Boxing

Amateur Boxing, Professional Boxing, Women’s Boxing: GSN covers them all and gives you a heap of info on the top fights, what’s next on the boxing calendar, who are the greatest all-time fighters, as well as what equipment to choose to stay fighting fit and get out of that ring on your own two legs.

 

GSN will feature in the Global Cup and Annual Ranking all amateur boxing bouts organized by the AIBA (Amateur International Boxing Association) and the Olympics.

These include:

GSN will cover Pro-boxing following the major sanctioned fights of World Boxing Association (W.B.A), World Boxing Council (W.B.C), International Boxing Federation (I.B.F), World Boxing Organization (W.B.O), and the International Boxing Organization (I.B.O).

GSN will cover all the results according to weight division, which are different for amateur and pro.

Current weight classes for boxing at the Summer Olympics:

 

Its no surprise with so many sanctioning bodies that they have different names for different weights, so we shall list the various names by actual weight, as you can see on the lower weights having an extra burger can mean you move up a weight class, hence the boxers love of heavy clothing in suanas!

 

 

 

 

 

Boxing has been contested at every Summer Olympic Games since its introduction to the program at the 1904 Summer Olympics, except for the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, because Swedish law banned the sport at the time.

The 2008 Summer Olympics was the final games with boxing as a male only event.

Beginning with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, women's boxing will be included in the programme for the first time.

All time Top 10 Olympic Boxing medal table

 

 

The World Amateur Boxing Championships is the highest competition for boxing amateurs, organised by world's governing body AIBA, which stands for the Association International de Boxe Amateur. The first edition of the tournament took place in Havana, Cuba, from August 17–30, 1974. The number of weight categories was reduced from twelve to eleven in 2003 with the removal of the light middleweight division (−71 kg). A women's championships was first staged in 2001 in Scranton, United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pan American Games are a multi-sport event, held every four years in the year before the Olympic Games and between competitors from all nations in the Americas. The last edition was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007, and the next will be in Guadalajara, Mexico in 2011. The boxing number one and two earn a ticket for the next Olympic Tournament.

 

 

 AIBA Boxing Calendar 2009-2012

 

 

Amateur boxing emerged as a sport during the mid-late 1800s, partly as a result of the moral controversies surrounding professional prize-fighting. Originally lampooned as an effort by upper and middle-class gentlemen to co-opt a traditionally working class sport, the safer, "scientific" style of boxing found favor in schools, universities and in the armed forces, although the champions still usually came from among the urban poor.

 

The Queensberry Amateur Championships continued from 1867 to 1885, and so, unlike their professional counterparts, amateur boxers did not deviate from using gloves once the Queensberry Rules had been published. In the United Kingdom, the Amateur Boxing Association (A.B.A.) was formed in 1880 when twelve clubs affiliated. It held its first championships the following year. Four weight classes were contested, Featherweight (9 stone), Lightweight (10 stone), Middleweight (11 stone, 4 pounds) and Heavyweight (no limit). (A stone is equal to 14 pounds.) By 1902, American boxers were contesting the titles in the A.B.A. Championships, which, therefore, took on an international complexion. By 1924, the A.B.A. had 105 clubs in affiliation.

 

Boxing first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1904 and, apart from the Games of 1912, has always been part of them. From 1972 through 2004, Cuba and the United States have won the most Gold Medals, 29 for Cuba and 21 for the U.S. Internationally, Olympic boxing spread steadily throughout the first half of the 20th century, but when the first international body, the Federation Internationale de Boxe Olympic (International Olympic Boxing Federation) was formed in Paris in 1920, there were only five member nations.

 

In 1946, however, when the International Amateur Boxing Association (A.I.B.A.) was formed in London, twenty-four nations from five continents were represented, and the A.I.B.A. has continued to be the official world federation of amateur boxing ever since. The first World Amateur Boxing Championships were staged in 1974.

 

GSN will follow “The Ring” magazines ranking for the “pound-to-pound” best professional boxer since it is the standard. We will also list all the various sanctioning bodies champions at the various weights. The sanctioning bodies GSN will be following are listed above.

