When people talk about particularly interesting and spectacular sports, one subject always comes up at some point: boxing. It is one of the oldest sports, and it has always been associated with strength, courage, and fearlessness. It’s a riot!
Here are some extremely hard-hitting facts about boxing that you’ve probably never heard of.
1. Although England is considered the birthplace of modern boxing, the earliest mentions of fights similar to boxing date back to the second and even third millennia BC. Images of proto-boxers can be found on ancient Egyptian bas-reliefs and even in Sumerian caves.
2. Back in ancient Greece, Apollo was known as the big boss of boxing and all sorts of fist-fighting.
3. The progenitor of modern boxing is Jack Broughton, who was the first to introduce the universally recognized boxing rules, which were adopted on August 16, 1743.
4. Did you know that a boxing match between a man and an actual freaking bear took place in 1949? Yup, it’s true! The bear was wearing boxing gloves and a muzzle, but it was all for naught. Even though the guy slapped the bear a little, the beast landed a killing blow and won the champion belt.
5. Only in 1904, despite its centuries-old history, did boxing join the list of Olympic disciplines. That year, John Sullivan became the first Olympic boxing champion.
6. The longest boxing match in history took place in 1983. Andy Bowen and Jack Burke faced each other for 110 rounds! The whole event lasted for 7 hours and 19 minutes!
7. In 1993, 132,000 tickets were sold for the fight between Greg Hogan and Julio Chavez at the Azteca Arena in Mexico City. It became an absolute record for the number of live viewers.
8. At the beginning of the 20th century, only eight weight categories were established in the USA and Great Britain. Nowadays, there are 17 weight categories in professional boxing and 11 in amateur boxing
9. An item similar to boxing gloves was used in ancient China more than three thousand years ago, making it one of the earliest recorded cases.
10. Mike Tyson earned $20 million for 91 seconds of the 1988 fight. A little over a minute and a half was enough for him to knock out Michael Spinks. In 2002, Tyson received a truly astonishing amount for a single fight—35 million dollars—for KO’ing Lennox Lewis.
11. The shortest boxing match lasted only 4 seconds. This miniscule amount of time was enough for Mike Collins to deliver a single blow and knock out Pat Brownson.
12. Louisville, the largest city in Kentucky, has a boulevard named after Muhammad Ali. In the first month after the name was assigned, the fans stole traffic signs with the famous boxer’s name en masse.
13. At one time, fights between women and men were allowed in boxing. Actually, the first such duel was won by a woman, Margaret McGregor, in Seattle in 1999. As McGregor later noted, she was motivated to go into boxing after being abused by her husband. Good for her!
14. Since constant blows to the head can easily damage the brain, at the beginning of the 20th century, Harrison Martland proved that professional boxers’ memory and speech would eventually deteriorate.
15. Rocky Marciano remains the sole boxer to have never suffered a defeat. Out of 49 fights, he won 43 early. What a legend!
