An Olympic sport since St. Louis
1904 (although Sweden disallowed it in the Stockholm
1912 Olympic Games), boxing was also a part of the Ancient Olympic Games.
Of course, there were no Queensbury Rules
in ancient times; the Romans even studded spikes to the boxing gloves and loaded them with
lead, while the fans applauded death in the name of entertainment.
Getting to The Olympics
Qualification for the Olympic Games is through regional qualifying
tournaments in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania.
How many boxers there are representing a particular region depends on
the strength of boxing in that region, and varies according to the boxing weight division.
Olympic Pairings
Ranking plays no part in seedings for the Olympic Games, as boxers are
paired off at random.
Fights are single-elimination, although both losing semi-finalists
receive bronze medals.
Boxing Events at the Olympics
Men only:
Super Heavyweight (over 91kg)
Heavyweight (91kg)
Light Heavyweight (81kg)
Middleweight (75kg)
Welterweight (69kg)
Light Welterweight (64kg)
Lightweight (60kg)
Featherweight (57kg)
Bantamweight (54kg)
Flyweight (51kg)
Light Flyweight (48kg)
Cassius Clay
earned 'his greatness' after his Rome 1960 gold medal, in
the light heavyweight division; by turning to Islam and himself into Muhammad Ali, the
'undisputed heavyweight champion of the world'.
Teófilo
Stevenson, born in Jamaica but fighting for Cuba, became the first boxer to win gold
in the same division three times; the heavyweight (now known as super heavyweight) title
in Munich 1972, Montreal
1976 and Moscow 1980.
Félix Savon,
also of Cuba, equalled the feat at the Sydney 2000
Olympics; after winning gold in the heavyweight divison at Barcelona
1992 and Atlanta 1996. If Cuba hadn't have boycotted
the Seoul 1988 Olympics, he might have made it four gold
medals.
Edward Eagan,
of the USA, is the only person to win a gold medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympic
Games. After taking gold (for light heavyweight boxing) at the Antwerp 1920 Olympics, Eagan resurfaced at the Lake Placid 1932 Winter Olympics and
won a gold medal in the four-man bobsleigh team.
            
       
     
AIBA:
Av. de la Gare 10, Case postale 55, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Association Intenationale de Boxe Amateur -- International Boxing Association.
Federations
CPBF:
The official site of the Canadian Professional Boxing Federation offers boxing dans
up-to-date results, ratings, boxing cards, profiles, rules and safety code.
EABA:
Official site of the European Amateur Boxing Association.
IABA:
The Irish Amateur Boxing Association are very proud of the fact that they are the only
amateur boxing association to have a custom built stadium which they manage and control.
IBA:
The official site of the International Boxing Association features IBA men's and women's
boxing champions, IBA ratings, upcoming events, photo galleries and latest news.
IBF:
The official site of the International Boxing Federation is far from knockout.
IBO:
The International Boxing Organisation is the only world sanctioning body to develop a
proprietary computerised ranking system. The results are independently calculated based on
fight results. The IBO Top 100 Rankings should be updated on the first Tuesday of every
month.
NBA:
The National Boxing Association is a world sanctioning body dedicated to assisting and
encouraging the sport of boxing throughout the world, and striving to improve the safety
and public relations of the sport.
WBA:
The World Boxing Association is the oldest of boxing's world sanctioning bodies and has a
comprehensive website to go with it -- featuring current champions, past belt holders,
championship schedules, rankings, results and records.
The World Boxing
Council:
The WBC was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003 after a New York jury awarded
Graciano Rocchigiani $31 million dollars based on his allegation that the WBC stripped him
of his world title.
WBO:
The official site of the World Boxing Organization includes real time news updates, world
rankings, and WBO press releases.
WBU:
The official site of the World Boxing Union provides stories about recent and upcoming WBU
title bouts.
Boxing and Boxers
Boxers:
Links to websites dedicated to the heavy hitters themselves.
Boxing Central:
Uses PHP-Nuke to manage its boxing content.
Boxing Insider:
Get the inside on dirt on boxing.
Fight News:
Boxing news and updated rankings.
Olympic
Boxing Medalists:
Listing all Olympic boxing champions, in all weight divisions.
Seconds Out:
Featured articles from the world of boxing.
World Cup of
Boxing:
This new competition system for men's professional boxing consists of two main rankings --
the total ranking and the World Cup Ranking -- in each weight division.
Boxing
and Boxers.
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