Amateur boxing is practised at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 and Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....

, and in many other venues sponsored by amateur boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration and fighters wear head protection, so this type of competition prizes point-scoring (based on number of clean punches landed) rather than physical power. Bouts comprise three rounds of three minutes in men, and four rounds of two minutes in women, each with a one-minute interval between rounds.

Men's senior bouts changed in format from four, two minute rounds to three, three minute rounds on January 1, 2009.
Competitors wear protective headgear and gloves with a white strip across the knuckle.