Our Boxing coverage

Professional boxing uses the ten-point must system. Three ringside judges score every round independently; the boxer who wins the round must be given 10 points and the loser usually 9. A knockdown normally turns the round into 10–8, two knockdowns into 10–7, and a round the judges cannot separate is scored 10–10. The referee, not the judges, can take a point away for fouls such as low blows, holding, rabbit punches or headbutts, and that deduction comes off the offender's score for the round.

At the final bell the three cards are added up. If all three judges have the same winner it is a unanimous decision; if two have one fighter and the third has the other it is a split decision; if two have a winner and the third scores it level it is a majority decision. Two judges scoring it level, or one each way with a level card, produces a draw. The cards are read out in the ring and published by the sanctioning body afterwards, which is why disputed verdicts can be checked round by round.

Men's professional rounds last three minutes with a one-minute rest between them. World, continental and most domestic title fights are scheduled for 12 rounds, so a fight that goes the distance is 36 minutes of boxing inside about 50 minutes including rests, the pre-fight introductions and the scorecard announcement. Fighters early in their careers box four, six or eight rounds, which is why an undercard runs through quickly while the main event is the longest bout of the night.

Women's professional bouts have traditionally been fought over two-minute rounds with a ten-round maximum; the sanctioning bodies have begun allowing three-minute rounds and twelve-round fights where both camps agree, so our fight centres state the round length for each bout rather than assuming it. Twelve rounds became the universal championship distance after the 15-round era ended in the late 1980s.

They are the four major sanctioning bodies: the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, the International Boxing Federation and the World Boxing Organization. Each keeps its own rankings in every weight class and crowns its own world champion, which is why a division can have several "world champions" at once. A boxer who holds two or three of the belts is a unified champion; one who holds all four at the same time is the undisputed champion of the division. The Ring magazine belt is a separate, widely respected lineal title awarded by the publication rather than by a sanctioning body.

Each body also uses secondary titles that confuse newcomers: the WBA has "super" and "regular" champions in the same division, and all four bodies create "interim" titles when a champion is injured or inactive. When we write that a fight is "for the vacant WBA title" or "for the undisputed championship", the belts on the line are listed on the fight centre page so the stakes are clear.

There are 17 widely recognised professional divisions, from minimumweight (105 lb / 47.6 kg) up to heavyweight, which has no upper limit. Between them sit light-flyweight (108), flyweight (112), super-flyweight (115), bantamweight (118), super-bantamweight (122), featherweight (126), super-featherweight (130), lightweight (135), super-lightweight (140), welterweight (147), super-welterweight (154), middleweight (160), super-middleweight (168), light-heavyweight (175) and cruiserweight (200 lb / 90.7 kg). The WBC also recognises a bridgerweight class between cruiserweight and heavyweight, with a 224 lb limit, though the other bodies do not.

Some bodies use older names for the same limits — junior-welterweight for super-lightweight, for example — and British boxing still uses pounds, which is why weigh-in results are reported as "199 lb 8 oz". Heavyweights are often weighed in simply to record the number: a 270 lb heavyweight and a 230 lb heavyweight can meet with no limit involved.

There is no single home for boxing in Britain, so the broadcaster depends on the promoter. Matchroom's shows are streamed on DAZN; Queensberry cards have moved between Sky Sports, BT/TNT Sports and DAZN in recent years; Sky Sports still shows its own promotions and the biggest fights are sometimes sold as pay-per-view events on Sky Sports Box Office or DAZN PPV. Occasional cards are free to air on Channel 5 or ITV, and some global events are streamed on Netflix as part of a subscription rather than as a pay-per-view.

Because the arrangement changes from card to card, every fight centre on Dave.Sport states the UK broadcaster, the price if it is pay-per-view, and whether the undercard is on the same channel. Our boxing on TV guide lists what is on each day in UK time. The next headline fight we are covering is Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua on Friday 11 December 2026 at Principality Stadium, live on Netflix. Ring walk: Around 1am Saturday 12 December, expected not fixed; the contracts cap it at 2am.

