What do you read about Christmas?
Стаття про бокс у Стародавньому Римі
In ancient Rome, there were two kinds of boxing and both are derived from Etruscan tradition. Around Rome was a popular folk "box", but also there and gladiatorial combat version. Participants in these fights were mostly criminals and slaves who hoped to win freedom, but sometimes fought free men, aristocrats and even women. Gladiators fought in the original gloves, sometimes with spines.
Popularity fisticuffs led to the fact that even emperors started to take part in them, the first of them was Nero.
In 393, the Roman emperor Theodosius banned the insistence of the clergy to hold the Olympics because they were considered pagan celebration, and 500 by Theodoric the Great prohibited boxing, a sport that offends God as a symbol of God, a person subjected to shock. However, this decree is not much impact on sporting life cities that were outside of the Eastern Empire. By that time, Western Europe is no longer a part of the Roman Empire, and then boxing remained popular throughout the Middle Ages and later. It should be noted that fighting, fencing and racing chariot never fell under the ban.