Just curious: Why do male boxers fight with no shirts?
Freedom of movement?
Heat, chafing, obstruction, freedom of movement?
they do, in the olympics. as for pros, comfort?
Thanks guys. Makes sense to me.
Same reason some female dancers go topless: show off their physiques. 
I don’t remember for sure now, but don’t Olympic and some amateur boxers wear shirts?
Could a pro boxer show up to fight with a shirt? I am thinking something really tight of some ultra sheer fabric that would deflect some blows.
Because it’s a “gay” sport.
Two guys sans shirts, wearing satin shorts, fighting over a belt.
And the winner gets a purse!
So that they can “grease up”. Boxers slather themselves heavily with all manner of lubricants (okay, mostly Vaseline) before they enter the ring, so that punches that connect any way other than squarely will slide off, causing minimal damage. A shirt provides friction and defeats that purpose.
Despite the name, “Under Armor” isn’t really Kevlar.
There are some (probably most) amateur rules that require the use of “singlets” in amatuer fights, but for pros they’re pretty much prohibited across the board. I can see some reasoning behind requiring them for amatuers, like more easlily identifying the fighter’s corner, distinguishing the amatuer fighter, showing club affiliation, etc. If you’re not required to wear one, though, I can’t think of any good reason to do so except maybe lessening rope burn, which tends to be the last thing on your mind when a pro boxer is hammering you. Just something else to get hot and uncomfortable and dripping with sweat, maybe even obscuring where your belt line is.
Well professional wrestlers are shirtless but why not the Olympic ones?
What I fail to see is the Women’s Volleyball. I mean COME ONE like the women need to be in those skimpy bikinis. Not that I mind but there is NO need for them to be wearing that. The men in pro volleyball are usually shirtless but not all of them which proves they don’t need to be.
I suspect, at least in volleyball, the men and women don’t need to wear what they do.
That takes care of my idea, I guess. I was thinking of the American Football uniforms, but I can’t imagine any fabric being more slippery than Vaseline.
On the other hand, it’s summer and you’re on the beach. Why wouldn’t you want to wear as little as possible?
I agree. I don’t understand why tops, or even bottoms for that matter, are required in women’s volleyball. The sport would be more successful without them.
World Boxing Organization, Regulations of World Championship Contests:
World Boxing Association, Championship Rules:
Summer, on the beach–with a toned, athletic body. Why the heck not wear as little as possible?
Boxers do not grease up. They’re allowed to lube up their faces, but like Walloon said. . .nothing else. Greasing the face helps prevent cuts. Boxing cuts tend to happen when a glove slides across the face, and the friction stretches the skin so extremely that it literally pulls the skin apart (that and head-butts, and elbows). You don’t need to grease a body to prevent that. I’ve NEVER seen a cut body in a fight.
I can’t imagine any shirt that a boxer would wear in the ring that would deflect and/or absorb a blow. Are you thinking “mithril” or something?
Basically, the answer seems to be “because they don’t have to”. I’d go with shagnasty’s guess. . .you sweat a ton when you’re boxing.
In amateur boxing, they wear different colored shirts. I’m sure it helps to distinguish them to the judges, especially since they need to wear head gear. And, the fighters might not be as well know to the judges as pros. They also only fight 3 rounds, typically.
Why would grease/Vaseline be forbidden on the legs? They aren’t a legal target anyway.
A better question might be. . .why would anyone want to put vaseline on their legs.
But anyway. . .boxers legs and bodies touch the canvas when they go down. You don’t want vaseline all over the canvas.
yes, sometimes their faces his the canvas too, but I assume that in that case, the small amount of vaseline that might be on a canvas isn’t enough to counteract the negative effects on a fight that cuts have.
Blood is fun, but cuts stop fights.