Boxing Rules

Boxing rules have gone a long way from the first set of regulated rules, the London Prize Ring Rules. In the past, where the fight takes place in an area encircled with spectators making a ring, boxers fight bare knuckled, with no regulation against hitting below the belt, biting, grappling and throwing punches intending to maim or kill. And naturally, deaths are a common occurrence, and oftentimes the fight would extend to the spectators themselves, leading to brawls and worse –racketeering.

Boxing is a brutal sport. As much as spectators love it, as much as pundits call it “Sweet Science” it still revolves on one goal: inflicting bodily harm to your opponent before he does to you. That makes the sport deadly in terms of comparison top other sport. But with boxing rules in place, while it can still cause severe injuries, the occurrence of deaths are now absent.

The first boxing rules are the London Prize Ring Rules.  Set by Jack Broughton, it governs the conduct of fighter in prizefighting. The grounds of these boxing rules are here on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Prize_Ring_rules.

Though these boxing rules are incomplete by large, it addressed the most crucial of them all, forbidding fighters to hit a downed opponent, including those that are on their knees. It also addressed the hitting below the waist, a method that once gain notoriety for its easy dispatching (and effectively impotenting) opponents. It also addressed the problem of racketeering, by publicly awarding the prize money immediately after the match, right in front of the crowd.

The Marquess of Queensberry Rules is the boxing rules that succeeded the London Prize Ring Rules. It was written not by the Marquess but a certain written John Graham Chambers who published it in 1867 with the endorsement of the Marquess of Queensberry. The grounds for the Marquess of Queensberry boxing rules can be view with this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquess_of_Queensberry_rules.

This Marquess of Queensberry Rules is catalyst for change from bare knuckle boxing to the modern gloved boxing. It implemented rules, aside from the use of padded gloves, a timer for the rounds’ duration and the number of rounds allowed. It also formalized the use of a stage, a ring enclosed with ropes. And it shortened the countdown for a downed opponent from the previous 30 second count to a short 10 count, as this was, on the London Prize Ring Rules, bound to be abused as fighters would tend to go down at the slightest hit for a 30 second rest grace.

The Marquesss of Queensberry Rules is the closest to rules of modern day boxing. There are two arenas for today’s boxing, the amateur boxing circuit with its own set of boxing rules and the professional boxing, also with its set of rules.

You can view the Amateur Boxing Rules here:
http://boxing.about.com/od/amateurs/a/amateur_rules.htm

You can also check out the boxing rules for Professional Boxing here:
http://www.ilga.gov/commission/jcar/admincode/068/06801370sections.html