History of

boxing in
India: From a
staggered start
to a global
powerhouse
India has been involved in amateur boxing
since the 1920s and made its mark in Asia
in the 1950s and 60s. It is now a regular
medal contender on the world stage.
Boxing, with its long association with the Olympics, is one of the
most popular sports in the world.
Tracing its roots back to 3000 BC Egypt, boxing first appeared as a
global event at the 23rd Olympiad in 688 BC.
In India, too, records of a variation of boxing called the mushti-
yuddha (war of fists) can be found in ancient texts, including the
epic Mahabharata.
However, in the context of modern Olympics, amateur boxing made
its Summer Games debut at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, USA. It
was not part of the Olympic programme in 1912 but since then, it
has featured in every edition of the Summer Games.
The history of amateur boxing itself can be traced to 1867, when
the Queensberry Rules were first published.
Written by a Welsh sportsman named John Graham Chambers, the
Queensberry Rules sought to formalise a code of conduct for
boxing - which till then had existed as a form of prize fighting
without any fixed set of rules.
The first amateur boxing championship was organised in the same
year while the first official championship was hosted in 1880.
The sport rapidly grew across the world and the first instance of
amateur boxing’s presence in India dates back to 1925, when the
Bombay Presidency Amateur Boxing Federation was formed.
Bombay, now Mumbai, was the first city to formally conduct boxing
tournaments in India.
Boxing slowly evolved in India over the next few decades. Post
India’s independence from the British rule, the Indian Amateur
Boxing Federation was formed in 1949.
The first-ever national boxing championships in India took place at
the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in 1950.
At the global level, India participates in four major events in amateur
boxing - the Olympics, the World Championships, the Asian Games
and Commonwealth Games.
Here’s Indian boxing’s history with each event.

Indian boxing at the

Olympics
Though boxing has been a long-standing fixture at the Summer
Games, India’s first brush with boxing at the Olympics came at the
1948 London Olympics - a year prior to the formation of India’s first
national boxing federation.
Seven Indian boxers - Rabin Bhatta, Benoy Bose, Robert
Cranston, Mac Joachim, Babu Lall, John Nutall and Gene
Raymond - qualified for London 1948.
Babu Lall, in men’s bantamweight (54kg), registered India’s first
Olympic victory in boxing as he beat Allan Monteiro of Pakistan in
the Round of 32. He, however, failed to overcome Puerto Rican
boxer Juan Evangelista Venegas in the next round.
Indian boxing, however, could not build on that start as no Indian
boxer could qualify for any of the next four Olympic Games (1956,
1960, 1964 and 1968).
The drought was finally broken by Mehtab Singh, Muniswamy
Venu and Chander Narayanan, all of whom qualified for the 1972
Munich Olympics. Since then, Indian boxers have been part of
every Olympic Games.
The first Indian boxer to win an Olympic medal was Vijender
Singh - who won bronze in the men’s middleweight (75kg) category
at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Women’s boxing was introduced to the Olympic programme in
London 2012 and the legendary Mary Kom brought home India’s
second Olympic boxing medal - a bronze in the flyweight (51kg)
category - that year. Lovlina Borgohain won India's third Olympic
boxing medal at Tokyo 2020, bagging a bronze in the welterweight
(69kg) category.

Indian boxer Vijender Singh (right) won bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Indian boxing at
World
Championships
The first official World Boxing Championships, under the ambit of
the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), was organised in
1974. The first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships was
held in 2001.
Earlier held every four years, the men’s World Boxing
Championships have been a biennial event since 1989 and the
women’s tournament have been biennial since 2006.
Indian boxing enjoys a rich legacy at the Women’s World Boxing
Championships, courtesy Mary Kom, who has won a record six gold
medals in the event.
Mary Kom - the most successful boxer at the Women’s World
Boxing Championships - was also the first Indian boxer to win a
medal at the global event with a silver in the light flyweight (48kg)
category at the inaugural edition.
Besides Mary Kom, India’s Lekha KC, Jenny RL and Laishram
Sarita Devi have also been women’s world champions in their
respective categories.
With nine gold, eight silver and 19 bronze medals, India is the third-
most successful nation at the women’s boxing championships after
Russia and China.
The first male Indian boxer to win a World Championships medal
was Vijender Singh, who won bronze in the middleweight division at
the 2009 World Championships.

Indian boxing at
World
Championships
The first official World Boxing Championships, under the ambit of
the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), was organised in
1974. The first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships was
held in 2001.
Earlier held every four years, the men’s World Boxing
Championships have been a biennial event since 1989 and the
women’s tournament have been biennial since 2006.
Indian boxing enjoys a rich legacy at the Women’s World Boxing
Championships, courtesy Mary Kom, who has won a record six gold
medals in the event.
Mary Kom - the most successful boxer at the Women’s World
Boxing Championships - was also the first Indian boxer to win a
medal at the global event with a silver in the light flyweight (48kg)
category at the inaugural edition.
Besides Mary Kom, India’s Lekha KC, Jenny RL and Laishram
Sarita Devi have also been women’s world champions in their
respective categories.
With nine gold, eight silver and 19 bronze medals, India is the third-
most successful nation at the women’s boxing championships after
Russia and China.
The first male Indian boxer to win a World Championships medal
was Vijender Singh, who won bronze in the middleweight division at
the 2009 World Championships.

