England Boxing’s Christmas Quiz 2020

Ahead of Christmas tomorrow, we at England Boxing have devised a little amateur boxing quiz you may like to use to challenge family and friends over the Christmas period.

We’ve got five tough rounds of questions, and answers are at the bottom of the page – no peaking! You can also find out if you’re a champion performer or need to get back on the bags by checking how you rate.

Wishing all our members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Questions

Round one – competitions

1. Who has won the most ABA/Elite/NACs titles?
2. When did the first ABA championships take place – and what was the venue?
3. How many national champions were crowned at the England Boxing National Youth Championships in 2020.
4. What venue hosted the England Boxing National Amateur Championships Finals Day take place in 2019 – and was due to do so again in 2020 until the onset of the Coronavirus Pandemic?
5. In what year did the inaugural England Boxing Women’s Winter Box Cup take place, and where was the venue?

Round two – international boxing

1. How many Olympic gold medals have GB won at the Olympics from London 1908 and Rio 2016?
2. Which two boxers won gold medals for England the 2019 European Junior Championships?
3. Which two GB boxers have already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, now scheduled to take place in 2021 after being postponed this year.
4. How many medals did England win at the European Schools Championships in 2019, to set a new national record?
5. In which country was Delicious Orie, who won the England Boxing National Amateur Championships 2019, super-heavyweight title and is now on the GB programme, born?

Round Three – out of the ring

1. Can you name the two new Online England Boxing courses established by England Boxing during the Coronavirus Pandemic?
2. What was the name of the campaign set up early in the Coronavirus Pandemic that saw member clubs encouraged to raise money by setting up a Just Giving or other donations page?
3. How many years has the long-serving Mick Budden, who stepped down from the England Boxing Technical, Rules and Officials sub-committee this year, consecutively served as an official in some capacity? (A correct answer for five years either side).
4. What milestone number of Instagram followers did England Boxing reach earlier this month? 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000.
5. Who is the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of England Boxing?

Round Four – rules

16) True or False: The Queensbury rules were the first set of rules used to govern the sport of boxing in the 19th Century?
17)  Who was it that wrote amateur boxing’s first set of fully recognised and accepted rules in 1865?
18) Since August 2020, rule changes mean that skills bouts now count towards  the England Boxing Development Championships, but do you know what two skills bouts count as?
19) How many counts can you receive in a round/contest if you are a junior boxer?
20) At what weight would a boxer have to wear 12oz gloves?

Round Five – history

21) How many clubs were affiliated to England Boxing (then ABA) upon its formation?
22) True or False: Boxing was banned from the school curriculum in the 1960s
23) What was the name given to the collective group of fans who supported and spectated at boxing shows, primarily between 1780-1820?24) In which year were the inaugural European Championships contested? 1920, 1924 or 1928?
25) In what year did the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) become England Boxing?

Answers

Round one – competitions

1) Eight, by John Lyon (St Helen’s and Lowe House) who won titles at light-flyweight every year between 1981 and 1989, with the exception of 1985. 2) 1881 at St James’s Hall in London. 3) 35 – 23 in the boys’ section and 12 in the girls’ section. 4) Manchester Central. 5) 2018 at the George H. Carnall Leisure Centre in Urmston, Manchester.

Round two – international boxing

6) 18. 7) Sacha Hickey and Enriko Itauma. 8) Galal Yafai and Peter McGrail, who qualified before European Qualifying tournament in London was postponed because of the Coronavirus. 9) 9. 10) Moscow.

Round three – out of the ring

11) Box In Mind Bitesize and KO Racism. 12) #KOCOVD19 13) 52, first qualifying as a judge in 1968. 14) 30,000. 15) Gethin Jenkins.

Round four – rules

16) False. In 1838, the ‘London Prize Ring Rules’ were introduced in an attempt to appease the Establishment and the clampdown on the sport which had ramped up in recent years with the creation of the British Police Force in 1822 under Sir Robert Peel. The London Prize Ring rules did little to influence the sport’s acceptance however, and it wasn’t until 1865 that public and political opinion started to favour the legalisation of amateur boxing. 17) John Chambers. The Marquis of Queensbury – John Douglas – sponsored the rules, but it was actually John Chambers who wrote them and gave us the foundation for amateur boxing (including the use of gloves filled with straw for padding, and timed rounds). Depending on which source you read as well, there’s also some debate around when the Queensbury rules were actually written (some say 1864, 1865 or 1866), though 1865 is most commonly accepted. 18) From August 2020, one skills bout is equivalent to ½ a bout, so two skills will count as one full bout. 19) It’s a maximum of three in a round and four in a contest. This also applies for all Youths and Development/Elite females. 20) All boxers that weigh 64kg or over must wear 12oz gloves. If one boxer weighs 64kg and the other boxer weighs 63kg, both boxers must wear 12oz gloves.

Round five – history

21) 12 – there are now more than 980. 22) A: False. Boxing has never been banned from the state school curriculum, and has always been allowed to take place in schools. MP Dr Edith Summerskill embarked on a campaign in late 1950s to have the sport banned altogether, which although later proved unsuccessful, did have the lasting impact of effectively removing boxing from state school education in 1962 as public opinion was increasingly seen to be out of favour with the sport. Not wanting to associate itself with the sport and bad press at the time, the trend was for schools to simply opt out of providing amateur boxing in its PE lessons, leaving it to the likes of community clubs to continue the sport instead. 23) The Fancy. At this time, Prize Fighting – though never strictly legal – was recognised as the national sport of Britain. It’s fights brought together thousands of fans from all backgrounds and classes from the Royalty & Gentry of society, right the way through to the working classes, homeless and unemployed. This mixing of backgrounds and people continued until the sport came under scrutiny between 1822-1865, at which time a lot of the upper & middle class members of the fancy felt the social pressure to distance themselves from the sport, thereby leaving it to the likes of the working class and deprived sectors of society – as it remains to this day. 24) 1924. For the first edition, the boxers from the continent who progressed the furthest at the Paris Olympic Games were adopted as champions. 5) 2014, following new Articles of Association agreed at an EGM in November 2013.

How did you rate?

25 – 21: You’re a champion performer, a real knock-out, who really knows their stuff and is a worthy match for any opponent.

20 – 16: You’ve not quite got it all – yet – but there’s some really good signs of you becoming a force to be reckoned with.

15 – 11: You’ve proven yourself a capable performer, but need to show more consistency if you’re going to reach the top.

10 – 6: There’s no denying it, it’s a long way back from here if you’re going to make your name in the game, and many tough gym sessions await.

5 – 0: Oh dear! Maybe it’s time to hang up your gloves and spectate instead – or take up tiddlywinks.