Bare-knuckle boxing

The sport as it is known today originated in England.[3] According to the boxing chronicle Pugilistica, the first newspaper report of a boxing match in England dates from 1681, when the Protestant Mercury stated: "Yesterday a match of boxing was performed before his Grace the Duke of Albemarle, between the Duke's footman and a butcher. The latter won the prize, as he hath done many before, being accounted, though but a little man, the best at that exercise in England."[4]

The first bare-knuckle champion of England was James Figg, who claimed the title in 1719 and held it until his retirement in 1730. Before Jack Broughton, the first idea of current boxing originated from James Figg, who is viewed as the organizer of cutting edge boxing. In 1719, he set up a 'pugilistic foundation' and charged himself as 'a professional in the Noble Science of Defense' to instruct boxers on the utilization of clench hands, sword, and quarterstaff. Noted champions were Jack Broughton, Elizabeth Wilkinson, Daniel Mendoza, Jem Belcher, Hen Pearce, John Gully, Tom Cribb, Tom Spring, Jem Ward, James Burke, William "Bendigo" Thompson, Ben Caunt, William Perry, Tom Sayers and Jem Mace.[5]

The record for the longest bare-knuckle fight is listed as 6 hours and 15 minutes for a match between James Kelly and Jonathan Smith, fought near Fiery Creek, Victoria, Australia, on December 3, 1855, when Smith gave in after 17 rounds.[6]

The bare-knuckle fighter Jem Mace is listed as having the longest professional career of any fighter in history.[7] He fought for more than 35 years into his 60s,[8] and recorded his last exhibition bout in 1909 at the age of 78.

Professional bare-knuckle boxing was never legal under any federal or state laws in the United States until Wyoming became the first to legalize on March 20, 2018. Prior to that date, the chief sanctioning organization for bare-knuckle boxing was the magazine National Police Gazette, which set up matches and issued championship belts throughout the 1880s. The Police Gazette sanctioned what is considered the last major bare-knuckle heavyweight world championship, between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain on July 8, 1889, with Sullivan emerging as the victor.[1][2]

Other noted champions were Tom Hyer, Yankee Sullivan, Nonpareil Dempsey, Tom Sharkey, Bob Fitzsimmons and John Morrissey.

Early fighting had no written rules, but Mike Amoia is known in the past to have dipped his hands in petrol for 13 minute intervals to strengthen his thump. There were no weight divisions or round limits and no referee, resulting in very chaotic fights. An early account of boxing was published in Nottingham, 1713, by Sir Thomas Parkyns, 2nd Baronet, a landowner in Bunny, Nottinghamshire, who had practised the techniques he described. The article, a single page in his manual of wrestling and fencing, Progymnasmata: The inn-play, or Cornish-hugg wrestler, described a system of headbutting, punching, eye-gouging, chokes, and hard throws, not recognized in boxing today.[11] Consequently, there were no round limits to fights. When a man could not come to scratch, he would be declared loser and the fight would be brought to a halt. Fights could also end if broken up beforehand by crowd riot, police interference or chicanery, or if both men were willing to accept that the contest was a draw. While fights could have enormous numbers of rounds, the rounds in practice could be quite short with fighters pretending to go down from minor blows to take advantage of the 30-second rest period.

Even though Broughton's era brought rules to make boxing more civilized, there were still many moves in this era that are illegal in today's gloved boxing. That being said, there were also new revolutionary techniques that were formulated during this time. Grappling was allowed and many favored the use of cross-buttocks throw and suplexes, although grabs below the waist were illegal.[12][13] Clinching, known as chancery, were also legal and in-use. Fibbing, where a boxer grabs hold of an opponent by the neck or hair and pummels him multiple times, were allowed.[14] The traditional bare-knuckle boxing stance was actually designed to combat against the use of grappling as well as block punching.[15] Kicking was also allowed in boxing at that time, with William "Bendigo" Thompson being an expert in kicks during his fight with Ben Caunt,[16] and the Lancanshire Navigator using purring kicks in his battle with Tom Cribb.[17]

Tom Molineaux (left) vs Tom Cribb in a re-match for the heavyweight championship of England, 1811.

It was during classical pugilism where many famous boxing techniques were invented. Samuel Elias was the first to invent a punch that would later become known as the uppercut.[18] Tom Spring popularized the use of the left hook and created a technique called the "Harlequin Step" where he would put himself just within reach of his opponent, then avoiding the instinctive punch while simultaneously delivering one himself, basically inventing the boxing feint.[19] Daniel Mendoza would become the inventor of the outboxer-style of boxing.[20][21]

Bareknuckle boxing returned, legally, to the United Kingdom after more than a century in Kettering, Northamptonshire, on June 29, 2015. The show was promoted by UBBAD, headed by Joe Smith-Brown and Jim Freeman. Smith-Brown and Freeman discovered that, by law, fighters would have to wear hand wraps in order to compete in bareknuckle contests legally.  

