Boxing was known in the past, as it appeared in the third millennium BC in the Sumerian civilization that arose in southern Mesopotamia, and the sport of boxing was devoid of any tools for protection, as it was practiced with bare hands. In 1865, the sport required boxers to use gloves. The first official boxing championship was held in 1881.

Also called "the sport of kings" or the noble art, it is a sport in which two athletes of similar weight attack each other with their fists in a series of 1 to 3 minutes of periods called "rounds". In both the Olympic and professional divisions, fighters (who are called boxers or fighters) avoid the punches of their opponents while trying to achieve punches themselves. Points are awarded for clean hard hits in the legal zone on the front of the opponent's body above the waist, and hits to the head and torso are considered more valuable. The boxer with the most points after the specified number of rounds is declared the winner. Victory can also be achieved if the opponent has fallen and is unable to rise before the referee counts to ten (called a knockout, or KO) or if the opponent is too injured to continue (called a technical knockout, or TKO)