Classical Pugilism – What Every Martial Artist Should Know

An Electronic Book by Martin J Austwick

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 Copyright

Martin J Austwick

Classical Pugilism - What every Martial Artist Should know

© 2013 Martin J Austwick

A pugilism.org publication

http://www.pugilism.org

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under United

Kingdom and International Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint

or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system

without express written permission from the author.

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 Contents

Page

4 Introduction

6 What is Classical Pugilism?

8 Bare Fists vs Gloves

11 Punching

12 Fist Alignment

14 Straight vs Circular Punches

16 Power Generation

18 Targeting

21 Counter Punching

23 Staying on your Feet

25 Closing and In-fighting

28 Conclusion

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Introduction

Over the last fifty years or so there has been a massive boom in people studying

traditional martial arts of one form or another. From the Kung Fu inspired by

Bruce Lee in the seventies to Daniel San's Karate through the eighties. However

unlike most hobbies, Martial Arts is no passing fad. It is more popular now than it

has ever been, and since the dawn of organisations like Pride in Japan and the UFC

in America another player has joined the market: “Mixed Martial Arts”.

All of these systems have a number of things in common, as indeed does modern

boxing at both amateur and professional levels. They sell themselves as being great

for self defence, and in some ways it is hard to argue with them. They do indeed

provide you with a lot of the skills you need to be able to defend yourself if you find

yourself on the wrong end of a violent assault. But, and this is a very big but

indeed, in some ways they are letting you down. They are letting you down in such

a significant way that you could find yourself seriously injured.

This book will show you exactly how neither traditional martial arts, modern

martial arts, nor indeed boxing actually prepare you to come away from a situation

where you have had to defend yourself without injuring yourself. It will show you

how you can take the skills of Classical Pugilism and adapt your training in such a

way as to fix this deficit. It will show you how to strike your opponent in such a

way as to cause maximum damage to them without running the risk of damaging

your hands, it will show you how to generate power without telegraphing your

attacks, it will teach you which targets to hit to maximise your chances of defeating

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your opponent, it will teach you strategies for countering common attacks, how to

stay on your feet, how to become skilled at “In-fighting” and how to take your

opponent down to the ground whilst remaining on your feet in order to be able to

escape a dangerous situation effectively.

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What is Classical Pugilism?

At its most basic level Classical Pugilism is what Boxing used to be, but that doesn't

really come close to doing it justice. Over several hundreds of years boxing evolved

massively into the sport it is today; if you could travel back in time to the 1740s and

visited Jack Broughton's amphitheatre you'd hard pushed to recognise what you

saw as boxing. Yes there would be two people in a ring hitting each other, but that's

where the similarities would end.

There would be no time keepers and

there would be no bell. The fighters

would be punching, using back-fists and

hammer-fist blows. They'd be kicking

and they'd be closing to grapple. They

would be using elbows and knees, and

Daniel Mendoza vs Richard Humphries
they'd be throwing each other to the

floor. One other difference, and perhaps the most significant, is that they wouldn't

be wearing gloves. Later on we'll see quite how significant a difference this is.

Before the Marquess of Queensbury spoiled everything with his rules there were

three distinct eras of Pugilism, each one characterised by the fact that fighters did

not wear gloves when competing. The early Era had no formal rules at all, in fact

anything went in the ring. Fighters agreed their own rules before a fight, but there

were no general rules that they all fought to. This changed when a man called Jack

Broughton introduced the first set of rules. The second era, known as The

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Broughton's Rules Era started after he killed a man in the ring. Filled with remorse

and determined to ensure it never happened again, he used his influence as

Champion of all England to introduce a set of rules for all major competitions.

Whilst this sounds like a big change, most of his rules dealt with the size and layout

of the arena, the behaviour of the seconds, and the introduction of a system of

rounds. There were only two things fighters were no longer able to do. Firstly

there was no taking hold of a man below the waist, and no striking a man who was

down. What is most noticeable is what it did not ban. It didn't ban kicking, it didn't

ban elbow strikes and other forms of striking that are no longer allowed, and it

didn't ban grappling and throwing your opponent. The third era was brought about

as more and more “Gentlemen of Quality” became involved in the fistic arts.

