boxing

Mayweather flattens Hatton to keep welterweight boxing crown
9 hours ago

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) ― Floyd Mayweather stopped England's Ricky Hatton in the 10th round to win a brawling showdown of unbeaten fighters here Saturday, keeping the World Boxing Council welterweight crown.

Mayweather knocked Hatton down with a damaging left to the chin as the British fighter was swinging a punch of his own. Hatton rose but the American star followed with a hammering left hook and a dazed Hatton fell moments later.

"I threw a hook and he walked right into it. He never saw it coming," Mayweather said. "I wanted to show the fans I could punch with power."

Mayweather improved to 39-0 with his 25th victory inside the distance when referee Joe Cortez halted a bout filled with clinching and bumping at 1:35 of the 10th round.

"I already knew coming into the ring it was going to be tough, that he was going to try to rough me up," Mayweather said. "I took my time. I fought on the inside and the outside. A true champion can adapt to anything."

Hatton suffered his first defeat after 43 triumphs but earned respect for a gutty effort.

"He was definitely the toughest competitor I've ever faced," Mayweather said. "I threw a lot of body shots, and he still kept coming. I can see why they call him the 'Hitman'."

Cortez deducted a point from Hatton for hitting Mayweather behind the head in round six. All three judges would have scored the round even otherwise.

"I was doing fine until I lost that point," Hatton said. "I thought then I had better put the foot down and I left myself open."

Hatton knew he was trailing on points and pressed harder than he wanted in later rounds, leaving himself open to Mayweather in the 10th.

"I thought I was doing well in the fight until then," Hatton said. "When I went down I felt more like a mug for leaving myself open like that.

"I had success. I was really there. I gave him the chance and he took it."

The end came moments after the final blow with Hatton flat on his back by the ropes as Mayweather jumped for joy to celebrate victory.

"I'll be back. Don't worry," Hatton said. "I'm sorry everybody."

Hatton's punches in the sixth left Mayweather doubled over the middle rope, his head and chest outside the ring.

After the deduction, an already-bloodied Hatton responded by turning his rear to Cortez and Mayweather and bending over. When the fighting resumed, Hatton battled back, forcing an up-close and against the ropes fight.

"I didn't quite stick to my game plan," Hatton said. "He's not the biggest welterweight I've ever fought, but he was strong. I don't think he was the hardest puncher here, but he was a lot cleverer than I thought."

Mayweather slammed a devastating right punch that snapped back Hatton's head one minute into the eighth round and landed a flurry late in the ninth.

While the gutty Englishman battled back both times, he was clearly tiring and the end was near.

"I felt really strong," Hatton said. "I left myself open and he's better inside than I thought he was, using all of his elbows, shoulders and forearms."

Hatton had staggered Mayweather with a hard left in a furious first round and pressed the attack in the second, cornering the champion time and again.

Mayweather answered with a straight right to the head and the fighters clinched time and again, prompting Cortez to twice halt the round to caution them about grappling and improper punches.

Mayweather opened a cut above Hatton's right eye in the third round with a powerful right and followed with two punishing rights in a fourth-round flurry, inflicting a toll on Hatton's head and body.

Hatton's popularity as an aggressive fighter and fun-loving pub personality helped draw thousands of vocal British supporters to the US gambling mecca for the biggest fight of his career.

They cheered locker-room video of Hatton, booed Mayweather lustily and began several rounds of singing "Hatton Wonderland" with 1 1/2 undercard fights to go before their man entered the ring - a replay of Friday's rowdy weigh-in mood.

"UK fans, you guys are unreal," Mayweather said.

Hatton supporters sang along with "God Save the Queen" before the bout, but booed throughout the singing of the US anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".

"I'm disappointed by that," Hatton said.
Archaeological evidence indicates that Berbers and Egyptians may have practiced the sport as early as 3000 BC, and boxing is depicted in Sumerian relief carvings from the third millennium BC. The earliest evidence for boxing in the Mediterranean can be found in the Minoan civilization (c. 1500 BC). [13]

Main article: Ancient Greek Boxing
The ancient Greeks, and later the ancient Romans, had a sport called 'pugilism' (a term now often used for boxing) which resembled boxing. It contrasted with ancient Greek wrestling in that it was based on the use of fists.

Unlike modern boxing, there were no weight classes, fights were not separated into rounds, and the fight had no time limit, ending at a knockout, or at a fighter abandoning the fight, or sometimes (though rarely) at the death of one of the fighters. Instead of gloves, fighters wrapped their hands in strips of hardened leather which protected the fist and caused unpleasant injuries for the opponent. Long fights were decided by an alternation of free punches, with the first to strike a free punch being decided by tossing a coin.

According to the Iliad, Mycenaean warriors included boxing among their competitions honoring the fallen, though it is possible that the Homeric epics reflect later Greek culture. Another Greek legend holds that the heroic ruler Theseus, said to have lived around the 9th century BC, invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them was killed. In time, the boxers began to fight while standing and wearing gloves (with spikes) and wrappings on their arms below the elbows, although otherwise they competed naked.

