How many rounds are there in Olympic boxing at Tokyo 2020?
Boxing is an ever-popular event at the Olympics but the format is slightly different to the biggest fights around the world.
Boxing is a peculiar sport at the Olympic Games. Throughout history it has been a breeding ground for some of the biggest names in the business with only amateurs allowed to compete.
However, a trickle of professionals have entered the boxing contests in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 but the format on offer is a very different one.
While the biggest boxing match-ups could be over in a matter of seconds, the top men's heavyweight bouts do traditionally last 12 rounds, but that isn't the case with boxing at the Olympics.
RadioTimes.com brings you up to speed with boxing at the Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo, in particular, how many rounds are in each contest.
How many rounds are there in Olympic boxing?
Men and women are subjected to the same format with just three rounds to navigate. Each round lasts three minutes, meaning matches are wrapped up within 10 minutes.
Of course, a heavy hit knockout blow will immediately end the contest sooner than the full three rounds.
The reason for the shorter rounds relates to the fact that unlike big PPV professional fights, Olympic boxers are subjected to numerous matches in a short space of time.
There are 13 weight divisions in Olympic boxing and all but one of them start with a Round of 32. That means for a boxer to go from entering the contest to winning it, they would have to win five matches.
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Five matches with a maximum of three rounds each takes their potential workload up to 15 rounds across approximately two weeks.
That's a far more sustainable workload than if the boxers were subjected to 12-round fights, five times in the tournament, equating to 60 rounds!
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Authors
Michael Potts is the Sport Editor for Radio Times, covering all of the biggest sporting events across the globe with previews, features, interviews and more. He has worked for Radio Times since 2019 and previously worked on the sport desk at Express.co.uk after starting his career writing features for What Culture. He achieved a first-class degree in Sports Journalism in 2014.