Known as the London Prize Ring rules they were based heavily on Broughton's, but

over a number of revisions gradually removed all of the aspects of pugilism that

differentiated it from modern boxing. When The Marquess of Queensbury

introduced his rules he made gloves compulsory for the first time and pugilism was

no more.

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Bare Fists vs Gloves

Whether you're a boxer, an MMA fighter, a points fighter, or a traditional martial

artist the chances are that when you know you're going to be fighting, either in

competition of training, one of the first things you do is to put on some hand

protection. Whether we're talking about 16oz boxing gloves, MMA grappling gloves,

or the lightest of foam mitts, hand protection is a vital part of any martial artist's kit,

and for very good reason.

Your hands are incredible things. They are strong enough to be used all day, every

day without causing a problem, yet sensitive enough to detect tiny changes in

temperature and texture. They allow you to carry out the finest of motor

movements. Each hand has 29 bones, 30 arteries, 48 nerves and over 120 ligaments.

The thumb alone is controlled by 9 muscles and can move in six clearly different

directions. The hand is an amazing creation, yet we scrunch it up into a ball and

use it as a rudimentary club in order to bludgeon

other people with. It is no surprise that hand

injuries are so common, that broken fingers,

metacarpals and carpals account for such a large

percentage of all physical trauma. It is no surprise

that a break through the end of the 5th metacarpal

is so common in combat arts that it is known in the

A Hand X-Ray showing a
Boxer's Fracture medical profession as a “Boxer's Fracture”.

So if hands are so fragile, and so easily damaged surely we should be using more

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hand protection, not looking to arts where none was ever used? Well yes, that is

exactly what we should be doing. At least from the point of view of martial arts and

boxing. If we know we are going to be using our hand as a weapon to punch people

then we should ensure that we are using the very best hand protection that we can

get.

But this is the problem, and it is where all the arguments for using boxing,

traditional martial arts, or mixed martial arts as a basis for self defence fall down.

We don't get to pick when we are targeted by a violent criminal.

Let me say that again, because it is perhaps the most important thing I will say in

this whole book.

We cannot choose when we are attacked.

In fact it goes further than that. The less prepared you are, the more likely to be

targeted as a victim you will be.

When an attacker steps out in front of you you do not have the luxury of asking

them to hang on a minute while you get your gloves on. In a world where assailants

worked by appointment only, then perhaps Shotokan or Tae Kwon Do would be all

we ever needed to know, but sadly that is not the case. When we actually need to

use our self defence skills for real we are going to have to do it without the luxury of

the equipment we normally have when we fight.

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Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you won't be fast enough to avoid getting

hit, perhaps you will be, perhaps not. What I'm saying is that when you attempt to

hit them you are extremely likely to damage yourself as much as you damage them

if all your training has consisted in how to hit while wearing gloves.

Gloves change the way you fight. By its very nature hand protection protects your

hands and in doing so allows you the luxury of being able to get away with

techniques that you simply cannot use when you don't have that protection. You

can contact with areas of your hands that are too fragile and likely to break, you can

hit area of your opponent that would simply be ineffective. In short unless you

train to protect your hands you won't know how to protect your hands. You will be

placing your chances of surviving a violent attack squarely in the lap of lady luck.

You could end up with a painful injury that takes weeks to heal and puts you out of

action for months, and that is the best case scenario. You could be permanently

disabled, at worst you could injure yourself in such a way that you lose the ability to

defend yourself. You could end up dead, simply because you didn't utilise the basic

theory of bare knuckle boxing that used to be common knowledge. Theory that

developed over many decades of glove-less combat. Theory that allowed some of

the best fighters the world has ever seen to dominate the ring for years at a time

without significant injury. Theory that is described in detail in this book.

