Although boxing was known in Ancient Greece and Rome, it did not become a popular sport until about AD 1719, when a man named James Figg set himself up as the London champion and took on all challengers. Prise fighting, as it was called in those days, was a little different from modern boxing. The fighters used bare fists, and kicking, biting, wrestling and scratching were allowed. Contests lasting 100 or 200 rounds are known. They continued for severed hours until the contestants were exhausted. Up to 30 seconds or were allowed for a prizefighter to get up and be knocked down. Boxing gloves, mufflers, first introduced by Jack Crouton, one of pupils, but the modem rules of boxing were not drawn up until about 1867 and these were not confirmed until 1872.

Boxers usually wear padded gloves and generally observe the code set forth in the marquess of Queen rules. Matched in weight and ability, boxing contestants try to land blows hard and often with their fists, attempting to avoid the blows of the opponent. A boxer wins a match either by outscoring the opponent points can be tallied in several ways or by rendering the opponent incapable of continuing the match. Bouts range from 3 to 12 rounds, each round normally lasting three minutes.

The terms pugilism and prizefighting in modern usage are practically synonymous with boxing, although the first term indicates the ancient origins of the sport in its derivation from the Latin pupil, “a boxer,” related to the Latin pug nus, “fist,” and derived in turn from the Greek pyx, “with clenched fist.” The term prizefighting emphasises pursuit of the sport for monetary gain, which began in England in the 17th century.