Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people engage in a contest using only their fists. There are two forms of boxing: amateur and professional. Amateur boxing is an Olympic and Commonwealth sport and is a common fixture in most of the major international games - it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds. The result is decided when an opponent is deemed incapable to continue match by a referee or if an opponent is disqualified for breaking a rule, resigning by throwing in a towel, or by judges' scorecards at the end of the bout.

The birth hour of boxing as a sport may be its acceptance by the ancient Greeks as an Olympic game as early as 688 BC. Modern boxing evolved in Great Britain and United States. In 2004, ESPN ranked boxing as the most difficult sport in the world.

Fist fighting depicted in Sumerian relief carvings from the 3rd millennium BC, while an ancient Egyptian relief from the 2nd millennium BC depicts both fist-fighters and spectators. Both depictions show bare-fisted contests. Other depictions can be seen in Assyrian, Babylonian and Hittite art. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete (c. 1500–900 BC), and on Sardinia, if we consider the boxing statues of Prama mountains (c. 2000–1000 BC).