A UK stadium or arena show usually runs its main event ring walk between 10pm and 11pm, with the first bell around 15 minutes after the fighters leave their dressing rooms. The time is fixed by the broadcaster's schedule and by the number of fights on the undercard, so it moves if an earlier bout ends quickly or goes the distance. When a British fight is sold to an American audience the main event is pushed later so it lands in US prime time, which is why some ring walks are advertised for after midnight. Fights staged in the Middle East or the United States are shown in the early hours of the morning in Britain.

Our fight centres carry the confirmed ring-walk window as the promoter announces it, and we update the page on the night if the running order slips. Venue curfews also matter: a council licence can force a stadium to be empty by a set time, which caps how late a ring walk can be.

A knockout (KO) is a fighter being put down and failing to beat the referee's count of ten, or being counted out after being unable to continue. A technical knockout (TKO) is the referee stopping the fight because a boxer is taking too much punishment, cannot defend himself or has been knocked down repeatedly — many jurisdictions apply a three-knockdown rule in one round. A retirement (RTD) is a corner pulling its fighter out between rounds, or a boxer declining to come out for the next round; the record shows it as a stoppage at the end of the previous round.

A disqualification (DQ) is awarded when a boxer commits repeated or serious fouls after warnings, and it counts as a win for the opponent. If an accidental clash of heads leaves a cut that stops the fight early, the result is a technical draw or a no contest when it happens before four rounds have been completed, and a technical decision on the scorecards after that. Our results tables use these standard abbreviations alongside the round in which the fight ended.

Boxers weigh in the day before the fight, usually at lunchtime, in front of the sanctioning body supervisor and the commission. A fighter who is over the limit is typically given two hours to make it; if they still cannot, the fight normally goes ahead but with consequences. The overweight boxer forfeits a share of their purse to the opponent, cannot win a title that was on the line, and the opponent can still win the belt by winning the fight. Some contracts also include a rehydration clause that limits how much weight a boxer can put back on by a second check on the morning of the fight.

The weigh-in is also where the final face-off happens, which is why it is covered as an event in itself. We report the official weights for both fighters on the fight centre, and we flag any missed weight because it changes what is at stake.

Professional boxing in the United Kingdom is regulated by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), which licenses boxers, trainers, promoters and officials, appoints referees and judges for domestic shows, sets medical requirements and sanctions every card staged in Britain. A fighter cannot box professionally in the UK without a Board licence, and the Board can suspend licences after a knockout or a failed medical.

The British title is the Board's championship in each division, with the Lord Lonsdale belt awarded to the champion; a boxer who wins and defends it three times keeps the belt outright. The Commonwealth title is contested between boxers from Commonwealth countries, and the European title is sanctioned by the European Boxing Union (EBU). The traditional ladder for a British prospect runs English or Celtic title, British, Commonwealth, European and then a world ranking, though well-backed fighters now skip steps.

Each sanctioning body ranks the contenders in its division, and the top-ranked available contender becomes the mandatory challenger: the champion must fight them within a set period, usually around a year, or give up the belt. If the champion and the challenger cannot agree terms, the body orders a purse bid, in which any licensed promoter can bid to stage the fight; the highest bid wins the rights and the purse is divided between the fighters on a fixed split that favours the champion. Fights that are not mandatory are voluntary defences, which is where the biggest money matches are negotiated between promoters.

The promoters in those negotiations are the companies that sign the fighters, book the venue, sell the tickets and agree the broadcast deal. Our promoter pages explain who each company is and who runs it, and our fight centres set out which promoters are staging each card and which belts, if any, are on the line.

A rematch clause is a line in the contract giving one boxer — usually the champion or the bigger draw — the right to an immediate return fight if they lose, on terms agreed in advance. It is why a surprise result is often followed by the same fight a few months later rather than a new challenger, and why we report whether a clause exists when a big fight is announced. A catchweight is a limit agreed between two divisions, say 164 lb between middleweight and super-middleweight, so that boxers from neighbouring classes can meet; sanctioning bodies generally will not put a world title on the line at a catchweight, so those fights are for pride and money rather than belts.

A tune-up or stay-busy fight is a bout against a lower-ranked opponent taken to shake off ring rust or fill a gap while a bigger fight is negotiated. Promoters also use "keep-busy" cards to give a prospect rounds. We label fights plainly on our fight nights listing so readers can tell a genuine title fight from a tune-up, and our boxer profiles show each fighter's full record with the result, method and round of every bout.