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Punching

In most martial arts we are taught to make contact with a horizontal fist when

punching. We do this by means of a rotational force through the arm as the punch

extends. The theory is that this is anatomically stronger, as well as being more

powerful due to the torquing force of the fist exerting more energy on impact. In

order to keep the wrist straight on impact we are taught that we should attempt to

only contact with the first two knuckles as these form a surface that is roughly

perpendicular to the arm. In some arts this is essentially the only form of punching

that is practiced. In boxing a huge array of punches exist, but the common factor is

that of fist alignment on impact. It should be horizontal.

In Classical Pugilism things are done a little differently. The fist should be vertical

on impact, and the point of contact should be the middle two knuckles (some later

sources such as Dempsey suggest the bottom three knuckles, but in most people this

will not make a straight line unless they are wearing gloves, which Dempsey did

through his entire career). Punches are only made in a straight line (there are other

strikes but more on that later). So with these differences in mind lets take a

moment to have a look at the reasoning.

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Fist Alignment

We'll start by looking at the relative positions of the fist. When punching with a

horizontal fist you supposedly gain power from the torsional forces you apply to the

arm as it extends.

There are a number of problems with this concept.

Firstly it isn't true to any meaningful degree. Power in punching is created by

utilising the bodyweight. Big guys hit harder as a general rule, and it isn't just

because they have bigger muscles, it is because they are bigger. But there must be

other reasons right? Yes, indeed there are.

It is often claimed that the bones of the forearm are more structurally sound when

the hand is placed in a pronated position (palm down) as is the case when a

horizontal fist is used. However there is no real evidence for this either. The fact is

that the two bones of the forearm have vastly different roles to play. The radius

forms the wrist joint in which the ulna plays no part, and the ulna forms the elbow

in which the radius plays no part. The bones themselves are held tightly together

by a series of ligaments and a very strong membrane. It is this that gives the

forearm it's compressive strength, not the relative positions of the bones in relation

to each other.

So you can see that it isn't actually more powerful, and it isn't structurally stronger,

so what are the advantages of the vertical fist?

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The significant reduction in rotation during the action of the punch allows you to be

markedly more precise. And it is precision in striking that will ensure that we

maximise the damage to the target and minimise the damage to our own hands.

When striking with a vertical fist the plane in which the elbow bends is also

vertical. Or to use simple terminology the arm bends up and down, not out to the

side. In a sport like boxing this is not of any real relevance, but as soon as grappling

becomes a viable option then this is a major issue.

One of the first things you will be taught if you learn to wrestle is to keep your

elbows tucked in. A loose arm is an open invitation to a skilled grappler, an

invitation you really don't want to send. And it is worth noting that it is almost

impossible to throw a straight punch with a vertical fist without tucking your

elbow in. This doesn't just help prevent an opponent from successfully grappling

with us, but as we will see later it enables us to combine offence and defence into

one move.

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 Straight vs Circular Punches

In modern boxing the lead hand jab is often used in order to set up the “power

punch” - a hook from the rear hand. When done well in the ring this is a fearful

combination. The jab is sharp, fast and dangerous in its own right, but the second

punch is devastating. It comes to the side of the head and has all the bodyweight

behind it. Unless you are a southpaw then it will be from your stronger arm as

well. However if you do this without wearing boxing gloves you will very quickly

find out why it is that the successful pugilists from long ago considered round blows

the domain of the untrained, the natural blow of those lacking in science.

Without the glove the fist contacts the side of the head at an angle, in such a way as

to put all the force of the blow though one single metacarpal, and not even through

it in a straight line. It is highly likely that a blow like this would significantly

damage the hand of the person throwing it unless they were wearing some sort of

protection. Relying on a technique such as this is essentially putting all of your

defence into one strike. If it succeeds you may well be fine, but you may have a

broken hand requiring surgery. If it doesn't then you have a broken hand, an angry

assailant, and you have thrown away the only chance you had to defend yourself.

Not a clever option I'm sure you'll agree.

