​PRIZE RING Sports

History of the sport

Boxing is a sport of fighting with fists, also called pugilism and prizefighting.

In ancient Greece, boxing was a popular amateur competitive sport and was included in the first Olympic Games. 

In the 18th Century boxing was revived in London in the form of bare-knuckle prizefights.

The first boxer to be recognised as a Heavyweight Champion was James Figg in 1719.

In 1743 a later Champion, John Broughton, formulated a set of Rules standardising some practices and eliminating others, such as hitting opponents when they are down or seizing opponents by the hair. Broughton’s Rules governed boxing until 1838 when the Original London Prize Ring Rules, based on those of Broughton, were devised.

Modifications known as the Revised London Prize Ring Rules were drawn up in 1853 and they controlled the sport until the end of the 19th Century, when the Queensberry Rules came into use. These Rules were drafted in 1857 by a boxer, John Graham Chambers, under the auspices of John Sholto Douglas, 8th Marquis of Queensberry.

The last bare-knuckle Heavyweight Champion was the American John L. Sullivan. Fighting with gloves under the Queensberry Rules, the popular Sullivan lost the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship to James J. Corbett in New Orleans, Louisiana on 7th September 1892.

The Queensberry Rules have remained the code governing the conduct of professional boxing.