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CNN Live At Daybreak

Ask CNN: Where Did Boxing Originate?

Aired July 30, 2001 - 07:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TERENCE TURNER, CARROLLTON, GEORGIA: Hi, my name is Terence Turner. I am from Carrollton, Georgia. And I would like to Ask CNN: Where did boxing originate?

CHARLES PANATI, AUTHOR, "EXTRAORDINARY ORIGIN OF EVERYDAY THINGS": Boxing goes back to 1500 BC Greece where men actually wrapped their hands in soft leather straps to box. It was introduced into the Olympics in 688 as a major sport. When the Romans picked it up, they made it brutal. They added brass nuggets to the knuckles and Christianity put an end to that brutality. It reemerged again in England in the 700s. First, in a bare-fisted way, but then in the next century, the Marquee of Queensbury civilized it by introducing the Queensbury Boxing Rules and that's basically the origin of modern boxing.

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