Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport in which two athletes in padded gloves try to score points by landing punches, or to win by knockout, within timed rounds in a ring. It has been an Olympic sport for men since 1904 and for women since 2012, and Olympic boxing now has a new governing body, World Boxing.

History of boxing

Boxing was contested at the ancient Olympic Games and at other festivals in Ancient Greece. It was more brutal then, because the fighters wore leather thongs on their hands. At first these were simple straps, but they were later reinforced with sharp pieces of metal, and the glove was called a cestus.

The first known ancient Olympic boxing champion was Onomastos of Smyrna, who won in 688 BCE and 684 BCE. The last known was Varasdates of Armenia, in 369 CE, one of the last champions of the ancient Games.

Professional boxing has existed since the early 18th century, with a recognized list of professional champions dating from the late 1700s.

Men’s boxing made its modern Olympic debut at St. Louis in 1904, where all the entrants were Americans and the event doubled as the national amateur championships. It returned in 1908 in London. In 1912 it could not be held, because the sport required special permits in Sweden at that time, and since Antwerp in 1920 it has been on the programme of every Games.

Rules and scoring in boxing

At Paris 2024, Olympic boxing used 13 weight categories. Men’s classes were 51, 57, 63.5, 71, 80, 92 and over 92 kilograms, and women’s classes were 50, 54, 57, 60, 66 and 75 kilograms.

A bout has three rounds of three minutes, with a one-minute break between rounds. Five judges sit at ringside and score each round.

Paris 2024 therefore had 13 boxing medal events, one for each weight category. The 10-point must system replaced the approach used before 2016, in which scoring depended purely on hits landed, so a bout that goes the distance is now decided by round-by-round totals from the five judges.

Scoring follows the 10-point must system, in use at the Olympics since Rio 2016. The winner of a round receives 10 points, and the loser receives between 7 and 9 depending on performance. Before 2016, scoring depended purely on the number of hits landed.

Women’s boxing and men’s boxing will have the same number of weight classes at Los Angeles 2028, creating gender parity in the sport at the Olympics for the first time. For background on head injuries in sport, see the entry on concussion in sport.

Governing bodies and major competitions

The sport’s international governance has changed several times. Before it had its own organization, boxing was governed together with tug-of-war, weight throwing, weightlifting and wrestling in a body that existed from 1912 to 1920. The Federation Internationale de Boxe Amateur was founded on 24 August 1920 in Antwerp during the Olympics, with 11 founding members.

Its successor, the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur, was founded on 29 and 30 November 1946. It was renamed the International Boxing Association in 2007 and used the AIBA acronym until December 2021, when it rebranded as the IBA.

According to Olympedia, the IBA was banished from the Olympic family on 22 June 2023 after a years-long dispute with the International Olympic Committee. The dispute concerned the IBA’s management, its financial backing from a Russian state energy firm, and the integrity of bouts and judging.

Boxing still appeared at Paris 2024, with the IOC serving as its governing body during the Games. World Boxing launched in April 2023 with the aim of keeping boxing at the center of the Olympic movement. The IOC granted it provisional recognition on 25 February 2025, and Olympedia records full recognition by the IOC on 20 March 2025, which put boxing back on the programme for Los Angeles 2028.

Olympedia counts 175 member national federations for World Boxing as of May 2026.

In short, amateur boxing has had several international governing arrangements in a little over a century: a combined strength-sports body from 1912 to 1920, the federation founded in 1920, the association founded in 1946 and, since 2025, World Boxing as the federation recognized by the IOC.

Records and notable moments in boxing

The United States leads the all-time Olympic boxing medal table with 118 medals, including 50 golds, as of 2024. Cuba is next with 80 medals and 42 golds, and Great Britain follows with 63 medals and 20 golds.

Three men have won three Olympic gold medals: László Papp of Hungary, and Teófilo Stevenson and Félix Savón of Cuba. Women’s boxing made its Olympic debut only at London 2012. Nicola Adams of Great Britain, Claressa Shields of the United States and Kellie Harrington of Ireland lead the women’s classification with two golds each, and Li Qian of China is the only woman with three Olympic medals, one of each color.

Many Olympic boxers have gone on to become professional world champions. They include Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Volodymyr Klychko, Oscar De La Hoya and Lennox Lewis.

Olympic boxing has also been a route into professional boxing. The eight former Olympic boxers Olympedia names as later professional world champions show how closely the amateur and professional sides of the sport are linked, even though they are governed separately.

Global participation in boxing

The United States was originally the premier nation in Olympic boxing. In the last 40 years it has faced strong competition, first from the Soviet Union and more recently from Cuba, though as of 2024 it still leads the medal table.

Boxing is also part of the Youth Summer Olympics. Boys’ events were held at the first edition in Singapore in 2010, and girls’ events were added at the second edition in Nanjing in 2014.

World Boxing says its membership spans all five continents that compete in Olympic-style boxing, and it reported 118 member countries in July 2025, a figure the 175 counted by Olympedia in May 2026 has since exceeded.

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 4, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue