It's fast! It's furious! It'll knock your socks off!
Ro-Boxing is the sport everyone loves to get carried away for!

Ro-Boxing is popular throughout the World but Robot City Citizens have a special affinity for it as it originated there. Starting out as an entertaining diversion in the Robot City railyards in the 1920's it quickly spread. The Official Boxing Associations moved swiftly to incorporate it into their programmes realising that they could capatilise on its popularity and at the same time provide necessary safety regulations. In 1935 the World Robot Boxing Council ( WRB ) was formed to regulate and control Ro-Boxing throughout the Globe. It's headquarters are in Robot City but the Council members are from all over the World.

The WRB expects a high level of civic responsibilty from Ro-Boxers and may revoke a Robots Boxing License if they are deemed to have conducted themselves in an unsuitable manner that brings the sport into disrepute.

The top Ro-Boxers are celebrities and can command vast amounts for fights or appearances. Ro-Boxers are pretty durable and their careers last in general three or four times longer than those of their Human counterparts. When Robots first started boxing they weren't constructed specifically for Boxing...some of them just discovered they had a talent for it. With the advent of regulated Ro-Boxing many gyms found that more and more Robots were turning up for coaching advice. Boxing coaches quickly realised that they had to not only have medical knowledge but also engineering expertise in order to carry on as Boxing coaches.

Today many Ro-Boxers are constructed specifically for Boxing. A few years back it looked like Ro-Boxing would be overtaken by a generation of Designer Ro-Boxers with the success of Robots like the Dragon City Champion "Smokin Jones". Ro-Boxing purists were pleased by the recent success of the Ro-Boxers coming out of Ed Warner's "Wrecking Crew" and also the resurgence of the ever popular Robot City Champion "Smash Harry".

If you want to catch a Ro-Boxing fight the place to go in Robot City is the Robot City Coliseum on Automated Avenue. The Coliseum hosts Regular and Robot Boxing matches every week and has been the scene of some of the most jaw droppingly thrilling World Championship Fights ever. The present day Coliseum is built on the site of "Romeo's Gym" which was set up by former Light Heavy Weight Champion Romeo D'Arienzo in 1885. By 1925 it was not only being used as a training gym but also as a venue for boxing matches. It held the first Official Robot City Ro-Boxing Championship in 1930 and it was from there that the movement to form the WRB began.

Romeo's Gym survived City development and slum clearances but in 1952 it was bought by the City who demolished it along with a number of surrounding properties in order to start work on the 70,000 seat Coliseum. Although from time to time the Coliseum is used for concerts it has found that Boxing and more specifically Ro-Boxing is so popular it doesn't need to put on many other events.

Tickets can be purchased from the Box Office or at an Official Robot City Ticket Outlet. Touts do operate outside the Coliseum but the City and the WRB Authorities do not recommend using them. Betting is allowed within the Coliseum but not diectly outside it.

If you turn up on Fight Night at the Coliseum you will be amazed not only by the Boxers but also by the incredible fans they attract. Don't be surprised to see both Robots and People getting dressed up like their favourite Ro-Boxers.

Although the fans are truly fanatical in their obsessive support for a particular Robot there is very little violence amongst the crowd with oppossing fans mixing freely. The major exeption to this was the infamous night of the "Robot City Official Accountants Amateur Ro-Boxing Championship" when rival groups of drunk accountants took part in a night of mayhem that nearly caused City authorities to close the Coliseum. So much damage was done that City Accountants still have to give up one day a year for community work as a penance.

The rioting was put down to a mixture of alcohol and stress bought on by a change in the City Tax Filing Deadline. Alcohol is now banned at any Official Robot City Accountants Boxing Nights.

Rules

In Ro-Boxing there are no weight or gender divisions. A Robot may not fight a Human unless it is for the purposes of an "exhibition" match. The matches are always to be refereed by Humans. The judging panel can have a mixture of Humans and Robots but must have at least one Human and one Robot on it.

Bouts will have a limit of 15 rounds with each round lasting 3 minutes. The winner will be decided on points awarded by the judges or on a "knock out". A "knock out" shall be deemed to be when the Robot cannot re-boot within 8 seconds of the referees count.
The referee may at his own discression stop the fight if he feels that the Robot has suffered damage that may lead to a complete system failure.

The Robot competitor is allowed 3 Seconds in his corner at least one of which must be a Human. The corner will only be allowed to administer basic repairs between rounds. No software modifications may be made during the rounds. An engineer, a doctor and a fire crew must be present or the fight shall not be allowed to proceed. The Robots must wear regulation boxing gloves. These are to be fitted in the prescence of the referee. Robots should only wear "competition gloves" during an official match. "Training Gloves" may be worn for training purposes but during everyday activity Robots should fit their regular hands. There is no hitting below the belt allowed. Robots may employ their special abilities but must register them before the fight otherwise they shall be disqualified if they use them.