1. three minutes
   ten minutes
2. twelve minutes
   thirty minutes

Rounds are usually three minutes, with a minute's rest in between. Boxing gyms often have a timer you can set for two- or three-minute rounds, the shorter time being easier for fighters still getting into shape.

1. cut man
   corner man
2. mediator
   pastor

The "corner" is where the fighter retreats to between rounds; literally, it's the corner of the ring. Therefore, this is also the nickname of the coach or fellow fighter who helps and advises him.

1. technical knockout
   tentative knockout
2. total knockout
   two kicks only

A "technical knockout" happens a fighter isn't literally sent to the mat, but cannot continue fighting due to injuries or altered mental state.

1. a count of three
   a count of ten
2. sixty seconds
   This is up to the referee.

If a boxer cannot rise by the end of a referee's ten-count, his or her opponent has won the fight by a knockout. This comes directly from the Marquess of Queensberry rules.

1. two
   three
2. five
   six

Three knockdowns are a common reason for a TKO being called. A fighter who is knocked down that many times in under three minutes clearly isn't in any shape to keep fighting.

1. because not all fights end in a knockout or TKO
   to judge the artistic merit of a fighter's style
2. to second-guess the referee's decisions
   to make sure cornermen don't interfere

Fights that don't end decisively, in knockouts or TKOs, need judges to decide the winner. The judges count the blows successfully landed by each fighter and use that as the basis of declaring a winner. Some ringside reporters perform this function informally, telling viewers at home who they saw as winning the bout.

1. a draw
   a technical victory
2. a minority report
   a split decision

When the third judge scores the fight in favor of a different fighter, that's a split decision. When two judges find one fighter to be a winner, but the third considers the fight a draw, that's called a majority decision. Both are wins for the fighter with two judges on his side.

1. three
   five
2. eight
   twelve

A standing eight count is used to determine if a fighter who is still on his or her feet is alert enough to continue. Not all boxing associations still have a standing eight count in their rules.

1. Max Baer
   Joe Louis
2. John L. Sullivan
   Marvin Hagler

Sullivan was known as the "Boston Strongboy." Although his lengthy boxing career did include fighting with gloves and fighting under Queensberry rules, he's best known for the more colorful, less legal parts of his career -- his bare-knuckles bouts and the tours where he'd challenge anyone in a crowd to fight him.

1. They were afraid of being hit.
   It was a way of inviting the opponent to attack first.
2. They thought it looked impressive.
   Without gloves, they needed to use their forearms to absorb blows.

In the bare-knuckles era, fighters used their forearms to intercept blows, leading to the fighting stance that now looks comic to us. The introduction of 10- or 12-ounce gloves allowed boxers to lean forward more aggressively, trusting the gloves to block blows from the opponent.

1. their belts
   their hats
2. a pocket watch
   a wristwatch

Though it would be a good origin story for why boxers compete for belts, the correct answer is a hat. Nowadays, someone who wants to run for office or be considered for a promotion at work is "throwing their hat in the ring."

1. Council of Trent
   International Olympic Commission
2. Marquess of Queensberry
   Sullivan

The rules weren't written by the Marquess of Queensberry, but published under his "patronage." They were created in 1867 to legitimize the then-free-for-all sport.

1. the back of the head
   below the belt
2. right on the nose
   right on the mouth

The lower body is not a target in boxing. Both the expressions "hitting below the belt" and "low blow" come from boxing, and mean unfair or ungentlemanly behavior.

1. the fight card
   a daisy
2. his hat
   a towel

Before a towel, a sponge used to be used -- both were handy at ringside for cleaning fighters up between rounds. The towel seems to have been adopted out of convenience, not chosen for any particular symbolism.

1. cruiserweight
   light heavyweight
2. flyweight
   gnatweight

There are several funny-sounding weight classes in the various governing bodies of boxing -- including, and we're not making this up --"atomweight." But "gnatweight" isn't one of them.

1. light heavyweight
   cruiserweight
2. welterweight
   middleweight

The cruiserweight class is relatively new, in use since 1980. Evander Holyfield fought as both a cruiserweight and a heavyweight.

1. 220 lbs
   260 lbs
2. "too heavy to fight effectively"
   There is no upper limit.

In most of the sport's governing bodies, heavyweight does not have an upper weight limit. It's for any fighter over 200 lbs, the weight limit for the class below.

1. for their own research purposes
   so the information can be recorded for posterity
2. It's the most important pre-fight publicity event.
   Heavyweights don't do weigh-ins.

