I've always understood it to mean that you put an arbitrary deadline on the issue. ie "If I have not solved this by 12:15, I'll get help/move on". I'm not sure

I've always understood it to mean that you put an arbitrary deadline on the issue. ie "If I have not solved this by 12:15, I'll get help/move on". I'm not sure why it's called "boxing time" and I could be totally off base, but it makes sense.