Tag: England

Combat Sports – European Bare Knuckle Boxing Professionals

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Bare Knuckle Boxing which is sometimes referred to as Prizefighting or Fisticuffs, is a sport where two people get in the ring and fight without boxing gloves or any other type of body protection or anything else on their hands. A Bare Knuckle Boxing match is somewhat different than a street fight however. The big difference is there are still rules whereas in a Street Fight anything goes. One of the rules is that you can’t strike an opponent when he is down.

James Figg was the first champion in England. In 1719 he won the title and kept it until he retired in 1730. The longest Bare Knuckle Boxing fight we know of lasted for 6hrs. and 15min. betweek Jack Smith and James Kelly which took place in Melbourne, Australia in 1856. Jem Mace fought longer than any other Prizefighter ever. His fights lasted over a span of 35 years until he was in his Sixties. However he was 78 years old when he had his last official fight which was in 1909.

Jack Broughton was a famous Bare Knuckle Boxer that was from England. He adopted his own set of rules that were to be used for future contests. He created 7 rules that were later known as London Prize Ring Rules. He earned a great reputation when he fought as a semi pro in the 1730’s. There weren’t many recorded records of his fights, however, there was also no evidence that he lost any matches either. Jack and Captain Godfrey both claimed Jack was still undefeated after he retired.

There is a lot of credibility to these statements since Captain Godfrey was deep in the game and had his pulse on what was going on with Prizefighting during that era. Jack Broughton’s fights always attracted huge crowds. He became the champion of England after beating George Taylor. He opened up his own personal Amphitheatre in 1743 with some money he got from Prizefighting along with some wealthy investors who also helped finance this endeavor. Jack Slack was a norwich butcher who had made some remarks against Jack that he didn’t like.

This caused Jack to come out of retirement to enter a match with him. The entire crowd favored Broughton over Slack, despite the fact that Broughton was a lot older than he was. Jack started out on the winning beat, but toward the end of the fight suffered a terrible loss. He was nailed right between the eyes by Slack, and couldn’t see clearly. This was his first and only loss we know of.

Boxing History Goes Back to Greeks

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Fighting hand-to-hand for sport is a very old form of both entertainment and physical activity, probably dating back to the dawn of athletic competitions and exhibitions. References that point to boxing history can be found in the records of many cultures dating back to the antiquities.

We know that Greek boxers wore gloves in competition, but these were not the padded boxing gloves that we see in this sport competitions today. In fact, the gloves of Greek boxers were more like simple wrappings that covered their hands and their arms up to their elbows. Other than these gloves, the boxers of ancient Greek times were otherwise completely naked during their competitions.

The term “boxing” was first introduced and used in England in the beginning of the 18th century. This sport history mentions that this term was established to help in distinguishing between a fight that was engaged upon to settle dispute from the type of fighting that was presented for sport and carried out under a set of strict rules.

In these modern days of sports boxing, the term describes the sport that involves two contestants, or boxers, who are fully outfitted with padded gloves, protective head gear and mouth guards.

The boxers face-off for competition in a boxing ring and they fight through an established number of fighting rounds or until one of the boxers knocks-out the other one. They also are monitored by a referee who is on hand to be sure that the fighters operate under the recognized and accepted rules of this sport.

Throughout boxing history, men have made up the largest group of this sport participants and this is still the case today. However, more and more women are choosing to participate in this sport, both for the competitive aspects of it and also because it is a good physical workout with many health benefits as well.

Interestingly, many people are surprised to learn that women have been participating in this sport much longer than most people would ever suspect. There are actually historical references to fights between female participants dating back to the 18th century.

Women’s boxing was established and officially organized in the latter part of the 20th century. This gave the female version of the sport more of a recognized status at that time and it has grown slowly but steadily since.

All through the later years of the 19th century and through all the years of the 20th century, both amateur and professional boxing activities and organizations have operated pretty much in parallel in terms of popularity and interest.

However, unlike the status the professional boxer has been enjoying in the last twenty or so years of the 20th century, amateur boxing seems to have lost a significant segment of its audience and its popularity has declined to a great degree.

Throughout all of boxing history, there have been those who have had serious misgivings about this sport, especially in considering it entertainment.

The major issue has revolved around the safety of the boxers because of some of the long-term health effects that many boxers end up dealing with.

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