The earliest evidence of boxing rules date back to Ancient Greece, where boxing was established as an Olympic game in 688 BC. One legend holds that the heroic ruler Theseus invented a form of boxing in which two men sat face to face and beat each other with their fists until one of them died. In time, the boxers began to fight while standing and wearing gloves, sometimes covered with spikes to facilitate greater damage.

In 2017, the WBO bantamweight champion, Zolani Tete, knocked out his opponent, Siboniso Gonya, in 11 seconds. Tete landed the knockout punch just 6 seconds into the fight, but it took the referee another 5 seconds to call the fight.

Muhammad Ali was famous for his colorful quotations. He also said, "I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."

In June 1947, Sugar Ray Robinson was scheduled to defend his title in a bout against Jimmy Doyle. Robinson tried to back out of the fight after having a dream that he had killed Doyle, but a priest persuaded him to go ahead with the fight. Robinson scored a decisive knockout in the eighth round. Doyle was taken to St. Vincent's Charity Hospital immediately after the bout, where he failed to regain consciousness and died a few hours later. After learning that Doyle had planned to buy his mother a house with the prize money, Robinson donated the money from his next four bouts so that Doyle's mother could purchase herself a home, fulfilling her son's wishes.

Rocky Marciano retired with a career record of 49-0, including 43 knockouts. His knockout-to-win percentage of 87.75 remains one of the highest in heavyweight boxing history.

In 1943, Arouch and his family were captured by Nazis and imprisoned at the Auschwitz concentration camp in present day Poland. While there, he was forced to fight bouts against other prisoners, the losers of which were sent to the gas chambers or shot. He survived over 2 years and 200 bouts, eventually being released when the camp was liberated. His story was portrayed in the 1989 film Triumph of the Spirit, starring Willem Dafoe.

In 1825, Jack Jones beat Patsy Tunney in a 276-round fight that took place in Cheshire, England, and lasted 4 hours and 30 minutes. Before the Queensbery Rules were introduced in 1867, each round of a fight would last until someone was knocked down. The decked boxer would then have 30 seconds to make it to his feet and back to the line in the middle of the ring known as "the scratch". There was no time limit nor was there any limit to the number of rounds. Because of this many fights at this time would end in draws.

Billed as "The Sound and the Fury", Mike Tyson's June 28, 1997 boxing match with Evander Holyfield for the WBA Heavyweight Championship was afterwards referred to as "The Bite Fight". Tyson was, of course, disqualified. Doctors performed a 90-minute surgical procedure to close up the wound on Holyfield's ear, but weren't able to reattach the missing portion which disappeared mysteriously during the ambulance ride.

After taking up boxing as early as seven or eight to counter the effects of Polio which he had suffered from as a young child, Alberto "Baby" Arizmendi is believed to have turned pro at the tender age of 10. He took his first championship, the Mexican bantamweight title at only eighteen, and claimed the California world featherweight title the following year.

Willie "Will o' the Wisp" Pep, known for his speed, finesse and elusiveness, is considered to be one of the best fighters of the 20th century. After Pep's 199th win, his opponent, Kid Campeche, described the experience by saying, "Fighting Willie Pep is like trying to stomp out a grass fire."