12/13/2011

Boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds. The match ends, when an opponent is knocked out or deemed incabable to continue match by a referee (Technical Knockout), 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. There are two forms of boxing, amateur and professional.
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 Europe, particularly Great Britain.

Modern boxing

Broughton's rules (1743)


A straight right demonstrated in Edmund Price'
Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again and interest in fighting with the fists waned. However, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Fistfight. As the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719. This is also the time when the word "boxing" first came to be used. It should be noted, that this earliest form of modern boxing was very different. Contests in Mr. Figg's time, in addition to fistfighting, also contained fencing and cudgeling. On 6 January 1681, the first recorded boxing match took place in Britain when Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle (and later Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica) engineered a bout between his butler and his butcher with the latter winning the prize.
Early fighting had no written rules. There were no weight divisions or round limits, and no referee. In general, it was extremely chaotic. The first boxing rules, called the Broughton's rules, were introduced by heavyweight champion Jack Broughton in 1743 to protect fighters in the ring where deaths sometimes occurred.Under these rules, if a man went down and could not continue after a count of 30 seconds, the fight was over. Hitting a downed fighter and grasping below the waist were prohibited. Broughton also invented and encouraged the use of "mufflers", a form of padded gloves, which were used in training and exhibitions. The first paper on boxing was published in the late 18th century by successful Birmingham boxer 'William Futrell' who remained undefeated until his one hour and seventeen minute fight at Smitham Bottom, Croydon, on July 9, 1788 against a much younger "Gentleman" John Jackson which was attended by the Prince of Wales.
Tom Molineaux vs Tom Cribb in a re-match for the heavyweight championship of England, 1811
These rules did allow the fighters an advantage not enjoyed by today's boxers: They permitted the fighter to drop to one knee to begin a 30-second count at any time. Thus a fighter realizing he was in trouble had an opportunity to recover. However, this was considered "unmanly" and was frequently disallowed by additional rules negotiated by the Seconds of the Boxers. Intentionally going down in modern boxing will cause the recovering fighter to lose points in the scoring system. Furthermore, as the contestants did not have heavy leather gloves and wristwraps to protect their hands, a certain amount of restraint was required when striking the head.

London Prize Ring rules (1838)

In 1838, the London Prize Ring rules were codified. Later revised in 1853, they stipulated the following:
  • Fights occurred in a 24 feet (7.3 m)-square ring surrounded by ropes.
  • If a fighter was knocked down, he had to rise within 30 seconds under his own power to be allowed to continue.
  • Biting, headbutting and hitting below the belt were declared fouls.

Prohibition

Through the late nineteenth century, boxing or prizefighting was primarily a sport of dubious legitimacy. Outlawed in England and much of the United States, prizefights were often held at gambling venues and broken up by police.[citation needed] Brawling and wrestling tactics continued, and riots at prizefights were common occurrences. Still, throughout this period, there arose some notable bare knuckle champions who developed fairly sophisticated fighting tactics.
The English case of R v. Coney in 1882 found that a bare-knuckle fight was an assault occasioning actual bodily harm, despite the consent of the participants. This marked the end of widespread public bare-knuckle contests in England.
The first world heavyweight champion under the Queensberry Rules was "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, who defeated John L. Sullivan in 1892 at the Pelican Athletic Club in New Orleans.
Throughout the early twentieth century, boxers struggled to achieve legitimacy, aided by the influence of promoters like Tex Rickard and the popularity of great champions from John L. Sullivan to Jack Dempsey. Shortly after this era, boxing commissions and other sanctioning bodies were established to regulate the sport and establish universally recognized champions.