Boxing was first accepted as an Olympic sport (the ancient Greeks called it Pygme/ Pygmachia) in 688 BC. Participants trained on punching bags (called a korykos). Fighters wore leather straps (called himantes) over their hands, wrists, and sometimes breast, to protect them from injury. The straps left their fingers free. Legend had it that the Spartans were the first to box as a way to prepare for sword and shield fighting.

In ancient Rome, there were two forms of boxing. The athletic form of boxing was adopted from the Greeks and remained popular throughout the Roman world. The other form of boxing was gladiatorial. Fighters were usually criminals and slaves who hoped to become champions and gain their freedom; however, free men also fought. Eventually, fist fighting became so popular that even aristocrats started fighting, but the practice was eventually banned by Caesar Augustus. In 393 A.D., the Olympics were banned by the Christian emperor Theodosius, and in 500 A.D., boxing was banned altogether by Theodoric the Great as being an insult to God because it disfigures the face, the image of God. However, this edict had little effect outside the major cities of the Eastern Empire. [1] By this time Western Europe was no longer part of the Roman Empire. Boxing remained popular in Europe throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. It should be noted that wrestling, fencing and racing (both chariot and foot) were never banned by the late Romans, as they did not cause disfigurement.


[edit] Ancient Boxing outside Europe
In China in the Zhou Dynasty (12th Century B.C.), Jiao li, a form of wrestling that included boxing, was recorded in the Classic of Rites.[2] This combat system included techniques such as strikes, throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks.

Forms of boxing are mentioned in early Buddhist sources. In the Lotus Sutra (Chapter 14), Gautama Buddha (563-483 BC) refers to boxing while speaking to Manjusri. Another early Buddhist sutra Hongyo-kyo describes a boxing contest between Gautama Buddha's half-brother Prince Nanda and his cousin Devadatta.[3] The boxing martial art of Vajra Mushti was described in the Buddharata Sutra, written in the 5th century,[4] though it was used by the Hindu Kshatriya caste centuries earlier.[3]

Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire. However, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 18th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719.[5] This is also the time when the word "boxing" first came to be used.

Early fighting had no written rules. There were no weight divisions or round limits, and no referee. The first boxing rules, called the London Prize Ring rules, were introduced by heavyweight champion Jack Broughton in 1743 to protect fighters in the ring where deaths sometimes occurred.[6] Under these rules, if a man went down and could not continue after a count of 30 seconds, the fight was over. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping below the waist were prohibited. Broughton also invented, and encouraged the use of "mufflers" a form of padded gloves, which were used in training and exhibitions. The first 'boxing paper' was published in the late 18th century by successful Birmingham boxer 'William Futrell' who remained undefeated until his one hour and seventeen minute fight at Smitham Bottom, Croydon, on July 9, 1788 against a much younger "Gentleman" John Jackson which was attended by the Prince of Wales.

Although bare-knuckle fighting was in almost every aspect far more brutal than modern boxing, it did allow the fighters a single advantage not enjoyed by today's boxers: The London Prize Rules permitted the fighter to drop to one knee to begin a 30-second count at any time. Thus a fighter realizing he was in trouble had an opportunity to recover. Intentionally going down in modern boxing will cause the recovering fighter to lose points in the scoring system.

In 1838, the London Prize Ring rules were expanded in detail. Later revised in 1853, they stipulated the following:[7]

Fights occurred in a 24-foot-square ring surrounded by ropes.
If a fighter was knocked down, he had to rise within 30 seconds under his own power to be allowed to continue.
Biting, headbutting and hitting below the belt were declared fouls
Through the late nineteenth century, boxing or prizefighting was primarily a sport of dubious legitimacy. Outlawed in England and much of the United States, prizefights were often held at gambling venues and broken up by police. Brawling and wrestling tactics continued, and riots at prizefights were common occurrences. Still, throughout this period, there arose some notable bareknuckle champions who developed fairly sophisticated fighting tactics.


[edit] Marquess of Queensberry rules (1867)
In 1867, the Marquess of Queensberry rules were drafted by John Chambers for amateur championships held at Lillie Bridge in London for Lightweights, Middleweights and Heavyweights. The rules were published under the patronage of the Marquess of Queensberry, whose name has always been associated with them.

There were twelve rules in all, and they specified that fights should be "a fair stand-up boxing match" in a 24-foot-square ring. Rounds were three minutes long with one minute rest intervals between rounds. Each fighter was given a ten-second count if he was knocked down and wrestling was banned.

The introduction of gloves of "fair-size" also changed the nature of the bouts. An average pair of boxing gloves resembles a bloated pair of mittens and are laced up around the wrists. Gloves protected fighters from both facial and hand injuries, their considerable size and weight making knock-out victories more difficult to achieve.[8] The gloves could also be used to block an opponent's blows. As a result of their introduction, bouts became longer and more strategic with greater importance attached to defensive maneuvers such as slipping, bobbing, countering and angling. Because less defensive emphasis was placed on the use of the forearms and more on the gloves, the classical forearms outwards, torso leaning back stance of the bareknuckle boxer was modified to more modern stance in which the torso is tilted forward and the hands are held closer to the face.

