Origins of Boxing
By: Peter Brooke - Ball
Until the British resurrected the sport in the early eighteenth century, boxing had remained dormant since the fall of the Roman Empire. Needless to say men, more often than not fortified ale, had settled matters of honor with fisticuffs in the interim, but not according to any recognized set of rules.
The origins of boxing date back to ancient Greece: Homer mentions a form of organized boxing in the Iliad. The honor of ‘inventing’ the sport, however, goes to the Greek king Theseus, who is thought to have introduced boxing as entertainment sometime before the fifth century B.C.
Over the years boxers evolved ways of protecting themselves and, as a consequence, bouts grew longer. They bound their hands with soft leather thongs (himantes) not so that they could deliver more punishing blows, nor indeed to soften blows, but so that their knuckles, thumbs, and forearms were protected from fractures and grazes.
The rules in ancient Greek boxing were few and far between and mostly relied on traditional codes of honor. For example, punches to any part of the body were permitted but grappling and wrestling were not considered sportsmanlike. There were no rings as such in early forms of boxing, but simply fighting areas defined by spectators. This meant that it was difficult for an attacking boxer to pin his man down in a corner, as the besieged fighter could always back away. Ring-craft was virtually non existent, and the two boxers invariably stood with their feet anchored to one spot as they swung blows to each other. The idea of having ‘rounds’ did not occur to the Greeks, so the two men continued to slug eachoher until one surrendered or was knocked out.
Boxing was first included in the ancient Olympic Games at the twenty-third Olympiad in 688 BC. There was no weight divisions, so miniature men stood little chance when exchanging blows with the brawny hulks that invariably ended up as the champions.
One bruiser by the name of Milo is said to have won the boxing competition at four consecutive games. Seventy-two years after boxing was introduced to the Olympics, a junior division for boys was included, and was no doubt used by ambitious youngsters as a stepping stone to gain entry to the senior competition four years later. Contrary to popular belief, Greek athletes at the Olympics were not armatures but hardened professionals. Sure enough, the visitor of a competition was awarded his wreath of bay leaves, but he was also given a prize of 500 drachmas and was entitled to free food for life. During the later years of the ancient Olympics, Romans and other foreigners were allowed to take part and so boxing was taken to Rome.
By this time, boxers had given up soft wrappings and had taken to wearing hard and sharp himantes which were designed to inflict wounds as well as to protect. The ancient Romans, with their notorious lust for blood, were not convinced that the new, improved himantes were sufficiently lethal, so they devised the caestus.
The caestus was a weapon worn by professional gladiators and comprised a binding studded with stones or sharpened spikes of metal. The men who wore these fought for their lives in the circus, fully aware that one blow to the temple would be sufficient to kill. There were no rules in gladiatorial boxing and the sport degenerated into bloody combat, the victor being the one who slaughtered his opponent before he himself was dispatched. Fighters did not know the meaning of self-defense – any boxer who attempted to protect himself would certainly get the thumbs down – and the hapless men were simply trained to absorb punishment and to hit before being hit. The boxing skills which are recognized today, and which the Greeks may have developed before they were over-run, were never given a chance to evolve by the Romans.
Gladiators continued to fight in arenas for the amusement of the blood thirsty spectators until the fall of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD. And when the Empire fell, the sport of boxing, if sport was the right word, disappeared with it.
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The History of Mixed Martial Arts