Rules

The Marquess of Queensberry rules have been the general rules governing modern boxing since their publication in 1867.
A boxing match typically consists of a determined number of three-minute rounds, a total of up to 12 rounds (formerly 15). A minute is typically spent between each round with the fighters in their assigned corners receiving advice and attention from their coach and staff. The fight is controlled by a referee who works within the ring to judge and control the conduct of the fighters, rule on their ability to fight safely, count knocked-down fighters, and rule on fouls. Up to three judges are typically present at ringside to score the bout and assign points to the boxers, based on punches that connect, defense, knockdowns, and other, more subjective, measures. Because of the open-ended style of boxing judging, many fights have controversial results, in which one or both fighters believe they have been "robbed" or unfairly denied a victory. Each fighter has an assigned corner of the ring, where his or her coach, as well as one or more "seconds" may administer to the fighter at the beginning of the fight and between rounds. Each boxer enters into the ring from their assigned corners at the beginning of each round and must cease fighting and return to their corner at the signaled end of each round.
Boxing in action.

A bout in which the predetermined number of rounds passes is decided by the judges, and is said to "go the distance". The fighter with the higher score at the end of the fight is ruled the winner. With three judges, unanimous and split decisions are possible, as are draws. A boxer may win the bout before a decision is reached through a knockout; such bouts are said to have ended "inside the distance". If a fighter is knocked down during the fight, determined by whether the boxer touches the canvas floor of the ring with any part of their body other than the feet as a result of the opponent's punch and not a slip, as determined by the referee, the referee begins counting until the fighter returns to his or her feet and can continue. Should the referee count to ten, then the knocked-down boxer is ruled "knocked out" (whether unconscious or not) and the other boxer is ruled the winner by knockout (KO). A "technical knockout" (TKO) is possible as well, and is ruled by the referee, fight doctor, or a fighter's corner if a fighter is unable to safely continue to fight, based upon injuries or being judged unable to effectively defend themselves. Many jurisdictions and sanctioning agencies also have a "three-knockdown rule", in which three knockdowns in a given round result in a TKO. A TKO is considered a knockout in a fighter's record. A "standing eight" count rule may also be in effect. This gives the referee the right to step in and administer a count of eight to a fighter that he feels may be in danger, even if no knockdown has taken place. After counting the referee will observe the fighter, and decide if he is fit to continue. For scoring purposes, a standing eight count is treated as a knockdown.
In general, boxers are prohibited from hitting below the belt, holding, tripping, pushing, biting, or spitting. The boxer's shorts are raised so the opponent is not allowed to hit to the groin area with intent to cause pain or injury. Failure to abide by the former may result in a foul or wallet slap. They also are prohibited from kicking, head-butting, or hitting with any part of the arm other than the knuckles of a closed fist (including hitting with the elbow, shoulder or forearm, as well as with open gloves, the wrist, the inside, back or side of the hand). They are prohibited as well from hitting the back, back of the neck or head (called a "rabbit-punch") or the kidneys. They are prohibited from holding the ropes for support when punching, holding an opponent while punching, or ducking below the belt of their opponent (dropping below the waist of your opponent, no matter the distance between). If a "clinch" – a defensive move in which a boxer wraps his or her opponents arms and holds on to create a pause – is broken by the referee, each fighter must take a full step back before punching again (alternatively, the referee may direct the fighters to "punch out" of the clinch). When a boxer is knocked down, the other boxer must immediately cease fighting and move to the furthest neutral corner of the ring until the referee has either ruled a knockout or called for the fight to continue.
Violations of these rules may be ruled "fouls" by the referee, who may issue warnings, deduct points, or disqualify an offending boxer, causing an automatic loss, depending on the seriousness and intentionality of the foul. An intentional foul that causes injury that prevents a fight from continuing usually causes the boxer who committed it to be disqualified. A fighter who suffers an accidental low-blow may be given up to five minutes to recover, after which they may be ruled knocked out if they are unable to continue. Accidental fouls that cause injury ending a bout may lead to a "no contest" result, or else cause the fight to go to a decision if enough rounds (typically four or more, or at least three in a four-round fight) have passed.
Unheard of these days, but common during the early 20th Century in North America, a "newspaper decision (NWS)" might be made after a no decision bout had ended. A "no decision" bout occurred when, by law or by pre-arrangement of the fighters, if both boxers were still standing at the fight's conclusion and there was no knockout, no official decision was rendered and neither boxer was declared the winner. But this did not prevent the pool of ringside newspaper reporters from declaring a consensus result among themselves and printing a newspaper decision in their publications. Officially, however, a "no decision" bout resulted in neither boxer winning or losing. Boxing historians sometimes use these unofficial newspaper decisions in compiling fight records for illustrative purposes only. Often, media outlets covering a match will personally score the match, and post their scores as an independent sentence in their report.