Professional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract. All legal professional bouts must be approved by a state athletic commission to guarantee the fighters' safety. Additionally, most high-profile bouts obtain the endorsement of a private sanctioning body, which awards championships, establishes rules, and assigns referees. Professional bouts are typically much longer than amateur bouts, and can last up to twelve rounds, though less significant fights can be as short as four rounds. Protective headgear is not permitted, and boxers are generally allowed to take substantial punishment before a fight is halted. Professional boxing has enjoyed a much higher profile than amateur boxing throughout the twentieth century and beyond.

 

The timings of professional boxing is all to do with TV demands, setting the right money deal, and of course the recovery rate of the boxer concerned, so unlike Amateur boxing GSN cannot supply a list of fights in the next few years, rather here are some highlights from the upcoming months:

 

 

Chiapas, Mexico

Edgar Sosa (36-5-0, 20 KOs) vs. Omar Soto (18-5-1, 12 KOs)

12 Rounds - Jr. Flyweight Division

 

Las Vegas (HBO pay-per-view)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (39-0-0, 25 KOs) vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs)

12 Rounds - Welterweight Division

 

Neubrandenburg, Germany

Giovanni Lorenzo (27-1-0, 19 KOs) vs. Sebastian Sylvester (31-3-0, 15 KOs)

12 Rounds - Middleweight Division

 

Los Angeles (HBO)

Vitali Klitschko (37-2-0, 36 KOs) vs. Chris Arreola (27-0-0, 24 KOs)

12 Rounds - Heavyweight Division

 

Chicago, Ill.

David Diaz (34-2-1, 17 KOs) vs. Jesus Chavez (44-5-0, 30 KOs)

10 Rounds - Lightweight Division

 

Osaka, Japan

Denkaosan Kaovichit (46-1-1, 20 KOs) vs. Daiki Kameda (13-1-0, 10 KOs)

12 Rounds - Flyweight Division

 

New York, N.Y. (Top Rank PPV)

Juan Manuel Lopez (26-0-0, 24 KOs) vs. Rogers Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KOs)

12 Rounds - Jr. Featherweight Division

 

Germany (Showtime)

Arthur Abraham (30-0-0, 24 KOs) vs. Jermain Taylor (28-2-1, 17 KOs)

12 Rounds - Super Middleweight Division

 

Nottingham, England (Showtime)

Carl Froch (24-0-0, 20 KOs) vs. Andre Dirrell (17-0-0, 12 KOs)

12 Rounds - Super Middleweight Division

 

Germany

Nikolai Valuev (50-1-0, 34 KOs) vs. David Haye (22-1-0, 21 KOs)

12 Rounds - Heavyweight Division

 

Hartford, Conn. (HBO)

Chad Dawson (28-0-0, 17 KOs) vs. Glen Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs)

12 Rounds - Light Heavyweight Division

 

Las Vegas (HBO pay-per-view)

Manny Pacquiao (49-3-2, 37 KOs) vs. Miguel Cotto (34-1-0, 27 KOs)

12 Rounds - Welterweight Division

 

TBA (Showtime)

Mikkel Kessler (41-1-0, 31 KOs) vs. Andre Ward (19-0-0, 12 KOs)

12 Rounds - Super Middleweight Division

 

Montreal or Quebec City, Canada

(HBO)Lucian Bute (23-0-0, 18 KOs) vs. Librado Andrade (28-2-0, 21 KOs)

12 Rounds - Super Middleweight Division

 

 

 

In 1891, the National Sporting Club (N.S.C.), a private club in London, began to promote professional glove fights at its own premises, and created nine of its own rules to augment the Queensberry Rules. These rules specified more accurately the role of the officials, and produced a system of scoring that enabled the referee to decide the result of a fight. The British Boxing Board of Control (B.B.B.C.) was first formed in 1919 with close links to the N.S.C., and was re-formed in 1929 after the N.S.C. closed.

 

In 1909, the first of twenty-two belts were presented by the fifth Earl of Lonsdale to the winner of a British title fight held at the N.S.C. In 1929, the B.B.B.C. continued to award Lonsdale belts to any British boxer who won three title fights in the same weight division. The "title fight" has always been the focal point in professional boxing. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, however, there were title fights at each weight. Promoters who could stage profitable title fights became influential in the sport, as did boxers' managers. The best promoters and managers have been instrumental in bringing boxing to new audiences and provoking media and public interest. The most famous of all three-way partnership (fighter-manager-promoter) was that of Jack Dempsey (Heavyweight Champion, 1919-1926), his manager Jack Kearns, and the promoter Tex Rickard. Together they grossed US$ 8.4 million in only five fights between 1921 and 1927 and ushered in a "golden age" of popularity for professional boxing in the 1920s. They were also responsible for the first live radio broadcast of a title fight (Dempsey v. Georges Carpentier, in 1921). In the United Kingdom, Jack Solomons' success as a fight promoter helped re-establish professional boxing after the Second World War and made the UK a popular place for title fights in the 1950s and 1960s.

 

In the first part of the 20th century, the United States became the centre for professional boxing. It was generally accepted that the "world champions" were those listed by the Police Gazette. After 1920, the National Boxing Association (N.B.A.) began to sanction "title fights". Also during that time, Ring Magazine was founded, and it listed champions and awarded championship belts. The N.B.A. was renamed in 1962 and became the World Boxing Association (W.B.A.). The following year, a rival body, the World Boxing Council (W.B.C.), was formed. In 1983, another world body, the International Boxing Federation (I.B.F.) was formed. By the end of the 20th century, a boxer had to be recognized by the three separate bodies to be the "Undisputed World Champion". Regional sanctioning bodies such as the North American Boxing Federation, the North American Boxing Council and the United States Boxing Association also awarded championships. Ring Magazine also continued listing the World Champion of each weight division, and its rankings continue to be appreciated by fans.

 

The last decade has witnessed a continued decline in the popularity of boxing in the United States, marked by a malaise in the heavyweight division and the increased competition in the Pay-Per-View market from MMA and its main brand, UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships). The sport has grown in Germany and Eastern Europe, and is also currently strong in Britain as evidenced both by the Professional Boxing Association's increasing prominence. This cultural shift is reflected in some of the changes in championship title holders, especially in the upper weight divisions.

 

The light heavyweight division was dominated in the early part of the decade by Roy Jones, Jr., a former middleweight champion, and the Polish-German Darius Michalczewski. Michalczewski held the WBO title, which increased in prestige in recent years, while Jones held the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, two of which had been relinquished by Michalczewski. The two fighters never met, due to a dispute over whether the fight would be held in the U.S. or in Germany. This sort of dispute would be repeated among other top fighters, as Germany emerged as a top venue for world class boxing.

 

The most famous German-based boxers are the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers, Wladimir and Vitali, both of whom hold versions of the heavyweight title. The Klitschkos are often depicted as representing a new generation of fighters from ex-Soviet republics, possessing great size, yet considerable skill and stamina, developed by years of amateur experience. Most versions of the heavyweight title are held by fighters from the former Soviet Union.

 

Since the retirement of Lennox Lewis in 2004, the heavyweight division has been criticized as lacking talent or depth, especially among American fighters. This has resulted in a higher profile for fighters in lower weight classes, including the age-defying middleweight and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins, and the undefeated multiple weight division champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who won a 2007 split decision over Oscar de la Hoya in a record-breaking pay-per-view event. Perhaps unfairly billed as the "fight to save boxing", the success of this event nonetheless shows that American boxing still retains a considerable core audience when its product is of descent from the American continent.

 

Other notable fighters in even lower weight classes are experiencing unprecedented popularity today. In the last five years junior lightweights Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales have fought numerous times on pay-per-view. Lightweights Jose Luis Castillo and Joel Casamayor share the spotlight with Filipino sensation Manny Pacquiao. These small fighters often display tremendous punching power for their size, producing exciting fights such as the incredible 2005 bout between Castillo and the late Diego Corrales.

 

Many British boxers have been successful in recent years. These include light welterweight Ricky Hatton who enjoys a tremendous box-office popularity and Joe Calzaghe who retired undefeated in 2008 after reigns as both undisputed super-middleweight champion and The Ring Magazine's Light-Heavyweight Champion. Notable emerging British boxers include former undisputed cruiserweight champion David Haye, the Freddie Roach trained lightweight Amir Khan and super middleweight champion Carl Froch.

 

 

 

 

“The Ring” has its current ‘pound for pound’ best fighter list, which is useful or we would have to look at each governing body and their various weights.

So the current top 10 “best pound for pound” boxers are:

 

1. Manny Pacquiao

Country: Philippines Record: 49-3-2 (37 KOs)

 

2. Juan Manuel Marquez

Country: Mexico Record: 50-4-1 (37 KOs)

 

3. Bernard Hopkins

Country: USA (Philadelphia, Pa.)

 

4. Shane Mosley

Country: USA (Las Vegas, Nevada) Record: 46-5-0 (39 KOs)

 

5. Israel Vazquez

Country: Mexico Record: 43-4-0 (31 KOs)

 

6. Rafael Marquez

Country: Mexico Record: 38-5-0 (34 KOs)

 

7. Nonito Donaire

Country: USA (San Leandro, Calif.) Record: 22-1-0 (14 KOs)

 

8. Miguel Cotto

Country: Puerto Rico Record: 34-1-0 (27 KOs)

 

9. Celestino Caballero

Country: Panama Record: 33-2-0 (23 KOs)

 

10. Paul Williams

Country: USA (Augusta, Ga.) Record: 37-1-0 (27 KOs)

 

Latest Champions by Division and Governing Body:

 

Of course it all gets abit more difficult to work out the greatest boxers ever, but using a combination of lists and sources, here is the top five greatest boxers of all time:

 

 

 

Welterweight, middleweight

Ring career: 1940-65

Record: 175-19-6-2 (109 KOs)

Career notes: Won world welterweight title in December 1946, and defended it four times before stepping up in weight and winning, in 1951, the first of five stints as middleweight champ.

He attempted to win the light heavyweight title from Joey Maxim in 1952, but was stopped in the 14th round.

Born Walker Smith in Ailey, Georgia, his success at different weights prompted the sports writers to create the 'best pound for pound boxer'. Lost just one of first 123 fights, to Jake LaMotta, a defeat avenged five times in a classic ring rivalry. Sugar Ray was a near-perfect pugilist at welterweight, though was less dominant at middleweight, but was still able to win the title five times, including three times after he had retired for two and a half years. His only stoppage defeat was when challenging Maxim for the light heavyweight crown, and then he was leading on points until overcome by heat so extreme that it had forced the replacement of the referee in the 10th.

 

 

Heavyweight

Ring career: 1960-81

Record: 56-5 (37 KOs)

Career notes: First to win the heavyweight championship of the world three times. Ali Was banned from the ring for three years for refusing the draft during the Vietnam War. After the ban was lifted, Ali lost to Joe Frazier in "Fight of the Century" in 1971, but stunned George Foreman to regain belt in 1974. He lost the title to, and regained it from, Leon Spinks in 1978. Three of the defeats came in last four bouts, including two in an ill-advised emergence from retirement, against Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick, at 38. Ali reinvented the way heavyweights were supposed to fight, deploying a speed and athleticism that was previously unheard of; also alternately bedazzled and appalled America and the world with charisma, showmanship and braggadocio. Viewed progressively over the years as loudmouth, villain, hero and finally a figure of pathos. Ali remains for many the definition of a champion.

 

 

 

Featherweight, lightweight, welterweight

Ring career: 1932-45

Record: 151-21-9 (101 KOs)

Career notes: The only boxer to hold world titles at three different weights at the same time. He won the featherweight crown in October 1937, added the welterweight title in May 1938 and became lightweight champion three months later. Armstrong challenged for the middleweight crown in 1940, and held champion Ceferino Garcia to a draw. Known variously as "Hammerin' Hank" and "Homicide Hank." His third nickname, "Hurricane Hank," was perhaps the most appropriate, since he was a whirlwind of a fighter, a perpetual-motion machine who overwhelmed opponents with a nonstop, suffocating fusillade of punches. He faced 17 world champions in career and defeated 15 of them.

 

 

 

Heavyweight

Ring career: 1934-51

Record: 68-3 (54 KOs)

Career notes: Won world heavyweight championship in 1937, and retired as champion in 1949. Joe held the heavyweight title for longer (11 years, 8 months, 7 days) and made more successful defenses (25) than any other boxer. Defined by two fights against Max Schmeling of Germany. In the first encounter, he was still unbeaten and knocked out in the 12th round, in June 1936. In the rematch, almost exactly two years later, as world champion knocked out challenger in the first round, becoming hero to black and white Americans alike, and cemented his place as one of the most popular champions of all time.

 

 

Featherweight

Ring career: 1940-66

Record: 230-11-1 (65 KOs)

Career notes: Two-time world featherweight champion renowned for his legendary defensive skills. He achieved tremendous success despite suffering near-fatal injuries in a plane crash in 1947. Legend has it that he once won a round without throwing a punch (he almost certainly did not) which is testament to his defensive wizardry of "Will o' the Wisp." Pep won his first 63 bouts before losing to Sammy Angott, and then went 72-0-1 before losing again, to Sandy Saddler. Only Saddler was ever truly able to figure him out, winning three of four times in bouts that were frequently brutal and foul-filled.

