The OG Boxers (Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated Kids).
Boxing is one of the oldest sports ever. It’s not entirely hard to believe that. Learn more about the background of the sport that most of us have watched and some have even played.
Back in the BCs
Cavemen have probably been punching each other in the head since day one, although probably not for sport. The first carving depicting boxing was in 3000 BC. How long ago was that? A f**k ton of time. The second portrayal of boxing was on a carved vase in Crete (later Greece) in 1500 BC that showed boxers wearing helmets and gloves. What a clever idea.
An Egyptian sculpture made in 1350 BC showed boxing as a spectator sport, with the first depiction of people punching each other in front of an audience. Frankly, this is the kind of sport you want to have an audience for if you’re going to do all that.
Still in the BCs, but later
In 688 BC, boxing became an Olympic event on the 23rd go-around. The ancient Greeks actually established the rules that the current sport is built on today, but they were definitely rough around the edges.
Rounds were a foreign concept. The opponents would punch either until one person raised a finger or, in the case that their finger was broken off (joking, kind of), they were severely punch drunk, or they were unconscious, they could no longer play. The sport had to happen outside in the inclement weather. Holding someone close with one or both arms, or clinching,” was a no-go. The Greeks considered boxing to be their most injury-prone event, maiming and killing a number of contestants.
Least Early BCs
If it wasn’t violent enough by principle, the Greeks made it a little more exciting by weaponizing the glove. Padded soft gloves? Only for practice. On game day, you put on hard leather gloves or ones with weapons like metal and spikes sewn into them. Isn’t that painful for the fighter wearing them?
The Romans also took a stab at the sport. They would use it to prepare soldiers for war, but it also happened in a more gladiatorial setting where the match wasn’t over until someone was dead.
People in India were also doing a bit of fist fighting. Ancient books tell of individuals boxing each other with closed fists, along with kicking, headbutting, and more. It appears that this was the forefather of a unique type of Martial art associated with the region.
Where did the punch drunks go?
After we heard about it in ancient Indian texts and had it documented in the Olympics and in Roman coliseums, the sport of boxing literally disappeared. After the Roman Empire fell, we didn’t hear of the sport again until the 1100s. How long was the interim? No clue.
Check in here to watch out and see if we delve further into the sport of boxing in a period of time that actually makes sense. As in not ending with the letters BC.
