Prize fights have attracted participants and spectators primarily from the working class. The bouts of this era resembled street fights more than modern boxing, but by the 1940s, the sport became organised into a major business.

India is a regular medal holder at the Asian games and Commonwealth games. Mohammad Ali Qamar became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the 2002 commonwealth games in Manchester, UK.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender Singh won a bronze medal in the middleweight boxing category, while Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar qualified for the quarter finals. Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar, A.L. Lakra, and Dinesh Kumar each won a bronze medal at the 2008 world championship.

India’s MC Mary Kom is a 5 times world Amateur boxing champion, and the only women boxer to have won a medal in each one of the 6 world championships. She also became the first Indian women boxer to get a gold medal at the Asian games during the 2014 Asian games at Incheon, South Korea.

5 Indian boxers, 3 females and 2 males, were among the worlds top 3 in AIBA latest world rankings (March 1, 2014) in their respective