A century or so ago, boxing matches had no time limit. A fight continued until one of the boxers was knocked out or gave up.
The first boxing match with three minute rounds wasn’t fought until 1872, in England, and the first heavyweight championship bout fought with gloves and three minute rounds didn’t take place until 20 years later.
Before that, in 1855, two boxers fought a match in Australia that lasted 6 hours and 15 minutes. And in 1825, two boxers in England battled for a total of 276 rounds.
But rounds, too, were different in those days. A round ended as soon as one of the boxers fell down or was knocked down.
The longest fight that did have three-minute rounds was fought in New Orleans in 1893, between Andy Bowen and Jack Burke. This fight lasted 110 rounds, or seven hours and 19 minutes, and ended in a draw when both boxers refused to go on.
A boxing platform is called a ring because in ancient times, Roman boxers fought on a circular platform.
Concerning the two fighters who battles on for 110 rounds and 7 hours and 19 minutes:
After all of this time and effort spent the fight ended as a draw since they both refused to continue. It was all a waste.
One of them never fought again, and the other fought only once more as he was killed in the 18th round.
This fight is considered by many as the end of 100 round bouts, not long after this they scheduled a round limit before the bout would take place. Usually only 20 round, but some times as much as 45.
Boxing would however never be the same after this incident.