Professional vs. amateur boxing

Throughout the 17th through 19th centuries, boxing bouts were motivated by money, as the fighters competed for prize money, promoters controlled the gate, and spectators bet on the result. The modern Olympic movement revived interest in amateur sports, and amateur boxing became an Olympic sport in 1908. In their current form, Olympic and other amateur bouts are typically limited to three or four rounds, scoring is computed by points based on the number of clean blows landed, regardless of impact, and fighters wear protective headgear, reducing the number of injuries, knockdowns, and knockouts. Currently scoring blows in amateur boxing are subjectively counted by ringside judges, but the Australian Institute for Sport has demonstrated a prototype of an Automated Boxing Scoring System, which introduces scoring objectivity, improves safety, and arguably makes the sport more interesting to spectators. Professional boxing remains by far the most popular form of the sport globally, though amateur boxing is dominant in Cuba and some former Soviet republics. For most fighters, an amateur career, especially at the Olympics, serves to develop skills and gain experience in preparation for a professional career.

Amateur boxing



 Now the images of the boxers in action are
Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.

Boxing in action.



Aamir boxing

Boxer Amir Khan relishing return to Las Vegas to take on Zab Judah

 

Amir Khan trains at a sparring session at Wild Card Boxing Club
Khan (left) and Malignaggi at the press conference on March 17, 2010.


Amir Khan

AMIR KHAN has vowed to learn from his controversial defeat by Lamont Peterson.
Despite Khan’s insistence that he was robbed by the referee and the judges, he knows he made mistakes.
The former WBA and IBF light-welterweight champ did not follow Freddie Roach’s game plan and got pinned on the ropes far too often by Peterson.
Advertisement >>
Khan, 25, tried to slug it out with the American in his Washington backyard instead of boxing him with his jab.
He came back stronger from his only other professional loss to Breidis Prescott in 2008 and says he will learn the lessons from his second defeat.
“I know the little mistakes I made and I will get rid of them,” said Khan, who flies home to Britain today. “I learnt the hard way against Breidis and changed. That was a good thing that happened to me then and was a wake-up call. This is another one.
“This is only going to make me work harder. I know I won the fight and it’s going to motivate me to work harder. It’s about how you come back from these setbacks and one thing about me is that I give it my all. Things happen for a reason and I am maturing. Maybe when I’m 26, I will be fully matured. I will get this fight out of the way and then move up to 147lb.”
Although there was no rematch clause in the contract because Peterson was the IBF’s mandatory challenger, Khan claims the new champ promised him one when they bumped into each other in hospital after the fight.
March 31 in Las Vegas looks the most likely date and venue and a hurt Khan, sporting his first-ever black eye, has promised to make Peterson (left) pay for taking away his cherished belts.
The Olympic silver medallist in Athens was surprised by his opponent’s disciplined performance and says he now knows how to handle him in a rematch. “There’s nothing in the contract for a rematch, but I saw him in the hospital after and he said he knew how I was feeling because he felt the same when he drew against Victor Ortiz,” he said.
“The rematch is going to be bigger and I know now there is one more fight for me at 140. I want my titles back.
“Beating him will be great. He’s the one who will have to suffer. I’m going to work hard and change what I did wrong in the ring. We’ll be working on the angles when I go back to Freddie. It was a better Peterson than the one who drew against Victor Ortiz. We know exactly what he does now and we’ll be ready.”
Khan’s camp and US promoter Golden Boy officially lodged a complaint against referee Joe Cooper and the judges to the DC boxing board, the WBA and IBF.
They reckon at least one scorecard was altered after the final bell, changing the result from a Khan win into a Peterson one on a split decision




