History - Boxing

History

I borrowed this from Merriam Webster. “The practice of fighting for sport was in place in a number of Mediterranean civilizations by 1500 BC (and recent evidence suggests that it may have flourished in parts of eastern Africa before that). By 7th century B.C. boxing had become a staple of the Olympic Games in Greece. Soon afterward, the Romans picked up the sport and introduced the word pugil (a noun related to the Latin pugnus, meaning “fist”) to refer to a boxer. Boxing faded out with the decline if the Roman Empire but resurged in popularity in the 18th century. By 1790’s, “pugilist” and “pugilism” were firmly entrenched in the English lexicon.”

If you do look around, you can find records that date as far back as 4000 B.C. Some of these sources say that in the beginning there were some wrestling aspects, untimed rounds, leather wrapped hands and sometimes fights to the death.