Professional boxing

Within the framework of the Boxing Federation of the Republic of Moldova, as the only structure in the country authorized to manage boxing as a sport, (Brief history of foundation) the Department of Professional Boxing operates, which organizes and develops professional boxing.

The department has the following main responsibilities:

• carry out other organizational and managerial functions;

• deal with professional boxing disputes;

• supervise a judicial, medical and disciplinary commission;

• keep records of the results of fights and the rating of boxers;

• organize and issue permits for fights with professional boxers;

• issue professional boxer licenses to boxers;

• licenses clubs to a professional club;

• licenses promoters;

• licenses supervisors;

• licenses judges and referees;

In the framework of the Department of professional boxing there are divisions, directions, series of professional boxing, defined by the Presidium of the Federation. The Department of Professional Boxing is headed by one of the Vice-Presidents. The Department of Professional Boxing operates in accordance with the Regulations and the program approved by the Presidium and on the basis of instructions from the President of the Federation.

Professional boxing is a sport in which boxing is the main occupation for an athlete, a way to earn money.

Amateur boxing is usually started from the age of 11 and from the age of 12 competing in a competition. Professional boxing is practiced from 18-20 years.

In contrast with amateur boxing, professional bouts are typically much longer and can last up to twelve rounds, though less significant fights can be as short as four rounds. Up to the beginning of the 20th century there were fights that were not limited by the number of rounds, they usually ended with a knockout of one of the boxers, or by stopping the fight with seconds. A little later, it was decided to set an upper limit of 15 rounds, and in 1980, after Duk Ku Kim’s death, the WBC (World Boxing Council) limited the maximum number of rounds to twelve. [18] 1987-1988 two other influential organizations followed the WBA and IBF.

Protective headgear is not permitted, but the referee can stop the fight if he sees that one of the boxers cannot defend himself due to injury. In this case, the opponent is recognized as the winner by technical knockout. Also, a technical knockout is assigned if the participant receives a cut that doesn’t allow to continue the fight. For this reason, boxers often hire specialists (katmen), whose job it is to stop the bleeding, until the referee stops the fight. Unlike the amateurs, the professionals enter the ring to the waist nude.

The most widely used scoring system since the mid-twentieth century is the "10-point must system", so named because a judge "must" award ten points to at least one fighter each round (before deductions for fouls). Most rounds are scored 10-9, with 10 points for the fighter who won the round, and 9 points for the fighter the judge believes lost the round. If a round is judged to be even, it is scored 10-10. For each knockdown in a round, the judge deducts an additional point from the fighter knocked down, resulting in a 10-8 score if there is one knockdown or a 10-7 score if there are two knockdowns. If the referee instructs the judges to deduct a point for a foul, this deduction is applied after the preliminary computation. So, if a fighter wins a round, but is penalized for a foul, the score changes from 10-9 to 9-9. If that same fighter scored a knockdown in the round, the score would change from 10-8 in his favor to 9-8. While uncommon, if a fighter completely dominates a round but doesn’t score a knockdown, a judge can still score that round 10-8.

Differences between professional and amateur boxing

Professional boxers should perform without T-shirts, while amateur boxers in t-shirts and helmets. Their color matches the color of the angle of the amateur boxer.

The design of amateur boxer gloves is such that it doesn’t allow for a very strong blow.