Many people say that boxing should be outlawed. In the history of boxing this has happened many times. People have felt boxing was too cruel or barbaric, and have wanted it stopped.

     imagine how they would feel if they could see the first boxing bouts that were held! These were in ancient Greece, and the boxers pertormed at oIympic games and other public games. Some of the rules they observed were very much like the ones we have today. But there was one big difterence: Instead of gloves, the fighters wore, the cestus. This was a wrapping Of leather studded with lead or bronze plates. A blow from a cestus,  could be quite damaging!

   After the fall of the Roman Empire, boxing disappeared, not to reappear until it was revived in England at the beginning of the 18th century. It Soon became quite a fashionable sport, and it remained so for more than 100 years.

     The fights were decided with bare fists, and many of them lasted for several hours. Wrestling and throwing were allowed. A round ended only when a man was knocked down, and the time between rounds varied. This tough fight went on and on until one of the fighters was unable to walk up to a chalk mark at the center of the ring when a round began!

      Naturally, this kind of brutal boxing eventually turned public opinion against prize fighting. Something had to be done to save the sport, so padded gloves began to be used. Then little by little, the old rules were made more humane. Finally, in 1867, came the big step that brought boxing back into favor. The Marquis of Queensberry introduced a set of rules that made many improvements. For example, the rounds were limited to three minutes each. The interval between rounds was one minute. These rules were adopted all over the world, and the rules governing boxing today are based on them                             Until the 20th century, there was very little boxing in countries outside England and the United States, but it has since spread all over the world.