# Boxing Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-question/735228
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [October 20, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-question/735228 "2015-10-20T13:34:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-question/735228/1 "2015-10-20T13:34:53Z")
I don’t watch a lot of boxing, but seeing it occasionally I’ve noticed that in each round the boxers get an audible warning when 10 seconds are left - it sounds like somebody pounding on the mat.
Is this new or has it always been around? I don’t recall it in the long-ago past, but given the advances in TV coverage maybe it was always there and I just couldn’t detect it.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-question/735228/2 "2015-10-20T13:45:47Z")
Started in 80s that I recall. It’s usually someone pounding on the mat, but in some places they have distinct electronic ringer, different from the bell, and others they clack a couple of pieces of wood together. The idea is to give the fighters and the ref a warning that the round is ending to avoid fighting continuing after the bell. Often the result is boxers winging a bunch of punches to try to steal the round. Often that’s something they start at about the 2:30 mark which resulted in another rule that the corners can’t signal the time to their fighters. Even after audible signals were cracked down on they started using tactics like having a cornerman turn his hat around backwards at particular time.
All in all this has done little or nothing to improve boxing. Just a couple of weeks ago I saw a fight where the length of rounds and the time between rounds was mistimed, accurate times would make a bigger difference. In one case it led to a heavyweight championship being won by Greg Page with a knockout over Gerrie Coetzee at about 4 minutes into the 8th round.
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-question/735228/3 "2015-10-20T14:14:45Z")
It’s usually the wooden clapper that I notice and they’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. As like most boxing rules, it was probably implemented at various times by the various organizations. Even most MMA fights us a 10 second warning now.