12/09/2011

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

The Mexican national football team represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (FMF), the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is José Manuel de la Torre. The team is currently ranked 20th in the FIFA World Rankings and 12th in the World Football Elo Ratings.
Mexico has qualified for fourteen World Cups and has qualified consecutively since 1994; Mexico played France in the very first match of the first World Cup on 13 July 1930. Mexico's best progression was reaching the Quarterfinals in both the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, both of which were staged on Mexican soil.
Mexico national football team

Mexico is historically the most successful national team in the CONCACAF region, as they are the only team from the region to win an official FIFA recognized title. They hold one FIFA Confederations Cup, nine CONCACAF championships, including six CONCACAF Gold Cups, one North American Nations Cup and two NAFC Championships.
Although Mexico is under the jurisdiction of CONCACAF, the national football team has been regularly invited to compete in the Copa América since Ecuador 1993 finishing as runner-up twice and obtaining the third place medal on three occasions.

History

Early years

Mexico national football team
Football in Mexico was organized in the early 20th century by European immigrant groups, notably Cornish miners from Cornwall, England, and in later years Spanish exiles fleeing the Spanish Civil War. The original team played Guatemala, which the Mexican team won 3–2.
A series of international friendlies were played against the national representation of Guatemala on December 9, 12, and 16 of 1923. The match on December 9 was played in Parque España and was won by Mexico with a final score of 2–1. On December 12, the match ended in a 2–0 win for Mexico, and the final game of the series ended in a 3–3 draw.[4] The manager for this team was Rafael Garza Gutiérrez "Récord", and the assistant coach was Adolfo Frías.[4] The fourteen players selected for this friendly series include: Nacho de la Garza, Pedro "Perico" Legorreta, Manuel "Güero" Yáñez, Enrique "La Matona" Esquivel, Agustín Ojeda, Roberto Jardón, Carlos Garcés, Horacio Ortiz, Adeodato López, Mauro Guadarrama "La Venada" Alatorre, Cornelio Cuevas, and Alfredo García Besné.
It would be another four years before the national team would be represented in international friendlies. In preparation for a friendly against Spain, the team played a friendly against their "B" squad on June 12, 1927, winning 4–2. On June 19, 1927, the Mexican squad faced a selection from Spain, drawing 3–3. During this series, the squad also played against the Uruguayan club Nacional de Montevideo, losing 1–3.
Mexico national football team

Formation



On August 9, 1927, the official governing body of the sport of football in Mexico was founded. From its inception, the federation has been the main body in charge of the promotion, administration, organization, management, and funding of the Mexican national football team as well as all football competition within Mexico. Club representatives from the federation's first division all vote on the direction, management, and coaching staff of the national football team. The 1928 Summer Olympics were hosts to Mexico's first international tournament. Prior to the tournament, the Mexican squad held friendlies against a representative Asturias side as well as two friendlies against Spain. These matches resulted in two draws and one loss. At the Olympic tournament, Mexico faced Spain in the Round of 16 on May 30, 1928, resulting in Mexico's defeat of 1–7.
Mexico participated in the 1930 FIFA World Cup, having been grouped together with Argentina, Chile, and France. Mexico's first match was played against France at Estadio Pocitos in Montevideo, Uruguay on July 13, 1930. The match ended in a 4–1 win for France, but witnessed Mexico's first World Cup goal by Juan Carreño.This match occurred simultaneously with the USABelgium match. In their second match of the tournament, Mexico fell to Chile 3–0 at Montevideo's Estadio Gran Parque Central. Mexico's third match, against Argentina, featured the first penalty of the tournament, awarded in the 42' and scored by Mexico's Manuel Rosas. A total of five penalties were awarded during the match which was refereed by the Bolivian coach Ulises Saucedo, three of them controversial.
Mexico national football team

