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Records of boxing as a sport date back over 5,000 year to ancient Mesopotamia. Another word for boxing is "pugilism."

Boxing first appeared as an Olympic event in the 7th century B.C. Originally, the sport of boxing in ancient Greece was not so much about hitting one’s opponent as much as it was about avoiding being hit until the other boxer became exhausted in attack! However, it was still a tough bout, as boxers only wore leather straps on their hands for protection.

Boxing during the Roman Empire became much more brutal, with boxers often fighting to the death with gladiator-like attachments on their gloves. Boxing in Rome was made illegal around 30 B.C. The Romans did introduce one enduring concept to Boxing — the boxing ring, which remains an important part of Boxing to this day.

With the spread of Christianity in Europe, Boxing disappeared for the most part until the late 1600’s when it resurfaced in England, and gained in popularity in the 1700’s when the reigning champion of the sport was James Figg, who held the heavyweight title from 1719-1730.

One of the fighters trained by Figg, Jack Broughton, became the next champion and drew up his own set of rules for the sport, which outlawed moves such as hitting below the belt. Bare-knuckle boxing officially ended around 1866 when the Marquess of Queensberry established the Queensberry Rules of Boxing. These new rules required the use of boxing gloves, limited the number of 3-minute rounds, and eliminated some of the grappling, or wrestling that had previously been a part of the sport.

Boxing made its debut in the modern Olympic games in St. Louis in 1904 as a demonstration sport, during which the U.S. team won all the matches — that’s because the U.S. was the only country to enter a team! There was Olympic Boxing during the London games of 1908, but boxing did not become a permanent Olympic sport until 1920 since boxing was not legal in Sweden (so the sport did not take place during the Stockholm games of 1912), and World War I put a temporary halt to the Olympic games of 1916.

Only male boxers participate in the Olympic Games. Women’s official boxing bouts first appeared in 1993 but have not been yet included in the official Olympic program.