Verb

boxing

1. Present participle of box.

Noun

Singular boxing

Plural uncountable

boxing (uncountable)

1. (sports) A sport where two opponents punch each other with gloved fists, the object being to score more points by the end of the match or by knockout, or technical knockout.

Synonyms

• (sport): fisticuffs, pugilism, sparring

Derived terms

• boxing glove
• boxing match
• boxing ring

• kick-boxing, kickboxing
• shadow-boxing, shadowboxing

Related terms

• box
• boxer

Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, male or female, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win. Victory is achieved if the opponent is knocked out and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten seconds (a Knockout, or KO) or if the opponent is deemed too injured to continue (a Technical Knockout, or TKO). If there is no stoppage of the fight before an agreed number of rounds, a winner is determined either by the referee's decision or by judges' scorecards.

Although fighting with fists comes naturally to people, evidence of fist-fighting contests first appear on ancient Sumerian, Egyptian and Minoan reliefs. The ancient Greeks provide us our first historical records of boxing as a formal sport; they codified a set of rules and staged tournaments with professionals. The birth hour of boxing as a sport may be its acceptance as an Olympic game as early as 688 BC. Modern boxing evolved in Europe.

In some countries with their own fighting sports, the sport is referred to as "English Boxing" (e.g. in France to contrast with French boxing, or in Burma with Burmese boxing and in Thailand with Thai boxing). There are numerous different styles of boxing practiced around the world. Boxing does not allow kicks like the styles above.

Boxing also called prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing), the sweet science (a common nickname among fans) or the gentleman's sport (used mainly in England), is a sport and martial art in which two participants of particular, similar weight classification fight each other with their gloved fists in a series of three-minute intervals called "rounds" ranging from 2[1] to 12 rounds. In 1901, UK had one round pro matches[2]. Women's and amateur boxing consists of 2 minute 3 to 4 rounds.

Sourced

• Boxing is the toughest and loneliest sport in the world.
  • Frank Bruno, 'The Emma Brockes interview' in the Guardian, Monday, 24th October 2005[3]

• Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.
  • Muhammad Ali, attributed in Chambers Sporting Quotations‎ (1990), by Simon James, p. 27

• Champions aren't made in gyms, champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
  • Muhammad Ali, in Talent Is Never Enough : Discover the Choices That Will Take You Beyond Your Talent (2007) by John C. Maxwell, p. 141

• BOXING: A mutual infliction of brain damage for the amusement of the public.
  • Rick Bayan, The Cynic's Dictionary

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Fri Feb 5 18:44:40 2010