The world of boxing has long been associated with the glamour and excitement of big name boxers, knockout fights and the ability to win fortunes. For generations, boxing has been a popular pastime all over the world and has resulted in producing some of the best known sportsmen in the world.  Who hasn’t heard of Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield? And who can forget some of boxing’s most memorable moments – the Tyson versus Douglas fight and the Holyfield ear incident?
The early Greeks also understood the crowd-pleasing nature of boxing and even began a rudimentary form of boxing betting. The sport was first introduced in 688BC at the Olympic Games.  However, boxing in those days was a fairly dangerous pursuit. The Queensbury rules, introduced in 1867, cleaned the game up and stipulated a set of rules still in operation today: banning wrestling and providing for the compulsory wearing of gloves, three minute rounds and the ten second count. The rules have been further enhanced throughout the years by extra safety measures designed to protect boxers.
As an organized sport, boxing was dominated until the end of the 19th century by British fighters. The Americans gradually overcame this, producing a series of champions toward the end of the century which boosted the sport’s profile in the U.S. From that point, American boxers led the way in most international events until 1993 when Britain’s Lennox Lewis defeated Tony Tucker in the WBC Heavyweight Championship to become world champion.
Today, boxing caters for both professionals and amateurs, and groups boxers into a series of different weights such as heavy weight, strawweight etc. Boxing as an amateur sport is included in both the Olympic and the Commonwealth Games. In the professional arena, different contests such as the WBC, the WBO and the IBF draw thousands, if not millions, of spectators each year. Professional matches consist of twelve rounds, whereas amateur matches last for three rounds unless a knockout or technical knockout occurs or if a player is too heavily injured to continue a fight. Both generate high volumes of boxing betting at online gambling sites.
Since its early beginnings, boxing has been a drawcard for celebrities with thousands of today’s well known faces appearing at boxing matches in Vegas. Many matches are televised live, hence the popularity of boxing betting. One of the most successful boxing betting providers is Betfair, which allows punters to place their bets throughout the entire match. Boxing betting fans can either wager on a certain boxer winning or losing a bout. In addition, a range of associated bets can be made, including bets on statistics and on which round a match will end.