All over the world, more and more people are getting interested in engaging into different types of sports. The United States for instance, huge crowd of fans fill up stadium seats in order to watch major league baseball or the super bowl. UK is known for cricket and rugby while the Philippines have the all-time favorite boxing.

Boxing started as a formal sport by ancient people such as the Sumerians and Egyptians. Way back the ancient times, fist-fighting has become a common recreation whether for fun or competition. The existence of the boxing arena was formally realized when the Olympic game started.

Few years back, boxing was not considered as a fine sport by many people. The mere fact that it involves a lot of physical contact and that players are either bruised or hurt after a few rounds of exchanging punches, the said sport is considered dangerous. But the training that the athletes get can be very beneficial in improving one’s physical and mental health. Through proper training with boxing, you can improve your health by having a physically-fit body and perfect stamina. It is also one way to acquire a good sense of well-being and mental balance. Workouts in boxing make your shape at its best: more defined arms and legs, and efficient joint movements.

Aside from enjoying the benefits of boxing though physical aspects, it is also the best way to strengthen your cardiovascular muscle. Some modifications of boxing like the Cardio kick-boxing workout can allow you to burn at about 500 calories for an hour. That’s a great way to save on hypertension medications.

Different types of boxing are practiced around the globe. Categories of boxing include Amateur and professional boxing. Amateur bouts consist of three rounds of three minutes which is considered for the collegiate levels or in the Olympic Games. Professional Bouts, on the other hand, runs much longer than amateur boxing. It ranges from one to twelve rounds of three minutes. Participants of the said category are all Professional boxers. Pain and victory are two inseparable things in boxing. In order to win, one must undergo a well planned and disciplined training and most especially go through the physical pains of the opponent’s powerful punches.

A few decades back, you’d find it impossible for women to enter into men’s sports such as basketball. Now, you can even see them on the ring, wearing their boxing gloves, getting ready to fight.
A boxing match between two women is coined as foxy boxing. I really wonder why it is named as such. Maybe it’s because women are as a wild and as ferocious as foxes when they are so ready to fight. Or maybe because foxes have that certain poise and grace when they fight that can be seen in women when they are in the boxing ring.
Whatever the real reason for its name is, there is one thing that is certain: women are now proving their worth in this sports reserved only for the “tough guys”. Two of them are already known worldwide as legends. If you’re a real boxing fanatic, then you would know Christy Martin and Laila Ali.
Laila Ali may be a familiar figure for most of us because she is the daughter of the boxing legend Muhammad Ali. She’s been the new torchbearer for the women’s category now, after having defeated the hardy Christy Martin in the fourth round.
If you aren’t familiar with Christy Martin, she is the female boxer who fought as an undercard in many of Tyson’s matches. She has frequently stolen the spotlight, and not a few sportswriters were more interested in her than the great Mike Tyson. Back then, she was not fighting against women, she fought against hardy male boxers, and had won some matches too.
It took a long while for the sports to get the acceptance of the world. A few countries such as Sweden and UK had boxing matches in as early as the 1980’s, but the first World Championships was not held until 2001. However, it is gaining recognition, and last year, in the 2008 Olympics, foxy boxing was an exhibition sports. This coming 2012, it will be added as an official sport in the Olympics, and a lot of fans are so eager to find out who’s going to bring home the medal.

Manny Pacquiao has once again given the Philippines yet another great honor when he thrashed Ricky Hatton in Saturday’s much awaited bout in Las Vegas. The Battle of the East occurred May 2, 2009 and featured Manny Pacquiao and his British opponent Ricky Hatton who was knocked out shortly before the end of the second round.

Manny’s victory over Ricky Hatton on that fight at the MGM Grand has made him the biggest name in boxing. That 2nd round TKO also gave him the privilege to choose who to fight next. But who really is Manny Pacquiao?

Manny’s real name is Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao. He is a Filipino professional boxer who has extensive boxing titles to his belt. These titles include the WBC lightweight world champion, WBC super featherweight world champion, IBF super bantamweight world champion and WBC flyweight world champion. Manny is regarded as the Pambansang Kamao (National Fist) in his country.

Manny is also known as Pac-Man, the destroyer, the Mexi-cutioner and the People’s Champ. He has had fought with the big names in the boxing industry such as Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Erik Morales, Oscar Larios, David Diaz and Oscar Dela Hoya who are all world champions in the field. His most recent fight was with Ricky Hatton whom he knocked out before the end of the 2nd round. He is currently the world’s pound-for-pound king.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., the former pound for pound king, injured his rib cartilage. It wasn’t really stated how he got it but doctors disclose that the damage is real. He might have injured it during a heavy workout but this is just a wild guess for many.

Later, Golden Boy Promotion’s chief executive Richard Schaefer told the press that he got the injury during training and the scheduled fight between Mayweather Jr. and Marquez will be postponed and rescheduled. This is because Mayweather Jr. is no longer allowed by the doctor to jog; hit heavy bag’s and speed bags and other sorts of bodybuilding workouts. Schaefer also said that Mayweather Jr. tried to work it out but failed since the pain has worsen that even pain occurs when the boxer is sitting down thus the decision of the doctor.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. whose last fight was in 2007 (against Ricky Hatton) has to wait until the doctor gives the go signal to get back into training.

Now ever since the news broke out that the July collision of Mayweather Jr. and Marquez is on hold, people ahs now fixed there attention on the possible November brawl between Pacquiao and Cotto who just recently won over Joshua Clottey.

And since Pacquiao is now hailed as the new found for pound king, Mayweather might have to challenge Pacquiao soon to declared who the real pound for pound king is.