The weigh-in is where a fighter is photographed by the media, stares down his opponent, and trash-talks about how he's going to hit the other guy so hard half his houseplants will die. (We wish we coined that phrase, but it was the late great crime novelist, James Crumley).

1. Jack Johnson
   Joe Louis
2. Michael Spinks
   Mike Tyson

Ken Burns made "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" about Johnson, the son of former slaves who became the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world.

1. Joe Louis
   Gene Tunney
2. Jake LaMotta
   Rocky Marciano

Joe Louis was African-American and Schmeling was seen (unfairly) as the Nazi Party's fighter. For this reason, their two fights were sensationalized. However, Schmeling had no love for Hitler, and he and Louis were even friends in their retired years.

1. Muhammad Ali and George Foreman
   Michael Spinks and Joe Frazier
2. Joe Frazier and George Foreman
   Gene Tunney and Max Baer

Foreman and Ali met in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ali won the match, and never gave Foreman a rematch -- which is, in its way, a compliment.

1. Cassius Clay
   Joseph Johnson
2. Michael Attick
   Michael King

Ali won the gold medal in boxing, in 1960, under the name Cassius Clay. He changed it when he converted to Islam later in life.

1. 1971
   1987
2. 1993
   2012

In 2012, British boxer Nicola Adams won gold in London, and repeated the feat in Rio in 2016. She has since turned professional.

1. lineal championship
   morganatic championship
2. monarchic championship
   succession

Not all fighters can win a "lineal championship," which means taking the belt away from the last fighter to hold it. If a champion retires, or otherwise cannot fight again, a new championship bout must be fought between two contenders.

1. bubble
   edge
2. go
   ropes

The image is of a boxer who has been backed up onto the ropes by the blows of an opponent. The exception would be Muhammad Ali, or someone using his techniques. He liked to lean back on the ropes while in a defensive position.

1. pound-for-pound
   down for the count
2. according to Hoyle
   glass jaw

"Pound-for-pound" refers to fighters needing to be in the same weight class to be fairly compared to each other. "Down for the count" refers to the ten-count a referee gives a boxer that has been knocked down, and a "glass jaw" means you don't take a punch very well. But "according to Hoyle" refers to the rules of card games, not of boxing.

1. Heavyweight
   Pugilism World
2. The Ring
   KO Magazine

The Ring goes back to 1922. It used to boast that it was "safe for a man to take home ... it is clean." which tells you something about the moral state of the boxing world at that time.

1. Oscar de la Hoya
   Marvin Hagler
2. Mchael Spinks
   Mike Tyson

De La Hoya's nickname reflects, in part, that he comes from a family of boxers -- but was clearly surpassing his elders at an early age. He may also be the only fighter to be embroiled in a controversy over cross-dressing, when photographs supposedly showing him dressed as a woman appeared online. (They appeared to be done with photo-editing software).

1. bobbing
   weaving
2. riding
   rolling

A boxer could do worse than to have a good understanding of physics. While crowds might appreciate a fighter who stands firm, leading with his chin, it's wiser to let your body absorb the energy of a blow, "rolling" with it.

1. F. Scott Fitzgerald
   Ernest Hemingway
2. Victor Hugo
   James Joyce

Though his writing was obviously excellent, part of the Hemingway mystique came from the way he lived the things he wrote about -- like hunting, fishing and boxing.

1. Michael Spinks
   George Foreman
2. Lennox Lewis
   Mike Tyson

Foreman, who unlike many pro fighters projects amiability, is both a minister and an inventor. He created the George Foreman Grill and sold the naming rights to it for $138 million.

1. Holly Holm
   Lennox Lewis
2. Manny Pacquiao
   Mike Tyson

Many fighters experiment with acting, rapping or inspirational speaking after their boxing careers. You've got to hand it to Pacquaio -- his leap to basketball, in his native Philippines -- was an original move.

1. Laila Ali
   Holly Holm
2. Christy Martin
   Claressa Shields

Holly Holm stunned the world by beating the undefeated Rousey in 2015. Despite her boxing background, Holm won the fight via a high kick.

1. Roberto Duran
   Jake LaMotta
2. Joe Louis
   Max Schmeling

Robert DeNiro played LaMotta. He trained with the boxer himself, who obviously was agreeable to his life story being told on screen.

1. Raging Bull
   Million Dollar Baby
2. Rocky
   both #2 and #3

"Raging Bull" star Robert DeNiro won Best Actor. However, the Best Picture award went to "Ordinary People."