Again what this comes down to is gloves vs no

gloves. If you have gloves on, then this is by far

your best option. If you don't then it is a terrible

option. One that is almost guaranteed to hurt

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A straight punch with a falling step
you. If you feel the need to include some sort of circular strike in your repertoire,

then take a leaf out of Jack Slack or Daniel Mendoza's books. Use a back fist. It isn't

as powerful as a good boxing hook, but in these circumstances that is a good thing.

Also it hits with a significantly larger surface area thereby reducing the impact to

any one single bone in the hand. As a technique it works well, it allowed Slack to

hand the great Broughton his one and only career defeat,and it allowed Mendoza, a

middleweight at best, to dominate fight after fight against heavyweights. But be

aware it takes some practice to do well. If you have neither the time or the

inclination to put that practice in then you're always going to be better off sticking

to straight punches. They are fast, they are accurate, and most importantly they

allow you to contact with the bit of your hand that is most likely to stand up to the

forces being put through it. The centre two knuckles of a vertical fist.

However this is not the only advantage of the pugilist's straight punch. Because it

travels in a direct line with no rotation or circular movement at all, it is extremely

hard to see. Our eyes are designed in such a way as to be able to pick up on

movement rapidly. And so if you minimise the movement, you minimise the

chance that your opponent will be able to avoid or block the punch.

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Power Generation

I mentioned earlier that power isn't generated from the movement of the arm, but

from utilising the bodyweight. If this is something you want to spend time studying

then I recommend you get hold of a copy of Jack Dempsey's fantastic book

“Championship Fighting”. There is no better description of the mechanics involved.

But Dempsey is quite clear that this is not something he invented, it is simply a

method of generating power that was used by the great fighters of the past that had

fallen out of favour at the time of writing. If you look at earlier works you can see

that he is exactly right. Allanson-Winn describes a very similar method some 40

years earlier; other, even earlier writers allude to the same method, but it is

Dempsey that describes it best.

The drop step, or falling step is a simple method of allowing the weight of the body

to power a straight punch, and even a complete beginner can use it to devastating

effect.

Stand in a relaxed manner with one foot slightly in front of the other. Make sure

your weight is evenly split between your feet and then lift the front foot about 15cm

off the ground. If you do this without first shifting your weight backwards you will

fall forwards a little until your foot hits the floor.

This is the basis for punching power.

It is this falling step that turns your jab from an irritation used to set up a proper

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punch, to a knock out blow in its own right. Practice this a few times and then start

to add in a punch as you fall. You should aim to get the fist to land at the same

moment the foot hits the floor. With a little practice you will be able to minimise

the movement without losing any of the explosive power of the punch. Once you

can feel your bodyweight moving you have essentially cracked it. You now have the

power to knock out any assailant with a punch fast enough that he won't see it

coming, and safe enough that it is unlikely to cause you any harm at all.

The method for generating power for the rear hand punch is slightly different, but

has the exactly the same effect. From a position where the lead hand is extended in

a punch throw out the rear hand in a straight line as you pull back the front hand to

cover the ribs and solar plexus (known as barring). As you do so rotate your hips a

little and allow your knee to drop a few centimetres. This gets the bodyweight

falling, and so if you time the punch correctly to land as the weight of the body

lands on the now more bent knee you get an extremely powerful punch. Together

these two punches are more than enough to cause serious harm to any assailant.

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Targeting

In Classical Pugilism strikes were usually aimed at the torso. There is a lot more

margin for error when hitting someone on the body whilst still having the potential

to cause serious harm. In fact if we are to believe the accounts of the great fighters

more knock outs were caused by accurate, powerful body shots than head shots.

The floating ribs are a favourite, but by far the best place to hit someone was the

solar plexus, or “Mark” as it was known.

