How to Get a Legal Boxing Match

If you want to fight in an official, sanctioned boxing match, you've probably been honing your skills for a significant period of time and want to see how you fare in the ring. The first step in anyone's boxing career is the amateur level, in which boxers are unpaid and wear head protectors. After some boxers are successful at the amateur level, they turn professional and fight for monetary purses. Getting a legal boxing match in any state requires going through the correct channels.

Instructions

    • 1

      Join a boxing club if you don't already belong to one. If you're looking to fight in a sanctioned bout, you probably already belong to a club. Boxing clubs offer opportunities to train and spar with other fighters to help gauge your skill level. Sparring sessions can range greatly in intensity; once you are comfortable with high-speed, high-impact sparring, you may wish to fight in an official match.

    • 2

      Talk to your trainer about being placed in an official match. Each gym has one or more matchmakers who are the equivalent of a professional promoter. Amateur matchmakers work with their counterparts at other clubs to organize amateur bouts. Your trainer and the gym's matchmaker are skilled judges of talent. If they believe you are ready for a match, they will work on your behalf to make it happen. If not, they'll tell you what you need to improve in order to be ready.

    • 3

      Ask your trainer or the gym manager to contact, on your behalf, the boxing commission for your state to obtain the necessary paperwork to license you to fight. Each state has its own boxing commission and while every commission's rules are similar, each organization may have some specifics that make it unique.

    • 4

      Fill out the necessary paperwork to apply to have an officially sanctioned bout. This paperwork is a legal document advising you of the dangers of the sport and absolving the club and the state's commission of legal action in the event you are injured.

    • 5

      Attend a physical examination as organized by your boxing club. In the weeks leading up to a fight, boxing clubs often arrange for local physicians to conduct examinations at the club. In the examination, allow the physician to take the required tests, which include eyesight, balance and range of motion tests. Disclose any medical conditions to the physician. You may be required to have an examination three months prior to the fight and one week before it.

    • 6

      Train for the fight with a trainer and other boxers. Your trainer or the matchmaker will tell you when the fight is scheduled. It's up to you to physically and mentally prepare in the weeks and months leading up to that date.