s boxing.
The earliest recorded women’s fight took place in London in the 1720’s. Female fighters were allowed to punch, kick, scratch, and throw an opponent. There was sufficient interest in the sport to persuade organizers to include a women’s demonstration event when boxing was introduced at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis. 
In 1954, Barbara Buttrick, an English-born fighter, became the first woman to box on national television. The United States began to license women boxers in 1975. USA Boxing recognized women’s amateur boxing in the 1990’s. The organization adopted rules for the sport and staged the first national championships in 1997.
A breakthrough in women’s professional boxing took place in 1996. Christy Martin fought Deirdre Gogarty of Ireland in a bout on pay-per-view television. The women’s bout preceded the fight in which Mike Tyson dethroned heavyweight champion Frank Bruno. Martin, who won the fight, went on to a successful career and opened the way for others. The most notable was Laila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali. In 2001, Ali fought Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, the daughter of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, in an eight-round bout. Ali won the fight. The bout drew 8,000 fans. The fight also attracted media coverage. About 100,000 people bought the fight on pay-per-view TV.
Women’s boxing was added to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Competition was held in three weight classes—51 kilograms (112 pounds), 60 kilograms (132 pounds), and 75 kilograms (165 pounds).
Boxing today.
Many organizations award title belts for world championships or for national or regional championships. The four most authoritative organizations in awarding world champion belts are the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Organization (WBO), and the International Boxing Federation (IBF). The Ring, a famous boxing magazine, ignores these major ranking bodies. The magazine names its own champions and awards its own title belts. The lists of champions and contenders often differ among the organizations. The multiple champions in a single weight class have created confusion for the public. Some people also think that the large number of weight classes diminishes the value of a title. 
Meanwhile, boxing’s relationship with television changed. After many years on network channels, boxing matches moved to cable TV. Major bouts were televised on a pay-per-view basis on premium channels. 
The biggest bout of the early 2000’s brought together two multi-weight division champions, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., of the United States, and Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. The fight sold out the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2015 and drew a record 4.6 million pay-per-view television purchases. Mayweather won the fight by a unanimous decision.
The brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine dominated the heavyweight division during the early 2000’s. Both fighters held multiple heavyweight titles, Vitali from 1999 to 2013, and Wladimir from 2000 to 2015.
British heavyweight Anthony Joshua became an international star in the mid-2010’s. He won the IBF world championship in 2016, the WBA title in 2017, and the WBO title in 2018. In 2019, Joshua was defeated by American boxer Andy Ruiz, Jr., who then claimed Joshua’s three titles. Joshua took the three titles back later that same year when he defeated Ruiz in a rematch. In 2021, Joshua was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, who then claimed the three titles. In 2024, Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion when he defeated British boxer Tyson Fury and claimed Fury’s WBC title.
