Professional Boxing Rules

Professional boxing is one of the oldest spectator sports, with historians suggesting that the first fights took place thousands of years prior to the rule system that professional boxing fans have grown accustomed to today. Though some still see professional boxing as a barbaric display, the reality is that professional boxing has a very clear and succinct set of rules designed to make the match fair and to keep both combatants protected.

  1. History

    • The earliest documented organized fights had little structure or protection for the boxers. There was no protective equipment, no weight classes, no time limits and very few rules. Boxing from this time through the latter part of the 19th century--even after it had been improved with a recognizable set of rules and regulations--wasn't welcomed into the public as some other sports were. In fact, through much of the 19th century, boxing was not just frowned upon, it was illegal in England and much of the United Sates.

    Introduction of Rules

    • During the middle of the 18th century after a number of deaths occurred as a result of boxing as it was practiced, heavyweight champion Jack Broughton developed a loose set of rules referred to as the London Prize Ring Rules in an effort to protect the participants. These initial rules encouraged the use of what would become today's boxing gloves, eliminated things like striking a fighter who was down and grabbing below the waist and set a 30-second limit for a fighter to return to his feet after being knocked down if he were to continue.

    Revisions

    • By 1853, nearly 100 years after boxing's rules were first conceived, revisions were made that made the sport at least a little more similar to what we see today. There was a 24-square-foot area--the ring--in which the fight would take place. In addition to the original exclusions, strikes or butts with the head, biting and striking below the belt were also declared illegal.

    What We See Today

    • A fight typically consists of 12 three-minute rounds separated by a one-minute break during which the fighters receive attention from their trainer and corner men, and the bout is controlled by a referee to enforce the rules.

      Committing fouls can result in both warnings from the referee and point deductions for the fighter in the wrong. Fouls consist of hitting below the belt, hitting a downed opponent, holding, biting, kicking, tripping or hitting with any body part other than the gloved hand.

      The fight can end by knockout, where a fighter is knocked down and can't resume fighting before the referee reaches a 10 count; a TKO, or technical knockout, where the referee deems a fighter unable to continue; or by judges' decision. If the fight goes to a decision, three judges who have been watching and scoring the fight based on a number of criteria will be responsible for determining the winner.

    Differences

    • There are a number of professional boxing federations in operation today, each with its own set of champions and minor differences in how the individual bouts are judged. In some factions there is no "three knockdown rule" that ends a fight, some federations may not use a "standing eight count" to accurately judge a fighter's condition after getting up from a knockdown and in others a downed fighter cannot be "saved by the bell" once the referee's count has begun. These differences are minor, though, and for the most part, the professional boxing that has so many fans today plays essentially by the same small group of rules written by John Chambers in London nearly a century and a half ago.