Bare-knuckle boxing
Bare-knuckle boxing is the original, now rather antequated form of
boxing, more closely-related to ancient
combat sports. It involves two individuals fighting without any gloves or other form of padding on their hands.
The practice of
Pygme Pyx dates back to
Ancient Greece. Specific standards for bare-fisted fighting began to form in the mid-
18th century when
Jack Broughton began to apply rules to make contests both safer and fairer. These rules dictated that a round ended when a fighter took a knee or was knocked down and failed to rise before the ten count. There was an unlimited number of untimed rounds, so the actual fight ended when a fighter could not get up before the count of ten or was unable to present himself to his opponent for the next round under his own power after thirty seconds of recovery.
Encyclopedia
Bare-knuckle boxing is the original, now rather antequated form of
boxing, more closely-related to ancient
combat sports. It involves two individuals fighting without any gloves or other form of padding on their hands.
The practice of
Pygme Pyx dates back to
Ancient Greece. Specific standards for bare-fisted fighting began to form in the mid-
18th century when
Jack Broughton began to apply rules to make contests both safer and fairer. These rules dictated that a round ended when a fighter took a knee or was knocked down and failed to rise before the ten count. There was an unlimited number of untimed rounds, so the actual fight ended when a fighter could not get up before the count of ten or was unable to present himself to his opponent for the next round under his own power after thirty seconds of recovery. This was how a majority of these massive bouts ended. At the height of bare-knuckle's popularity in the mid-
19th century, nightly fights lasting sixty to one hundred rounds or more were not uncommon.
By the
20th century, the practice had all but disappeared, replaced by its much more regulated descendent, modern gloved
boxing. However, some underground bare-knuckle clubs still exist. Many small venues appeared in the late
1990s and early
2000s; Many people cite the movie
Fight ClubThroughout the book, Palahniuk writes the name of the club in lower case....
as inspiration for this.
Notable bare-knuckle boxers
...
See also
- List of bare-knuckle boxers
- London Prize Ring rules
External links