Indian boxing at
World
Championships
The first official World Boxing Championships, under the ambit of
the International Boxing Federation (AIBA), was organised in
1974. The first AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships was
held in 2001.
Earlier held every four years, the men’s World Boxing
Championships have been a biennial event since 1989 and the
women’s tournament have been biennial since 2006.
Indian boxing enjoys a rich legacy at the Women’s World Boxing
Championships, courtesy Mary Kom, who has won a record six gold
medals in the event.
Mary Kom - the most successful boxer at the Women’s World
Boxing Championships - was also the first Indian boxer to win a
medal at the global event with a silver in the light flyweight (48kg)
category at the inaugural edition.
Besides Mary Kom, India’s Lekha KC, Jenny RL and Laishram
Sarita Devi have also been women’s world champions in their
respective categories.
With nine gold, eight silver and 19 bronze medals, India is the third-
most successful nation at the women’s boxing championships after
Russia and China.
The first male Indian boxer to win a World Championships medal
was Vijender Singh, who won bronze in the middleweight division at
the 2009 World Championships.
No male Indian boxer has won gold as yet at the World
Championships, with the best performance being Amit Panghal’s
flyweight (52kg) silver in th e 2019 edition

Mary Kom has won a record six world titles

Indian boxing at
.

Asian Games
Amateur boxing made its debut at the Asian Games at the 1954
edition in Manila, Philippines. It was a men’s only event then, with
women’s boxing being introduced at the 2010 Asian Games.
Indian boxing has enjoyed considerable success at the Asian
Games over the years. India is the eighth-most successful nation at
the continental event with nine gold, 16 silver and 32 bronze
medals.
The first Indian boxers to win Asian Games medals were Sundar
Rao, who won bronze in the men’s lightweight (60kg) division,
and Hari Singh, who won silver in the men’s middleweight (75kg)
category. Both medals came at the 1958 Asian Games.
Four years later, Indian boxing celebrated its first Asian
champion. Padam Bahadur Mall won gold in the men’s lightweight
category beating Japan’s Kanemaru Shiratori in the final.
Hawa Singh is the only Indian boxer to win two Asian Games
golds. He won his first gold at the 1966 Asian Games in the
heavyweight (81+kg) division and defended his title at the 1970
Asian Games.
Among the women, Mary Kom became Indian boxing’s first Asian
Games medallist, winning bronze in the flyweight (51kg) at the 2010
Asian Games.
She is also the only female Indian boxer to win an Asian Games
gold, which came at the 2014 edition.
Indian boxing at
Commonwealth
Games
Boxing has been held at the Commonwealth Games since its first
edition in 1930, when it was known as the British Empire Games.
Women’s boxing was only introduced at the 2014 Commonwealth
Games.
Indian boxing has a storied history with the Commonwealth Games
fetching eight gold, 12 silver and 17 bronze medals. The tally
makes India the tenth-most successful country in the competition’s
history when it comes to boxing.
The first Indian boxer to win a Commonwealth Games medal
was Shivaji Bhonsle, who won bronze in the men’s welterweight
(69kg) at the 1970 Commonwealth Games.
Indian boxing’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal came at the
2002 edition, where Mohammad Ali Qamar won the light flyweight
(49kg) division.
Pinki Rani became the first female Indian boxer to win a
Commonwealth Games medal with her bronze in the flyweight
category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Mary Kom became the first Indian women’s Commonwealth Games
gold-medallist with her victory in the flyweight category at the 2018
edition.
 Rules Of Boxing

Since boxing has two main formats; professional and amateur the rules
differ slightly. There are eight major professional divisions or rather
categories in boxing:

 Flyweight (up to 50.8 Kgs)

 Bantamweight (up to 53.5 Kgs)

 Featherweight (up to 57.2 Kgs)

 Lightweight (up to 61.2 Kgs)

 Welterweight (up to 66.7 Kgs)

 Middle weight (up to 72.6 Kgs)

 Light heavyweight (up to 79.4 Kgs)

 Heavyweight (unlimited)

A professional game of boxing consists of a total of 9 to 12 rounds,

and an amateur boxing game includes a total of 3 rounds. Between
each round there is approximately a one minute gap, where each
player can go to their corner of the ring and get geared up for the
next round.

 Each player is assigned a corner before the game commences, and

prior to the game, the players are supposed to enter the ring from
their respective corner. During this gap, players can drink water,
adjust their gloves or even have a quick chat with their coach. A
referee supervises each fight and ensures that the match is being
played in a fair manner.
  In order to judge the match there is a panel of three judges who
assign individual points to each fighter based on the punches that
connect, defend and punches that lead to a knockdown.

 Often times the points given to each player can lead to a draw if the
judges differ in assigning points. However, if a boxer is able to
knock down its opponent then it is a clear cut victory.

Governing Bodies Of Boxing

The game of boxing has more than one governing body for international
matches which are the World Boxing Federation (WBF) and International
Boxing Association, which was initially known as the Association
Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA). Both the bodies supervise and
govern international matches and tournaments all over the world.