Boxing is a combat sport that includes the participation of two contestants that have the same mass weights who are supposed to fight each other using their fists. Many of us do not know who invented boxing and it is believed that a person by the name Apollo was responsible for this according to the legends of the sport. Boxing is believed to have started in 688 BCE as part of the Olympic Games and this required all the contestants to put on himantes that were soft straps or thongs that were made from the hide of oxen.
These straps used to be tied around the hands of each of the contestants in order to make their wrists as well as the fingers stronger. These himantes were to be later transformed to some hardened straps of leather that made the blows stronger. They later changed into gloves that had wood layers on the inner sides. In the early days of boxing the sport did not have any limited time, weight tutorials as well as cheering squads and this was because the matches came to an end when one of the contestants raised a finger or two to indicate a break or a defeat. Whenever a contestant signaled these with the fingers the match officials would decide to either end the match or permit for resting breaks. Genital blows and holding each other were not included in the boxing regulations.
The contestants were also not allowed to wear pigskin himantes. Nowadays boxing is an action sport or martial art where a referee supervises the match. A boxing match comes to an end when one of the contestants knocks out the other. Fist fighting can be traced back to the traditional Egyptians, Sumerians as well as Assyrians but it was the traditional Greeks that first documented boxing as a sport. Most people agree on the person that is behind the invention of boxing as a sport and it there is also consensus that there should never be genital blows or holding each other.
The holding of one another in a boxing match defeats the purpose of the sport seeing that the same fists that are supposed to be fighting will be used to hold each other. There are cases where a contestant has kicked the other in the groin and this will result in deduction of points or even being disqualified. Because of the person who invented boxing we will continue to enjoy the sport even though the rules have changed considerably in the last several years. The contestants are supposed to follow a specific set of guidelines. One of these guidelines is refraining from using himantes as they are not allowed in modern boxing.
Modern boxing only allows the contestants to use gloves and these are nothing like what the Romans used in the traditional days. The biggest change in boxing however is the introduction of time limits unlike the old days where contestants had to signal for the end of the match and this change has helped in that people in the old days contestants would end the match with serious injuries. Today boxing matches run for a couple of rounds that consist of a couple of minutes that any human body will be able to withstand. If there is no clear winner after all the round, the referees use the point system to identify the winner.
This article touched the basics of the topic. I have 2 more resources related to the above. They are who invented boxing and boxing bag. Do consider reading them.
