BOXING

Boxing, often called ''the manly art of self defense'', is a sport in which two competitors try to hit each other with their glove-encased firsts . 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.
Amateur fights consists of 3 rounds, professional fights from 4 to 15 rounds. The recognized length of championship fights is 12 rounds. In most countries, professional boxing is the popular versión, but the rules vary because there is no true governinig body. Even in the United States, boxing regulations vary from state to state.

Olymphic history :  When boxing made its Olympic debut at the 1904 Games in St.Louis, it was the USA, which took all the medals. Later, the American continued to dominate boxing,winning 109 medals ( including 48 gold ) out of the 842 up for grabs, closely followed by the Cubans and Russians. Since its inclusion in the Olympic programme, boxing has been staged at each edition of the Games, except i 1912 in Stockholm, owing to swldish law, which forbade thepractice. The rules have evolved since the 1980s: 1984 in Los Angeles : prootective helmet obligatory; 1992 in Barcelona : set-up of an electronic scoring system to strengthen the objectivity of refereering; 2007 : standardised point scoring. Women's boxing made its debut at the 2012 London Games in London.