Oct 14 2007
Types of Competitive Boxing
Unsanctioned Events
Unsanctioned events are not “sanctioned” or regulated by any of the governing bodies. There are a number of different types of unsanctioned events.
“Smokers” are events for inexperienced boxers to obtain ring experience before getting sanctioned. These are usually put on by boxing gyms to groom new fighters before their official amateur careers.
Since so many MMA schools have boxing and kickboxing programs, these days you’ll find mixed shows (kind of like smokers) with unsanctioned boxing, kickboxing and MMA all on the same card.
A relatively new type of event is “White Collar Boxing.” These are fights setup for professionals or white collar folks that want to mix it up with their peers.
There are also specialized boxing events for different types of organizations such as high schools, colleges, fraternities, police, firemen or military.
Toughman competitions are unsanctioned events that pay audience members to fight in the ring. Because they are paid, it makes the fighters into instant “professionals” and has the side effect of thereafter making them ineligible to compete in amateur boxing.
While I’m sure there are some tough guys in Toughman competitions, generally they are not thought of very well in the boxing world. Toughman pay is far too low for professional boxers, and an aspiring amateur wouldn’t take $100 (or whatever it is) just so they could step in the ring and destroy their amateur career.
Sanctioned Fights
These go on your official amateur record and are generally considered more prestigious than fighting in the unsanctioned events.
Amateur boxing has a number of divisions:
Divisions By Age - Generally fighters are matched up with opponents near their own age. For instance the masters division is for fighters 34 and older. There are also groupings for underage boxers.
Divisions By Experience - Sub Novice is where you start out as an official amateur boxer. Once you have over 4 fights you graduate into the next grouping. The Open Class is for fighters with over 10 fights and is 4 rounds vs. 3.
Tournaments
For registered amateur boxers with official records there are a number of tournaments: Junior Olympics, Olympic Qualifiers, Golden Gloves, Bronze Gloves, etc.