The solar plexus is properly known as the

Celiac plexus and is a complex

interconnected bundle of nerves that

control the internal organs. It is located

behind the base of the sternum, though the

plexus itself is significantly deeper than

most people would expect. A solid strike

here will cause the diaphragm to spasm

The Celiac Plexus or "Mark"
which leads to difficulty breathing, known

as having the wind knocked out of you, and if the strike is solid enough to affect the

plexus itself it causes incredible pain from throughout the abdomen.

If you manage to land a straight punch directly on the mark using a vertical fist and

a falling step the chances are very high that your assailant would be instantly

incapacitated. If you miss and hit the lower ribs (known as floating ribs as they do

not join the sternum directly) it can cause serious pain and problems breathing.

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However pugilists did not avoid the head completely as a target area. If you were to

draw a circle roughly the size of your fist around the mouth and nose you would

have the area known as the “button”. In an ideal world you would strike here from

a slight angle, when powered by a falling step this would likely be a knock out blow.

However it is a much harder area to connect with a punch. It only takes a small

movement of the head to defeat it, and not much more to cause the punch to land

on the tougher, bonier sections of the skull. A common tactic in Classical Pugilism

was to duck the head in order to take the blow on the top of the head whist

simultaneously counter-punching to the mark.

Professional boxing, with its heavy gloves and focus on knock outs as the best way

to win a fights has caused fighters to head-hunt when punching, this is a big

mistake, and is certainly not the way pugilists of old fought. If the opportunity

arose they would strike to the button, but invariably they would be aiming for the

mark, the ribs, or the kidneys with their strikes. The head only becomes a viable

target when you have managed to somehow immobilise it, much as John “The

Gentleman” Jackson did to Daniel Mendoza by taking hold of his hair and holding

him against the ropes whilst repeatedly bludgeoning him around the face to take

the championship from him. You can see that Classical Pugilism was a world away

from modern boxing.

So by focussing on the mark as your primary target, you drastically reduce the

likelihood of injury to yourself without significantly reducing the chances of

incapacitating your opponent. By targeting the button only when it has a high

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chance of landing not only do you dramatically reduce the chance of fracturing the

small bones of your hand, but you also effectively rule out the possibility of

damaging your hand on your opponent's teeth. It is often said that the human bite

(intentional or otherwise) is the second most deadly bite in the world, and whilst

that may be an exaggeration the chances of secondary infection after a human bite

are extremely high.

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Counter-punching

In 1719 something unprecedented happened in the

world of prize fighting. A phenomenal swordsman by

the name of James Figg proclaimed himself bare knuckle

boxing champion of all England, and by default the

world. Now this wasn't in and of itself that unusual,

prizefighters made their money from their audiences

and so outrageous claims were commonplace. What was

Figg's Card
unusual about Figg's claim however was that no-one

disagreed, and so he became the first ever undisputed champion. He was tall,

strong, and powerful, he was fearless and experienced, but on top of this he did

something completely new. He took the scientific theory of swordsmanship, of

which he was a master, and applied it to the noble art of pugilism. He took a

concept that was common to swordsmanship and adapted it to work within

pugilism. That of the single time counter. In simple terminology a single time

counter is an defensive move that is also an offensive move, a block that is also an

attack. Captain John Godfrey, a student of Figg's said this of him:

“he knew his Arm and its just time of moving, put a firm Faith in that, and

never let his Adversary escape his Parry”.

For example if your opponent throws a straight jab with their left hand towards

your face, you should duck your chin and throw a straight with your right to the

button, rolling your shoulder up slightly and slipping a little to your left. This

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combination of movements, if done properly, will deflect their punch upwards and

away from your head whilst driving your fist directly into their face. In one simple

move.

The benefits of using this system of single time counter-punches are many and

varied.

1) It allows you to strike using the most accurate form of punch (straight line,

horizontal fist, contacting with the middle two knuckles).

2) It combines offence and defence into one move limiting the number of

techniques you need to perform in order to win.

3) It ensures your punch is as fast as possible as your opponent is the one

closing distance

4) It allows you to strike at an undefended target

This technique can be applied to strikes from any range and at any target. The

basic principles are to avoid or deflect any incoming blow, whilst simultaneously

striking at whichever vulnerable point your opponent has left uncovered by

attacking.

