CHRONOLOGY OF BOXING HISTORY AND CLICHES
Posted on | August 14, 2007 | 1 Comment
A chronology of history and boxing clichés
by Greg Goodrich, boxing press editor in chief
BOXING PRESS EXCLUSIVE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2004
Boxing History:
Sumerian Boxing (5000 BC) [stone carvings in Iraq]
Mesopotamian Boxing (4000 BC – 800 BC)
Egyptian Boxing (3500 BC) [hieroglyphics in tombs]
Ethiopian Boxing (3000 BC)
Babylonian Boxing (2500 BC) [Baghdad encrypted slabs]
Crete Boxing (1500 BC)
Greek Boxing (Olympic Games 688 BC – AD 476)
Sulla plunders Olympia ending the Greek Olympic tradition of boxing (80 BC)
Tacitus records Emperor Caligula imports Campanian and African pugilists (AD 35)
Roman Boxing (4th Century) 30 BC – AD 68 (ending with Nero)
English Boxing (AD 1689 – present)
Oriental Boxing (Okinawan boxing arts in AD 1718)
Chinese (Muay Thai) Boxing (AD 1719)
American Boxing (AD 1810 – present)
Famous Cliches:
‘amateur’- originally coined for nobleman who boxed
‘fan’- morphological etymology for ‘the fancy’ or ring-fans
‘mufflers’- Broughton’s leather boxing gloves (ten ounces), which etymologically derives from cockfighting muffles
‘put your dukes up’- phrase figuratively coined for opposing fighters and financial backers which were royal Dukes
‘duke it out’- a mythical incantation to the Greek god of boxing Polydeuces, alluding to his match against Amykos
‘the sweet science’- coined by Pierce Egan in Boxiana (4th volume)
‘is it the Real McCoy’- Charles ‘Kid’ McCoy master trick in fights
‘he’s no Rocket Scientist’- George Stephenson, the inventor of the rocket who boxed in prize fights
‘golden gloves’- first coined by Arch Ward (in 1923)
‘haymaker’- punch thrown by Welterweight James Ferms
‘rabbit punch’- the chopper punch invented by Broughton
‘up to scratch’- London Rules term: to meet at center of ring, or be counted out by 30 second rule (Broughton’s Rules)
‘squared circle’- originally rings had squares marked in the center of the ring (under Figg’s Rules). In time, rings were erected to encircle combatants. This center spot was called ‘scratch’ (under Broughton’s Rules). Under Queensbury Rules, this spot is ‘the center of the ring’.
‘3 referees’- see Broughton’s Rule #6 (originally called umpires; then designated as two umpires and one referee (London Prize Ring Rules); then three judges, one referee under Queensbury Rules.
Glossary of Terms:
Boxer- Greek (pugas, puxos); Latin (pugnare, buxus)
Boxing- Greek (Pygmahia) for fist fight; English for the practice of fighting with closed, gloved fists
Mufflers- boxing gloves (invented by Broughton in 1747)
Pugilism- Greek (pugme); Latin (pugil) term for crude bare knuckle fighting as opposed to boxing (prize fighting)
The Golden Age and Renaissance of Boxing (1789-1812)
Heavyweight Champions to retire with their titles:
James Figg, Tom Lyons, Jack Fearns, Ben Brain, John Jackson, Henry Pearce, John Gully, Tom Cribb (twice), Tom Molineaux, Tom Spring, Jem Ward, Peter Crawley, William Thompson (twice), Tom Hyer, John Morrissey, Tom Sayers, John Heenan, Tom King, Joe Coburn, Mike McCoole, James Jeffries, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis*, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali (twice)*, Larry Holmes*, Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko*.
Multiple Title Claiments: 14
Welterweight & Heavyweight Champions: 2
Harry Broome and Jem Mace.
Middleweight & Heavyweight Champions: 8
Jem Mace, Tom Allen, Joe Goss, Dan Creedon, Bob Fitzsimmons, Frank Craig, Tommy Burns and Roy Jones, Jr.
Super Middleweight & Heavyweight Champions: 1
Roy Jones, Jr. [James Toney does not qualify due to his no contest decision versus John Ruiz.]
Lt. Heavyweight & Heavyweight Champions: 6
Bob Fitzsimmons, Gene Tunney, Jack Sharkey, Michael Spinks, Michael Moorer and Roy Jones, Jr.
Cruiserweight & Heavyweight Champions: 1
Evander Holyfield [James Toney does not qualify due to his no contest decision versus John Ruiz.]
Two-time Heavyweight Champions: 21
Jem Ward, William Thompson, Ben Caunt, Jem Mace, Tom Allen, Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Tim Witherspoon, Michael Moorer, Riddick Bowe, Lennox Lewis, Chris Byrd, Wladimir Klitschko, John Ruiz, Vitali Klitschko, Hasim Rahman and Shannon Briggs.
Three-time Heavyweight Champions: 3
Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer.
Four-time Heavyweight Champions: 1
Evander Holyfield
Note of Disclaimer: this written material may be disseminated, published, syndicated or otherwise reproduced, without prior expressed, written consent, provided that its origint al source, intellectual property and authorship are attributed to Boxing Press Editor in Chief Greg Goodrich. Copy righted. 2007. All rights reserved. All statistics and records have been verified by due diligence searches via microfiche newspapers, verification from the Ring Record Book; and data obtained from websites bkbworld.com, boxrec.com and cyberboxzingzone.com. If any name is missing and/or any data is incorrect, please contact the author so that a correction can be made.