Boxers must always be standing on their feet in order to exchange punches.

Punches thrown by a boxer must land above the waistline of the opponent.

Punches are the only legal way to hit the opponent.

Only the knuckle portion of the glove is allowed to make contact with the opponent.

Punches must not land on the back of the opponent, including the areas of the kidneys and the back of the head.

A boxer hit with an unintentional low blow (a punch below the waist) has up to five minutes to recover and will be considered knocked-out if he is unable to recover.

The head of a boxer must always be above the waistline of the opponent.

When a referee breaks up clinching boxers, both boxers must take a full step back before throwing a punch. When a boxer gets knocked down, his opponent is restricted from hitting the downed boxer and must go to a neutral corner while the referee makes the ten-count. The ten-count gives the downed boxer the opportunity to get back to his feet to continue fighting.

Once a boxer stands after being knocked down, he must be approved to continue by the referee. If the boxer is unable to recover from the knockdown, his opponent will win by way of knockout (KO).

Slipping or falling is not considered a knockdown, but a boxer who has slipped or fallen still cannot be hit while down.

If a boxer cannot continue due to injury from an intentional foul, the boxer who committed the foul will be disqualified.

If an intentional foul occurs and does not stop the fight, the referee must take points away from the boxer who committed the foul.

Boxers who commit unintentional fouls receive a warning from the referee, who can also deduct points from a boxer if the boxer continues to commit the foul.

Unintentional fouls that end a fight immediately can result in either a ‘no-contest’ ruling or a declared winner. In professional boxing, a no-contest would occur if less than four rounds of the match have been completed. Neither boxer would be declared winner. If the fight has gone past four rounds, then a winner will be declared. The winner, in this case, would be the boxer who has the most points at the current stage of the match. A declared winner via points wins by ‘technical decision.’ A ‘technical draw’ could also occur if the boxers have the same amount of points.

A referee can choose to stop a fight at any point to protect a boxer from severe injury. The boxer will lose by ‘technical knockout’ (TKO).

Compiled by EM