"Biffer"

To fight his way in to as many caches around the world as possible, whilst sending back photographs of the people and places "Biffer" may encounter on his travels

                                 
 
History of the Boxing Glove

About 3000 years ago, the Greeks were into fighting against opponents, to try to stop themselves getting injuries they would wrap there hands with leather strips. They figured this would secure there hands when they were in boxing fights, wars and tournaments.  There was a problem with this, the leather strips had no padding to provide the real protection.

The Romans followed after the Greeks in getting into boxing as a sort of entertainment as well as a sport.  When gladiators were added into the mix it started to become much more dangerous and even threatened the person participating life. They were still using the leather strips but they started to get more daring.  They started using spikes and metal studs after realizing the way the gladiators fought was more dangerous.  Therefore the fighters started to get injuries, scars other painful effects and in the worst case scenario they would lose there lives.

In the year 30 BC the sport was announced as illegal by the Romans in all the cities etc. Boxing surfaced again in the late 1600 up to the 1700s.  The emphasis was on bone and knuckle fighting but it never lasted very long.  At this time the idea of boxing gloves came about with the padding for safety purposes.

It is necessary to move away from the idea that boxing gloves were invented to shield the person who has been hit. The reason behind this is because the bones in the hand are too small and fragile.  Therefore the pads are meant to protect the boxer’s hands from the hits that he is going to inflict. The opponent at the same time will be wearing the protective gloves to shield himself as well.  This is a sport which of course cannot exist without an opponent.

 In the early 1700s, Jack Broughton became one of the very first British boxing champions.  In fact he is regarded as the person who invented the modern day boxing glove, in the past some boxers were greatly hurt and unfortunately some even died. Therefore rules and regulations were brought in by handlers and the community designed to protect the boxers.

It was in the year 1866 that John Graham Chambers produced the very popular Queensbury Rules in London.  At this time the enforcement of using padded gloves was high on the agenda, and boxing gloves were definitely used at this time. 
Then in the 20th century the Queensbury rules started to be promoted in all places that held boxing.