Introduction: the opening bell – boxing in its historical and social context

Always a social reality, fighting with the fist must have quickly evolved into a sporting pursuit. Indeed, of all sports, boxing probably possesses the deepest and most colourful of histories. Although athletics, for example, may seek historical cause to celebrate its long tradition in Pheidippides’ run from Marathon to Athens in 490 , was not that exhausted soldier simply delivering the result of a fight? A detailed history of boxing from ancient Greece to the present day is beyond the scope of this study. Nevertheless, drawing from references to the sport in the life and laws of ancient Greece, imperial Rome, medieval England and nineteenth-century Britain, it is hoped that the sport’s historical context will reflect the central themes of this work, of which there are four.