Moscow witnessed the biggest boxing brawl in the history of the sport. Some 1200 boxers were involved in the event and they’re believed to have set a world record.
600 members of the yellow team were pitted against 600 members of black team. The entire event took place in an open field outside Moscow and it was meant to honor Ivan the Terrible.
The name of the event was “Walk the Field.”
Ivan the Terrible defended Moscow’s honor 450 years ago in the battle of Molodi which inspired these brawlers to take up arms.
Athletes were gathered on two walls opposite one another and ran towards each other as the battle started.
In any such brawl the rules are a concern, considering there’s no way to enforce them. As such there were no written rules for the match.
Participants did not appear in proper gear. Some of them wore protective gear. The camera footage showed that all competitors wore gloves and punched each other wildly.
‘Pay attention to the right side of the screen, one dude in black breaks ranks and just starts handing out naps to people. What a chad,’ one Reddit user posted after watching the carnage.
‘That’s nothing. Before they all meet in the middle there’s a guy in yellow who goes it alone about 30 yards in front of the rest of his yellow team,’ posted another.
The combatants created a mess around cameramen in a chaotic brawl where no one knew what to do. Most participants threw punches at each other and, in response, got the same treatment.
It’s unclear why they opted to honor Ivan the Terrible in such an unusual way. Ivan the Terrible is famous for defending Moscow against the invader Crimean Khanate. The Russian had a small force compared to Khanate, but they had the will to hold their ground. 25,000 Russian defeated 40,000 troops of the Crimean Khanate.
Regardless of the history, it’s unclear what prompted the participants to take it to such an exaggerated level.