 

 

 

The most bouts by any boxer goes to Len Wickwar who had an amazing 466 between 1928 - 1947.

 

The most consecutive knockouts goes to Lamar Clark with 44 (1958-1960).

 

The most KOs in major boxing is by Archie Moore with 141.

 

Longest time between winning titles is that frying machine, George Foreman - 21 years, 10 months and 14 days.

He also gets the oldest to win a world title by knocking out Michael Moorer at 45 in 1994.

 

Floyd Patterson was knocked down more than any other modern Heavyweight

Champion, 20 times!

 

Wilfred Benitez is the youngest man to ever win a world title when at the

age of 17 years and 3 months he won the jr. welterweight title.

 

Jack Dempsey vs. Jess Willard in 1919 was the first fight to be broadcast

over the radio.

 

Professional boxing has always been about the show as well as the fight, and the talk before and after, so lets here from some of Muhammad Ali's best on Ali, boxing and life itself:

 

"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick"

Before the 1974 Foreman fight

 

"Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up."

 

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?"

 

And of course he really loved Joe Frazier;

 

"Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head."

 

"It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila."

 

"I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn't have said. Called him names I shouldn't have called him. I apologise for that. I'm sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight."

 

 

 

 

 

How hard can it be to choose some gloves right? Wrong actually:

Glove size and glove weight are NOT the same thing. In many cases the sizing DOES correspond with the weight of the glove, however this is not always true.

The weight of the glove is important for a variety of reasons. You will pick the WEIGHT of the glove depending on your chosen method of use. You will often choose SIZE depending on the best fit of the glove.

The most common sizes for gloves run small, medium and large. The most common sizes for gloves are:

8 oz. - common for competitive boxers

10 oz. - common for competitive boxers

12 oz. - common for women and people with small hands for training

14 oz. - common for average size people for training

16 oz. - common for people of all sizes for training

18 oz. - commonly used for larger weight classes for training

20 oz. - commonly used for larger weight classes for training

Is it therefore possible to have for example: 12 oz. gloves in small, medium, and large? The answer is yes, but not in all cases. It will depend on the manufacturer of the glove. 

It is common for you to see this:

Small - 12 oz.

Medium - 14 oz.

Large - 16 oz.

Professional boxers that fight in the ring always wear 8 oz. or 10 oz. gloves. But since there are so many different sizes of fighters and so many different weight classes these fighters will need different sizes of gloves.

In this example you can have a 10 oz. glove in small AND you can have a 10 oz. gloves in size medium, large, and XL.

Common sense would indicate that as the glove gets bigger the weight increases. In many cases this is true. However, professional fight gloves are manufactured to have the same weight regardless of the size.

When choosing glove size you want the gloves to have a snug fit. If there is too much room inside for your hands to move around, there is potential for injury.

Two important things to note when choosing glove size:

The glove will stretch - like a good pair of shoes. The more you use them, the more they will stretch to fit your hand. So the best gloves for you will probably not fit perfectly when they are brand new. You might want to consider buying them to be a little tighter fitting than you think.

Make sure there is room for hand wraps. Do NOT buy gloves without wrapping your hands and trying them on. It is very important for you to wear hand wraps and you do not want to get your new gloves and realize after the fact that they won't fit while you are wearing your hand wraps.

There are different gloves for fitness, boxing bags, sparring, and competition.

Not all brands are good at all the things you may want from your gloves. Cleto Reyes are known as "punchers gloves", because they have light padding so the force of your punch transfers through to your opponent. However, this also means limited hand protection, so not a great starter glove. Grant make good all round performance gloves offering good hand and wrist protection. If you want to splash out Winning gloves are very good quality, offering high standards of hand and wrist protection because of their mulitple layers, great for sparring and gym work, but not as good as Cleto Reyes for that knockout punch.

 

For your boxing kit you'll need:

T-shirts

Shorts

Socks

Shoes

Hand wraps

Head gear

Mouth guard

Groin Protector(and chest protector if female)

 

Let's assume you know about T-shirts, socks, and shorts, we’ve covered gloves, so here’s the rest: