A standing eight count, also known as a protection count, is a boxing judgment call made by a referee during a bout in order to give an overwhelmed fighter an eight-second respite. When it is invoked, the referee stops the action and counts to eight while observing the boxer it is called against. When the count reaches eight, the referee often moves back two steps and instructs the boxer to walk towards him and hold his arms out. This helps the referee determine if the boxer is functioning and alert enough to continue. If the boxer is unsteady on his feet or seems unable to focus on the referee, the bout is ended by TKO. Typically, a boxer can be granted up to three standing eight counts in a round.
The standing eight count was instituted in 1982 after the death of boxer Kim Duk-koo. However, the Association of Boxing Commissions eliminated it in 1998, believing it to favor the fighter it is called against, so it is seldom applied in professional bouts today.
A standing eight count is different from a mandatory eight count, which is assessed only once a fighter is knocked down.
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Knockout Kings was a series of boxing video games produced by EA Sports for various platforms yearly between 1998 and 2003.
No contest is a technical term used in some combat sports to describe a fight that ends for reasons outside the fighters' hands, without a winner or loser. The concept carried over to professional wrestling, where it is far more common, usually scripted to further a feud, generate heat and/or protect a push.
Kim Duk-koo was a South Korean boxer who died after fighting in a world championship boxing match against Ray Mancini. His death sparked reforms aimed at better protecting the health of boxers, including reducing the number of rounds in championship bouts from 15 to 12.
Jerry Quarry, nicknamed "Irish" or "The Bellflower Bomber", was an American professional boxer. During the peak of his career from 1968 to 1971, Quarry was rated by The Ring magazine as the most popular fighter in the sport. His most famous bouts were against Muhammad Ali. He is regarded as being one of the best heavyweight boxers never to win a title. He beat former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson and top contenders Ron Lyle, Earnie Shavers, Brian London, Thad Spencer, Buster Mathis, Randy Neumann, Jack Bodell, Mac Foster and Eduardo Corletti. The damage he accumulated from lack of attention to defense against larger men at the top level, no head guard sparring, and attempted comebacks in 1977, 1983, and 1992 resulted in Quarry developing an unusually severe case of dementia pugilistica.
The Marquess of Queensberry Rules, also known as Queensbury Rules, are a code of generally accepted rules in the sport of boxing. Drafted in London in 1865 and published in 1867, they were named so as the 9th Marquess of Queensberry publicly endorsed the code, although they were written by a Welsh sportsman named John Graham Chambers from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire. The code of rules on which modern boxing is based, the Queensberry rules were the first to mandate the use of gloves in boxing.
Bare-knuckle boxing is a full-contact combat sport based on punching without any form of padding on the hands. The sport as it is known today originated in 17th-century England and differs from street fighting as it follows an accepted set of rules.
George Curtis was a professional boxer, referee and business owner who was licensed to officiate bouts in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Richard Green was an American professional boxing referee. He officiated several major bouts, such as Muhammad Ali vs. Larry Holmes in 1980. He was the referee for the lightweight world title fight between defending champion Ray Mancini and challenger Duk Koo Kim, which caused Kim's death four days after the fight ended. Green committed suicide eight months later.
Benny Leonard was an American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ranked 8th on The Ring magazine's list of the "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years" and placed 7th in ESPN's "50 Greatest Boxers of All-Time". In 2005, the International Boxing Research Organization ranked Leonard as the #1 lightweight, and #8 best pound-for-pound fighter of all time. Statistical website BoxRec rates Leonard as the 2nd best lightweight ever, while The Ring magazine founder Nat Fleischer placed him at #2. Boxing historian Bert Sugar placed him 6th in his Top 100 Fighters catalogue.
Reuven "Ruby" Goldstein, the "Jewel of the Ghetto", was an American boxer and prize fight referee. He was a serious World Lightweight Championship contender in the 1920s, and became one of U.S. most trusted and respected boxing referees in the 1950s. During his boxing career, he was trained and managed by Hymie Cantor.
Isiah "Ike" Williams was an American professional boxer. He was a lightweight world boxing champion. He took the World Lightweight Championship in April 1945 and made eight successful defenses of the title against six different fighters prior to losing the championship to Jimmy Carter in 1951. Williams was known for his great right hand, and was named to The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time as well as The Ring magazine Fighter of the Year for 1948. Williams was The Ring magazine's Fighter of the Year for 1948, was inducted into The Ring Boxing Hall of Fame, and was an inaugural 1990 inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory authority to guarantee the fighters' safety. Most high-profile bouts obtain the endorsement of a sanctioning body, which awards championship belts, establishes rules, and assigns its own judges and referees.
James Pagendam is a boxer from Canada, competing in the featherweight division.
Long count or slow count is a term used in boxing. When a boxer is knocked down in a fight, the referee will count over them and the boxer must rise to their feet, unaided, by the count of ten or else deemed to have been knocked out. A long count occurs when a boxer is given more than the allotted time to rise to his or her feet.
Beau Jack was an American lightweight boxer and two-time world lightweight champion in the 1940s. One of the most popular fighters during the War Years, he headlined at Madison Square Garden on 21 occasions, a record that still stands.
Aaron Lister Brown, known professionally as the Dixie Kid, was an American boxer. He was a controversial contender for the World Welterweight Boxing Championship in April 1904.
A newspaper decision was a type of decision in professional boxing. It was rendered by a consensus of sportswriters attending a bout after it had ended inconclusively with a "no decision", as many regions had not adopted the National Sporting Club of London's rules regarding judges and referees. A "no decision" occurred when, either under the sanctioning of state boxing law or by an arrangement between the fighters, both boxers were still standing at the end of a fight and there had been no knockout, no official decision had been made, and neither boxer was declared the winner. The sportswriters covering the fight, after reaching a consensus, would declare a winner – or render the bout a draw – and print the newspaper decision in their publications. Officially, however, a "no decision" bout resulted in neither boxer winning or losing, and would therefore not count as part of their official fight record. This should not be confused with the unrelated and contemporary term, "no contest".
The mandatory eight count, also called a compulsory eight count, is a rule in boxing and kickboxing requiring the referee to give any fighter a count of eight seconds once they have been knocked down by their opponent, and before the fight is allowed to resume. Even if the fighter gets up before the count reaches eight, the referee is required to count to eight before checking if the fighter is able to continue unless they make a judgement call that the fighter cannot continue. The mandatory eight count is a part of the Unified Rules of Boxing as adopted by the Association of Boxing Commissions.