The history of boxing 

Humankind has been throwing punches at each other since the dawn of time, with some of the earliest depictions of boxing found on a Sumerian relief in Iraq in the 3rd millennium BC. Middle Eastern and Egyptian reliefs also showed boxing contests complete with spectators, with fighters bare-fisted or with their hands bound for protection. The earliest evidence of boxing with gloves appeared on Minoan Crete (around 1500-1400BC).

As a sport, boxing was officially introduced at the Olympic Games of Ancient Greece in 688BC. Back then, boxers fought until one of them admitted defeat, or simply could not go on. Without any set rounds or weight categories, larger men usually had an advantage.

In Ancient Rome, boxing was popular as a spectator sport and fighters used harder leather to wrap their hands and wrists for protection. The Romans even incorporated metal studs into their wraps (called cestus) to inflict injury, and boxing fights usually ended in death. Due to their gruesome nature, boxing was abolished in AD393 during the Roman gladiator period.

Bare-knuckle boxing

Boxing later resurfaced in 16th-century London in the form of bare-knuckle boxing, otherwise known as prizefighting, which saw two men fighting each other with their bare hands. The first recorded boxing match took place on January 6, 1681, when Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, pitted his butler and butcher against each other (with the butcher winning the match).

The first known champion of bare-knuckle boxing was James Figg in 1719, who later set up a “pugilistic foundation” to teach various methods of fighting with swords, cudgels and fists. In his day, boxing had few rules with no weight divisions, round limits or referees. Therefore, it was not uncommon to see things like headbutting, punching, eye-gouging, chokes and throws.

Eventually, rules were drafted by James Figg’s protégé, Jack Broughton, in 1743. Known as the London Prize Ring Rules – many of which still apply today – they include no butting, gouging, hitting a man while down, holding the ropes, scratching, kicking or biting. In 1867, further rules (known as the Marquess of Queensberry Rules) were drafted for amateur championships, which included the introduction of gloves, three-minute rounds with one minute rest intervals, and a 10-second count if a fighter was knocked down.

Amateur vs professional boxing 

Today, boxers are matched based on weight division and are not allowed to strike their opponents below the belt, in the kidneys or on the back of their heads or necks. However, the rules of boxing differ between amateur (Olympic) boxing and professional boxing. In amateur boxing, fighters wear gloves, mouth guards and headgear to prevent trauma to the head, eyes and ears, and bouts are three rounds of three minutes. In professional boxing, no headgear is required and a match can go up to 12 rounds.

When it comes to scoring, amateur boxing wins are based on the number of legal punches scored by an electronic counter, whereas professional boxing is judged by three judges who decide whether a hit is clean or legal and use a 10-point system to determine the winner of each round. Professional boxing also takes into account other criteria including defence, effective aggression, lean and hard punching and ring generalship, which means that the scoring in professional boxing is more subjective than amateur (Olympic) boxing.

Olympic boxing

While men’s boxing has been an Olympic sport since 1904, it wasn’t until 2012 that women’s boxing finally gained the same status. Even though women had been boxing for as long as men, female fighters were outlawed or denied licenses as women’s boxing was banned in most countries.

Some of the earliest female boxers included Elizabeth Wilkinson, who fought in the 18th century against men and women, Hattie Leslie and Alice Leary, who faced each other in the first women’s world championship in 1888 New York, and Caroline Svendsen, who was the first woman to receive a boxing license in the US in 1975. In 1988, Sweden became the first nation to lift the ban on amateur women’s boxing, with other nations following suit in the years to come.

Today, the biggest names in women’s boxing include Laila Ali (daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali), Claressa Shields of the US (2012 Olympic Gold medallist and undisputed women's middleweight world champion), and Cecilia Brækhus of Norway (the reigning undisputed women's welterweight champion).

As we look forward to the Tokyo Games in 2020, women will be competing in five weight divisions, from fly (51kg) to middle (75kg) and men in eight divisions, from fly (51kg) to super heavy (91+ kg). Man or woman, young or old, it’s clear that boxing isn’t going anywhere, any time soon.

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .