Boxing, also known as pugilism or the sweet science, has roots that go all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome.Boxing called as the manly art of self defence originated when a person first lifted a fist against another in play. Different eras of the sport have been distinguished by the use or nonuse of fist coverings. The ancient Greeks believed fist fighting was one of the games played by the gods on Olympus; thus it became part of the Olympic Games in about 688 BC. Homer has a reference to boxing in the Iliad. During Roman times the sport began to thrive on a wide scale. Boxers fought with leather bands around their fists for protection and sometimes wore metal-filled, leather hand coverings called cesti, resulting in bloody, often duel-to-death, battles. Boxing diminished after the fall of Rome. It was revived in the 18th century in England and became especially popular during the championship reign of James Figg, who held the heavyweight title from 1719 through 1730. Boxing became a workingman's sport during the Industrial Revolution as prizefights attracted participants and spectators from the working class. Organization was minimal at first, and the bouts of those eras resembled street fights more than modern boxing.
Back then fights would take place without gloves but with just leather taped on to the hands. This resulted in even more gruesome, deadly battles. The most revolutionary change in the sport came in 1865 when John Sholto Douglass, the Eighth Marquess of Queensbury, drew up new rules of boxing which basically transformed the sport into what it is today. He is regarded as the "Patron Saint" of boxing and some of the most significant changes were three-minute rounds and the regulated use of approved boxing gloves. The competition is divided into a specified number of rounds, usually 3 minutes long, with 1-minute rest periods between rounds. Although amateur boxing is widespread, professional boxing has flourished on an even grander scale since the early 18th century.
The first documented "boxing match" took place in 1681 in Britian when the Duke of Albemarle engineered a bout between his butler and his butcher.In the coming years, bare-knuckle boxing contests would be held in ampitheatres all over England. Jack Boughton, also known as "the Father of Boxing," developed the first set of rules for the sport and published them in 1743 as a result from a bout where he killed his opponent in 1741.