The English case of R v. Coney in 1882 found that a bare-knuckle fight was an assault occasioning actual bodily harm, despite the consent of the participants. This marked the end of widespread public bare-knuckle contests in England.

The first world heavyweight champion under the Queensberry Rules was "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, who defeated John L. Sullivan in 1892 at the Pelican Athletic Club in New Orleans.[9]

Throughout the early twentieth century, boxing struggled to achieve legitimacy, through the influence of promoters like Tex Rickard and the popularity of great champions from John L. Sullivan to Jack Dempsey. Shortly after this era, boxing commissions and other sanctioning bodies were established to regulate the sport and establish universally recognized champions.

Further information: Professional boxing

[edit] Rules
The Marquess of Queensbury rules have been the general rules governing modern boxing since their publication in 1867.

A boxing match typically consists of a predetermined number of three-minute rounds, anywhere from three for an Olympic bout to up to fifteen for a professional fight. A minute is typically spent between each round with the fighters in their assigned corners receiving advice and attention from their coach and staff. The fight is controlled by a referee who works within the ring to judge and control the conduct of the fighters, rule on their ability to fight safely, count knocked-down fighters, and rule on fouls. Up to three judges are typically present at ringside to score the bout and assign points to the boxers, based on punches that connect, defence and knockdowns. Each fighter has an assigned corner of the ring, where his or her coach, as well as one or more "seconds" may administer to the fighter at the beginning of the fight and between rounds. Each boxer enters into the ring from their assigned corners at the beginning of each round and must cease fighting and return to their corner at the signaled end of each round.

A bout in which the predetermined number of rounds passes is decided by the judges. The fighter with the higher score at the end of the fight is ruled the winner. With three judges, unanimous and split decisions are possible, as are draws. A boxer may win the bout before a decision is reached through a knockout. If a fighter is knocked down during the fight, determined by whether the boxer touches the canvas floor of the ring with any part of their body other than the feet, the referee begins counting until the fighter returns to his or her feet and can continue. Should the referee count to ten, then the knocked-down boxer is ruled "knocked out" (whether he or she is unconscious or not) and the other boxer is ruled the winner by knockout (KO). A "technical knockout" (TKO) is possible as well, and is ruled by the referee, fight doctor, or a fighter's corner if a fighter is unable to safely continue to fight, based upon injuries or being judged unable to effectively defend themselves. Many jurisdictions and sanctioning agencies also have a "three-knockdown rule", in which three knockdowns result in a TKO. A TKO is considered a knockout in a fighter's record. A "standing eight" count rule may also be in effect, in which the referee counts no higher than eight to a boxer who regains his or her footing after a knockdown, allowing the referee time to assess if the boxer is able to continue.

In general, boxers are prohibited from hitting below the belt, holding, tripping, pushing, biting, spitting or wrestling. They also are prohibited from kicking, head-butting, or hitting with any part of the arm other than the knuckles of a closed fist (including hitting with the elbow, shoulder or forearm, as well as with open gloves, the wrist, the inside, back or side of the hand). They are prohibited as well from hitting the back, back of the neck or head (called a "rabbit-punch") or the kidneys. They are prohibited from holding the ropes for support when punching, holding an opponent while punching, or ducking below the belt of their opponent. If a "clinch," a defensive move in which a boxer wraps his or her opponents arms and holds on to create a pause, is broken by the referee, each fighter must take a full step back before punching again (alternatively, the referee may direct the fighters to "punch out" of the clinch). When a boxer is knocked-down, the other boxer must immediately cease fighting and move to the nearest neutral corner of the ring until the referee has either ruled a knockout or called for the fight to continue.

Violations of these rules may be ruled "fouls" by the referee, who may issue warnings, deduct points, or disqualify an offending boxer, causing an automatic loss, depending on the seriousness and intentionality of the foul. An intentional foul that causes injury that prevents a fight from continuing usually causes the boxer who committed it to be disqualified. A fighter who suffers an accidental low-blow may be given up to five minutes to recover, after which they may be ruled knocked out if they are unable to continue. Accidental fouls that cause injury ending a bout may lead to a "no decision" result, or else cause the fight to go to a decision if enough rounds (typically four or more, or at least three in a four-round fight) have passed.


[edit] Professional vs. amateur boxing
Throughout the 17th through 19th centuries, boxing bouts were motivated by money, as the fighters competed for prizes, promoters controlled the gate, and spectators bet on the result. The modern Olympic movement revived interest in amateur sports, and amateur boxing became an Olympic sport in 1908. In their current form, Olympic and other amateur bouts are typically limited to three or four rounds, scoring is computed by points based on the number of clean blows landed, regardless of impact, and fighters wear protective headgear, reducing the number of injuries, knockdowns, and knockouts. Professional boxing remains by far the most popular form of the sport globally, though amateur boxing is dominant in Cuba and some former Soviet republics. For most fighters, an amateur career, especially at the Olympics, serves to develop skills and gain experience in preparation for a professional career.