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Olympic Boxing

travoholic | Sep 2, 2009 |

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Boxing was introduced to the Olympic program in 1904 and has been contested in every Olympics since then except for Stockholm in 1912 due to Swedish law at the time which banned the sport. Boxing has always only been included as a male event but at the London 2012 Olympics it will be contested by women for the first time.

Men's Olympic boxing is set up as a series of tournaments for different weight classes. For the men's competition the weight classes are: Light-Flyweight (under 48kg), Flyweight (48-51kg), Bantamweight (51-54kg), Featherweight (54-57kg), Lightweight (57-60kg), Light-Welterweight (60-64kg), Welterweight (64-69kg), Middleweight (69-75kg), Light-Heavyweight (75-81kg), Heavyweight (81-91kg) and Super-Heavyweight (over 91kg). Females will compete in three weight categories: Flyweight (under 51kg), Lightweight (51-60kg), and Middleweight (60â€”75kg). The winner of the tournament in each weight class takes the gold medal, the fighter they defeat takes the silver and the competitors they defeated in the semi-final round are both awarded bronze as there is no bronze medal match.

A men's Olympics boxing match consists of three three-minute rounds and women's has four two-minute rounds. Points are awarded for punches that land on their opponent's head or upper body. Boxers wear gloves and headgear. The gloves have a white area on the fist which helps judges score the fights. Five judges sit around the ring to determine whether a point is scored or not when a punch is landed. If one fighter knocks the other down, it doesn't count for an extra point. A knockout is when a fighter is counted out by the referee and a technical knockout is

Cuba have always been a boxing power along with the United States. Great Britain has had some success in the past and are expected to contend during the London 2012 Olympics. Boxing is a sport where a large number of different countries are able to contend.

I was able to watch boxing at the Beijing Olympics and I think it's one of those events that is better on TV. From seats that are far from the action, all you can really see is two guys going at each other with the occasional punch thrown. It is difficult to tell if a punch lands and you lose out on the instant replays you would get on TV. It is exciting to cheer on a fighter from your own country and fel the buzz in the stands, but if you want to see the fight in detail then a seat way in the back won't cut it.