How many rounds are in a boxing match?
Professional championship boxing matches have up to 12 rounds of 3 minutes each. Amateur and Olympic bouts have 3 rounds of 3 minutes.
Professional fights can be scheduled for 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 rounds, depending on the fighters' experience and the importance of the bout. World title fights are 12 rounds. Each round lasts 3 minutes, with a 1-minute rest in between. Women's professional bouts often use 2-minute rounds.
Championship fights used to be 15 rounds. After a Korean boxer, Kim Duk-koo, died following a 14-round bout in 1982, the major organizations reduced title fights to 12 rounds to improve safety. If no knockout occurs, judges score each round, and the fighter with more points wins.
Olympic boxing
At the Olympics and in amateur boxing, men and women both fight three rounds of three minutes. Scoring is done by judges, who decide which boxer won each round. Olympic boxers no longer wear headguards in elite men's competitions.
Did You Know?
Bare-knuckle fights in the 1800s had no limit on rounds. One famous fight in 1855 lasted more than six hours.