Boxing - Ring, Rules, And Equipment - Britannica

Because there is no universally accepted world ruling body for professional boxing, each country has its own set of rules, and in the United States there are different rules in different states. Generally bouts take place in a “ring” that is 18 to 22 feet (5.5 to 6.7 metres) square and surrounded by four strands of rope. Professional bouts may be scheduled to last from 4 to 12 rounds of three minutes’ duration, though two-minute rounds are commonly used in women’s bouts and in some bouts held in Great Britain. Since the late 1920s, professional championship bouts traditionally lasted 15 rounds, but by the late 1980s the WBC, WBA, and IBF championships were all being scheduled for 12 rounds.

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A referee is stationed inside the ring with the boxers and regulates the bout. In some jurisdictions the referee scores the contest along with two judges outside the ring. In most jurisdictions, however, the referee does not participate in the judging, and three ringside officials score the bout. The officials award points to each boxer for each round, and a boxer must win on two of the three scorecards to earn a decision victory. In Olympic bouts five judges score the fight electronically by pushing a button whenever a punch is believed to have landed on a boxer. No punch is registered as a hit unless at least three judges press their buttons within a second of each other. Padded gloves, ranging from 8 to 10 ounces (227 to 283 grams) in weight, are worn by the boxers.

A bout ends in a knockout when a boxer is knocked down and cannot get up by the count of 10. A fight can be stopped by a technical knockout (TKO) when a boxer is deemed by the referee (and sometimes the ringside physician) to be unable to defend himself properly, when a boxer is deemed to have sustained a serious injury, or when a boxer or his seconds decide he should not continue. A bout may also end in a decision when the bout has gone the scheduled number of rounds and the scoring officials decide the winner. Several conditions can cause a bout to end in a draw: all three judges awarding identical scores to both contestants results in a draw, as does two of three judges awarding opponents identical scores, regardless of the third judge’s score; further, two of the three judges giving the decision to opposing contestants and the third judge’s scorecard being evenly divided between the opponents leads to a draw. In a “no contest” the bout is declared a nullity because of a premature and inconclusive end, such as one of the participants being unable to continue owing to a cut caused by an accidental clash of heads early in the fight. A bout may also end in disqualification.

The rules governing amateur boxing are similar in the United States, Great Britain, and continental Europe but differ substantially from those governing professional boxing. Amateur bouts are normally three rounds in duration, and the boxers wear protective headgear. Olympic bouts changed from three rounds of three minutes to four rounds of two minutes for the Games at Sydney in 2000. The referee only supervises the boxing, while three to five ringside judges score the bout. The rules are also more stringently enforced in amateur boxing, and disqualification is more common than in professional boxing.