Post-WWII

Mexico did not appear again in a World Cup tournament until the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Before 1970, Mexico struggled to make much of an impact in the World Cup when competing against European and South American teams. However, goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal has the distinction of being the first player ever to appear in five consecutive FIFA World Cups.
In 1970, Mexico hosted the World Cup and kicked off their campaign with a scoreless draw against the Soviet Union. This was followed by a win over El Salvador (4–0). Mexico advanced to the next round with a victory against Belgium thanks to a penalty scored by Gustavo Peña in the 14th minute. At the quarter-finals stage, Mexico was eliminated by Italy in a 4–1 match despite Mexico taking an early lead.
Mexico failed to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup but did make it into the Argentina '78. Mexico suffered an early exit after three defeats: 0–6 against West Germany, 1–3 against Tunisia, and 1–3 to Poland. Mexico failed to qualify for Spain 1982.
In 1986, Mexico again hosted the World Cup. Coached by Bora Milutinović, Mexico was placed in Group B where they defeated Belgium 2–1, draw 1–1 with Paraguay, and defeated Iraq 1–0. With this performance, Mexico won the top spot in its group and advanced to the next round where Mexico faced Bulgaria in a 2–0 win. In the quarter-finals stage, Mexico lost to West Germany 0–0 (1–4 pens).
Mexico national football team

The Cachirules scandal

Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 FIFA World Cup (and any other international competition) after using players over the age limit allowed by FIFA in the qualifying round for the 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship. The punishment originally was only going to be applied to the FIFA World Youth team and not the World Cup or Olympic Games team, but the penalty was applied to all Mexican national representatives of all FIFA sanctioned tournaments. This was a hard intake, as this was the golden time for the legendary striker Hugo Sanchez, where in the next World Cup, he was just considered a "good" player, rather than a "legendary" one. Many other players that were having an exciting moment in their club careers such as Carlos Hermosillo (Standard Liege (BEL), Ricardo Pelaez (Necaxa), Alberto Garcia Aspe (UNAM), Adrian Chavez (America), Felix Fernandez (Atlante), Luis Flores (UNAM), Zaguinho (America), Miguel Herrera (Atlante), Benjamin Galindo (Guadalajara), Daniel Guzmán (Universidad de Guadalajara), Guillermo Huerta (America); plus many others saw their World Cup 1990 dreams shattered, crushed and ruined by this scandal that in the Mexican media became known as the "Cachirules".

Home stadium

Main article: Estadio Azteca
The Estadio Azteca, (Aztec Stadium in English), also known in Spanish as "El Coloso de Santa Úrsula" is a stadium in Mexico City, Mexico built in the 1960s. It is the official home stadium of the Mexico national football team and the Mexican club team Club América. It has a capacity of 105,000 seats, making it the largest association football stadium in the Americas and the third largest stadium in the world for that sport.
The stadium has carried out many important sporting and historical events in its existence including the FIFA World Cup in 1970 where Pele won his last championship. The earthquake of 1985, which destroyed most of the city, did not damage the stadium. Thus, the stadium could host the FIFA World Cup in 1986 where Argentina won the cup.
It was the primary venue for association football at the 1968 Summer Olympics and is the only stadium ever to host two FIFA World Cup final matches, in 1970 and 1986. It also hosted the 1986 quarter-final between Argentina and England in which Diego Maradona scored the "Hand of God goal" . The stadium also hosted the "Game of the Century", when Italy defeated West Germany 4–3 in extra time.


Images of  the football players of Mexico national football team are;

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team

Mexico national football team