Boxing

Boxing: The Sweet Science of Striking

Boxing is one of the oldest and most well-known combat sports. It is a sport in which two competitors, wearing protective gloves, hit each other with their fists within a predetermined number of rounds.

Objective of the Sport:

The primary goal of boxing is to defeat the opponent either by knockout (KO), where the opponent is unable to stand up after a count, or by technical knockout (TKO), where the opponent is deemed unable to continue the match. If the fight lasts for the full number of scheduled rounds, the winner is decided based on the points awarded by the judges.

Basic Rules and Characteristics:

• Gloves: Boxers wear padded boxing gloves to protect their hands and their opponent.
• Legal Blows: Punches are generally only allowed with the padded knuckle area of the fist and typically only to the front and sides of the opponent’s body above the waist (not to the back of the head or spine).
• Legal Targets: Only specific areas of the opponent’s body (usually the head and upper torso) are legal targets for punches.
• Rounds: A match is divided into a set number of rounds, with short rest periods in between. The length of a round and the number of rounds vary depending on the level of boxing (amateur/professional) and the weight class.
• Ring and Referee: The match takes place in a boxing ring, and a referee supervises the adherence to the rules and the safety of the fighters.

History:

The roots of boxing date back to ancient times, and various forms of combat using fists have been practiced in different cultures for thousands of years. Modern boxing, with its established rules, began to develop in the 18th and 19th centuries in England. The Marquess of Queensberry Rules from 1867 were a significant milestone in standardizing modern boxing, introducing requirements like mandatory gloves.

Amateur and Professional Boxing:

Boxing is primarily divided into amateur and professional categories, which have slightly different rules (e.g., number of rounds, protective gear, scoring). Amateur boxing is an Olympic sport.

Boxing demands excellent physical fitness, endurance, strength, speed, technique, tactical knowledge, and mental toughness from its practitioners.

At VSKU our coach is former Lithuanian champion Vladyslav Levsa