When you’re watching your first boxing event, you might be wondering why you spent hours watching preliminary bouts while waiting for the main card event.
If you stayed since the beginning of the event, your favorite boxer won’t enter the ring for at least four hours.
Though most people only watch the main event, you should still watch some of the other fighters compete before the headline fight.
So what does “main card” mean in boxing? Keep reading to find out!
What Does “Main Card” Mean In Boxing?
“Main card” means the final fight of the night in a boxing event.
Boxing refers to the “card” as the complete list and schedule of fights on a specific night.
It’s the focal point of the night and includes well-known fighters in a championship fight, title defenses, or high-profile anticipated fights between superstars.
Sometimes it’s the newer chapter of a big rivalry or it could be a featuring a boxer new to a weight class challenging for the title.
Promoters set the complete list of matches by importance and hype in ascending order to get the maximum turnout of audience and pay per view hits, especially for championship matches.
These are the fights you see in Las Vegas with fans slowly filling in the venue, waiting for the headline bout.
When there are co-main events in the main card, where there are multiple high-profile matches or title defenses in the same night, this becomes a “supercard”.
How Many Rounds Are In A Main Card Fight?
A main card is typically scheduled for twelve rounds: three minutes each with one minute of rest in between rounds.
The limit used to be at fifteen rounds, but that was reduced to twelve rounds after the Ray Mancini-Duk Koo Kim fight in 1982 to protect vulnerable boxers during later rounds.
Even though it’s the last fight, it can be over in seconds with a quick knockout, or it can take over an hour to finish in an all-out brawl.
For example, Phil Williams’ knockout against Brandon Burke happened after ten seconds in the first round of the fight.
On the other hand, the famous “Thrilla in Manila” fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier lasted fourteen grueling rounds.
After this fight, Ali was quoted as saying that it was the “closest he had ever come to dying.”
For some fighters, it will be their first time going for a full twelve rounds, while other fighters have been pushed to that limit before.
Either way, boxers have to save their energy and plan a strategy for the later rounds if they can’t knock their opponent out.
What Are The Fights Before The Main Card?
The fight before the main card is known as the undercard fight.
Because these fights are not as anticipated, they are shorter than the main card fight.
While the main card can go for twelve rounds, undercard fights can go anywhere from four to eight rounds depending on the experience and skill levels of the boxers involved.
This allows promoters to put multiple matches on air, give people enough time to enter the arena before the main draw, and build anticipation for the main card fights.
Usually the fights are separated by the different weight classes of the fighters involved. Heavier boxers generally more anticipated bouts and lighter boxers are usually on the lower card.
These undercard fights can also be title events for up-and-coming fighters or for fighters in lower weight classes.
An undercard features newer fighters who will become main event fighters later on in their career, so they’re worth watching too.
Every champion you look up to today had undercard fights before they had a chance to challenge the title.
Conclusion
Now that you know how the main card in a boxing event works, we hope that you’ll appreciate the up-and-coming boxers as well as your favorites.
If you want to see the future champions and stars of boxing, you should pay more attention to the undercard. Or you can choose to show up to the event just in time for the main event.
Either way, you’ll get to see exciting fights between accomplished fighters.
If you’re having trouble deciding what boxing equipment to get, check out these articles: