81 Punch All About Boxing

CHAPTER 1 The Main Event OCTOBER 30, 1974. ZAIRE, AFRICA. 20 MAI STADIUM... NEARLY 60,000 EXCITED SPECTATORS WAIT FOR THE START OF ONE OF THE GREATEST MATCHES IN BOXING HISTORY. MILLIONS MORE WATCH ON THEIR TELEVISIONS IN HOMES AROUND THE WORLD. The champion, George Foreman, is about to fight a former world champion named Muhammad Ali. Ali is fast and his skills as a boxer are amazing. But Foreman is younger, and he is a powerful boxer who has won many fights. The bell rings to start the fight. The crowd goes wild. In the early rounds Foreman comes out strong. He throws punch after punch. Ali stays against the ropes around the ring and takes Foreman's punches. It looks like an easy win for Foreman. But Ali doesn't go down, and little by little, Foreman gets tired. His punches are not so powerful.

In the eighth round, Muhammad Ali comes out strong and punches hard. Foreman goes down. It's a knockout! Ali is the winner! Ali is the world champion once again! The Sport of Boxing Boxing is one of the oldest sports in the world and still one of the most popular. Millions of people go to boxing matches or watch them on TV every year. Champions become heroes for many people, as famous as movie stars and musicians. Fans of boxing see it as the most exciting and challenging sport in the world. Boxing seems to come naturally to humans. Kids sometimes fight playfully, and, of course, both kids and adults sometimes fight for real. When they do, it seems natural for people to use their hands and arms to protect their face and body and to attack by punching with their fists. Maybe that is one of the reasons boxing is still so popular today. Boxing simply takes natural human actions, adds some rules, and puts it all in the boxing ring.

A Simple Idea It is said that boxing is a complex sport based on a simple idea. The idea is to hit your opponent more than he hits you and win the fight by scoring more points. Or, hit your opponent so hard that he can't continue to fight. Boxing is easy to understand. Boxers cannot hit with their feet or legs. They can only use their hands. However, professional boxers have to practice their sport for years. They need to be strong, fast, and smart. They need to watch the other person, plan ahead before a punch comes their way, and block their opponent's punches. Boxing matches can be long. Matches can last for almost an hour with only a few short breaks. Professional boxers don't wear anything to protect their heads or bodies, but they do protect their hands with leather boxing gloves.

Not for Everyone For thousands of years, men and boys, and sometimes women and girls, have learned the great sport of boxing. But not everyone agrees that it is a great sport. Boxing is dangerous and violent. Over the years, many athletes have been seriously injured or even died from boxing-related injuries. In 1963, champion boxer Davey Moore died from injuries that happened during a fight. Many people still talk about Moore's death to show just how dangerous boxing can be. Some people think that boxing should be banned. And while some countries already ban boxing, in most of the world, the debate continues. Very few countries today ban boxing.

CHAPTER 2 Bringing It to the Ring: The History of Boxing BOXING IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S OLDEST SPORTS. Where It All Started There are pictures of something similar to boxing on the walls of Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old. And boxing is mentioned in the great Greek poem, the Iliad, written almost 3,000 years ago. It was in ancient Greece and Rome, about 2,500 years ago, that boxing became popular. The Greeks believed that fighting with your fists was one of the games played by the gods. That's probably why boxing was included in the first Olympic Games in 776 BCE. In Rome, boxing was popular both as a sport and as part of gladiator contests. But this was boxing in its most basic form: no rounds, rings, rest periods, or point systems. Just two opponents fighting to the death.

The Beginning of Modern Boxing By the Middle Ages, around the 5th century, the sport of boxing had almost disappeared. Then, in the early 18th century, in what is called the Age of Enlightenment, the British started to become interested in the traditions of ancient Greece and Rome. Boxing was something the British took great interest in, and soon the sport started to really take off. In the 19th century, rich Britons supported their favorite boxers with large sums of money and prizes. However, boxing matches at that time were still very dangerous, and there were few rules. Many famous boxers were seriously injured or killed. In 1743, the first set of rules to control boxing were written down. The new rules said that a fighter could not hit his opponent after he fell down. Another important rule was that a fight ended when a boxer could not stand and return to the ring after 30 seconds.