Boxing is a combat sport which involves two boxers attacking the opponent and defending themselves using their fists. They usually wear protective gloves while fighting. The sport has many different variants including kickboxing, bare knuckle boxing, muay-thai also known as Thai boxing and savate or french boxing.

Generally, amateur boxing is the variant practiced in most international games including Olympic and Commonwealth games. In amateur boxing, there are 3 rounds of 3 minutes each in the men’s bout and 4 rounds of 2 minutes each in the women’s bout, with a 1 minute break between each round. It must be noted that only professional boxing events are called fights and the amateur events are referred to as matches or bouts. There are different weight categories such as heavyweight, welterweight, light weight, flyweight, etc. as defined by the governing bodies.

The participants are required to wear wrist wraps, boxing gloves, mouth guard, headgear, protective cups, sleeveless jersey, loose-fitting trunks and soft-soled shoes.

Scoring in amateur boxing
Although there is a common misconception that the one who lands the maximum number of punches, wins, in reality that is not how the scoring works in amateur bouts. Instead, they are judged on the number of quality punches landed in the target area, competitiveness, domination of a bout, technique, tactics and non-infringement of rules.

The knockdown just counts as a single punch and similarly the 8-count just gives the other fighter an extra point. Overall, you can’t earn more than 10 points in a round, so if a boxer performed well, it is more likely that the opponent will lose points. To declare the winner there can be a 3-vote decision system or 5-vote decision system, depending on the number of judges, here’s how it works:

Unanimous decision:

• 5-0 (5-vote decision)
• 3-0 (3-vote decision)

Majority decision:

• 4-1 (5-vote decision)

Split Decision:

• 3-2 (5-vote decision)
• 2-1 (3-vote decision)

Draw:

• 2–2–1, 2–1–2 or 1–1–3 (5-vote decision)
• 1–1–1 or 0–0–3 (3-vote decision)

It must be noted that a draw is a rare occurrence.

The following are the basic rules of the sport:

• Boxers cannot hit the opponent below the belt, in the back or on the back of the head.
• Boxers cannot strike with their head, forearm or elbows and cannot kick, trip or push their opponents.
• Boxers cannot hit with an open glove that is, only closed fist punches are allowed.
• Boxers must be clean shaven, with facial hair restricted to a small mustache.

The referee monitors the bout to ensure that only legal punches are being thrown and is responsible to stop the bout if one of the boxers is seriously injured.

Boxing in India

In India, the Boxing Federation of India governs the sport. Majority of Indian boxers are engaged in amateur boxing, with only a few opting for professional boxing. Some of the notable achievements of Indian boxers are as follows:

• Hawa Singh won consecutive gold medals at the Asian Games (1966,1970), making him the only Indian boxer to defend his title at the meet.
• Dingko Singh won a gold medal at the 1998 Asian games, making it India’s first gold medal at the games after a gap of 16 years.
• Vijender Singh won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the middleweight boxing category. In 2009, he ranked as World No. 1 in the middleweight category for a brief period of time, after he won India’s first ever medal at the AIBA World Boxing Championships.
• Sarita Devi became a world champion in the year 2006 and then went on to become a five time Asian Champion between the years 2003 to 2012. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth games.
• Mary Kom is a six time world boxing champion and the first Indian women boxer to win a gold medal at the Asian games (2014). She won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She has also won multiple Asian Championships and gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian games.
• Amit Panghal was the first Indian male boxer to win a silver medal at the World Championships (2019). He won gold medals at the Asian games (2018) and Asian Championships(2019).
• Lovlina Borgohain is the third Indian boxer to win a bronze medal at the Olympics (2020). She has also won two bronze medal each at the World Championships (2018, 2019) and Asian Championships (2017,2021).