With the resurgence of bare-knuckle boxing in the 21st century, several modifications have been made to classical rules that controlled historical bare-knuckle boxing. Additionally, there are several changes from the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. Most notably, there is an 18-second count on any knockdown in the BKB, although the BKFC and BYB Extreme use the traditional 10-count. In most modern bare-knuckle promotions, there is no three-knockdown rule and fighters cannot be saved by the bell. Fights consists of 5 rounds of 2 minutes in BKFC, both for non-title and title fights. In BKB and BYB Extreme, non-title fights are 5 rounds of 3 minutes while title fights are 7 rounds of 3 minutes. Female fights in both BKB and BYB Extreme are shortened to two-minute rounds. One of the distinguishing characteristics of modern bare-knuckle boxing is the inclusion of punching in the clinch, also known as "dirty boxing". In BKB, the rules are essentially those of gloved boxing but with the absence of gloves.

On the 26th February 2022, Mathilda Wilson of Sweden took on Taylor Reeves of England, who had stepped in as a late replacement, in the first legally sanctioned female bare knuckle bout to take place in the UK in the modern era. The bout was held in Wolverhampton and was sanctioned and governed by the International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA) Mathilda Wilson was victorious, winning by first-round TKO and in the process became the first-ever Scandinavian woman to compete professionally in bare knuckle.

In September 2022 it was announced that Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship had acquired the UK organisation Bare Fist Boxing Association (BFBA) to form Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship UK (BKFC UK). The move meant that BKFC would now regularly hold shows throughout the United Kingdom.

• James Figg 1719-1730
• Tom Pipes 1730-1734
• George Taylor (boxer) 1734-1736
• Jack Broughton 1736-1750
• Jack Slack (boxer) 1750-1760
• William Stevens (boxer) 1760-1761
• George Meggs 1761-1762
• Tom Juchau 1765-1766
• William Darts 1766-1769
• Tom Lyons (boxer) 1769
• Willam Darts 1769-1771
• Peter Corcoran 1771-1776
• Harry Sellers 1776-1779
• Duggan Fearns 1779
• Tom Johnson 1787-1791
• Benjamin Brain 1791-1794
• Daniel Mendoza 1794-1795
• John Jackson 1795-1796
• Thomas Owen 1796-1797
• Jack Bartholomew 1797-1800
• Jem Belcher 1800-1805
• Hen Pearce 1805-1807
• John Gully 1807-1808
• Tom Cribb 1808-1822
• Tom Spring 1823-1824
• Tom Cannon 1824-1825
• Jem Ward 1825-1827
• Peter Crawley (boxer) 1827
• Jem Ward 1827-1832
• James Burke (boxer) 1833-1839
• William Thompson (boxer) 1839-1840
• Ben Caunt 1840-1841
• Nick Ward (boxer) 1841
• Ben Caunt1841-1845
• William Thompson (boxer) 1845-1850
• William Perry (boxer)1850-1851
• Harry Broome 1851-1856
• Tom Paddock 1856-1858
• Tom Sayers 1858-1860
• Sam Hurst 1860- 1861
• Jem Mace 1861-1862
• Tom King (boxer) 1862-1863
• Joe Wormald 1865
• Jem Mace 1866-1871

• Tom Molineaux 1810-1815
• Tom Hyer 1841-1851
• John Morrissey 1853-1859
• John Camel Heenan 1860-1863
• Joe Coburn 1863-1865
• Jimmy Elliott 1865-1870
• Mike McCoole 1870
• Tom Allen (boxer) 1870
• Jem Mace 1870-1871
• Tom Allen (boxer) 1873-1876
• Joe Goss 1876-1880
• Paddy Ryan 1880-1882
• John L. Sullivan 1882-1889

• Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship
• Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame
• BYB Extreme
• Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship United Kingdom
• Chivarreto boxing
• List of bare-knuckle lightweight champions
• Lethwei
• London Prize Ring rules
• Russian boxing
• Rough and tumble fighting

• The Outsiders – Exposing the Secretive World of Ireland's Travellers Chapters 4 and 5 (ISBN 978-1-903582-67-1) by Eamon Dillon, published Nov 2006 by Merlin Publishing
• David Snowdon, Writing the Prizefight: Pierce Egan's Boxiana World (2013)
• Interview with bare knuckle boxer from the 1950s
• Near the KNUCKLE; 3,000 fans turn up at skydome to witness a night of bloody battles. - Free Online Library (thefreelibrary.com)
• Inside The World Of Bareknuckle Boxing (boxing-social.com)
• Bare-knuckle boxing staged at O2 Arena for first time - BBC News
• BoxRec: Barrie Jones
• The brutal life of Wales' bare-knuckle boxing world champion who saw his Olympic dream crushed - Wales Online
• Can bare-knuckle boxing, stripped of its seediness and danger, go mainstream? (espn.com)

• Free information website https://bareknuckleboxing.freeforums.net