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Staying on your Feet

On the 16th August in 1743 Jack Broughton published the first ever set of rules for

the bare knuckle prize ring and they introduced something revolutionary. The

concept of rounds.

Whilst modern boxing is also separated into rounds there are very little in the way

of similarities between the two. Broughton's rules introduced no time limits on

either the fight as a whole, or the rounds individually. A round was considered to

be over when one of the combatants was “down”. The rules specify “a man on his

knees to be considered down.” From the end of the round each man had thirty

seconds to get to his feet and back to the chalk line or “scratch” in the centre of the

ring. The fight continued until one or other of the fighters was unable to come up to

scratch.

What this meant in reality was that fights had a tendency to either finish very

quickly, or go on for a very long time indeed. It also meant that forcing someone to

their knees was unlikely to stop them getting back up to scratch, but making them

hit the ground hard might. This is a tactic that works just as well in a self defence

situation as it did in the pugilism ring. If your assailant is incapacitated for half a

minute or more you have every chance in the world to escape the situation, or deal

with a second attacker, or whatever else the situation may dictate.

Of course it is easy to say, and much harder to put into practice. We would always

choose every punch we throw to be a knock out blow if we could, but they rarely

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are, especially when we aren't wearing gloves and so have to be careful how we hit,

where we hit, and when we hit. So there must be another option. An option that

gets our opponent to hit the ground hard, an option that leaves you on your feet.

There is, it is called grappling.

I am not advising the use of Brazilian Ju Jitsu, or Catch as Catch Can in a self defence

situation regardless of the scenario, often fighting on the ground is a bad idea in the

street. However grappling and ground fighting are not necessarily the same thing,

and it is grappling we are looking for to aid us in dealing with our assailant.

Classical Pugilism is full of wonderfully

named techniques that were designed to

put your opponent down whilst allowing

you to keep your feet, techniques that were

designed to inflict as much damage as

possible in as fast and direct a manner as

A Cross Buttock Throw
possible. The Cross Buttock and the Mare

are familiar to most fighters today, however the Pinion, the Hanging Trippet and

the Flying Horse less so. Yet all of these techniques form part of the pugilist's

armoury. All of them, when carried out properly put your opponent down hard.

On top of that we have Hanks, Clamps, and Grips are the bread and butter of bare

knuckle boxing. However knowing how to throw your opponent is only half of the

battle, it isn't enough to be able to put them down hard. You also have to know how

to be able to keep your feet when they are trying to do the same to you.

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Closing and In-fighting

It is a truism that the majority of fights end up at close range. You only have to

watch a professional boxing weigh in, or pre fight press conference to see two

people, who make their living from striking at distance, lose their tempers and

instantly start rolling around on the floor. It is at this distance that the most

damage is done by those who are able to deal with In-fighting, and it is at this range

that Classical Pugilism excels the most.

We mentioned earlier that the “button”, or head shot was not something that was

often targeted unless the head had been secured somehow, and so rather than

forgetting about this target area and concentrating exclusively on others a system of

securing the head in order to be able to cause the most damage in the shortest time

was developed. Within Classical Pugilism securing the head is known as Chancery

and can be divided into three separate forms. Standing Chancery, Side Chancery

and Reverse Chancery.

The simplest form is Standing Chancery, and it

is possible to secure this position from both an

offensive and defensive technique. It forms

the basis of a number of different closes and

wrestling moves, as well as providing a clear

opportunity for striking your opponent pretty

Standing Chancery
much at will.

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Side Chancery is familiar to most people as the classic head lock used in every

school playground the world over. It is the perfect position from which to perform

a cross buttock throw, a crossface, or simply to dish out a lot of punishment to the

face.

Reverse Chancery is similar to side Chancery, however instead of both combatants

facing the same direction they are facing each other. It is much harder to strike

effectively at the face from a rear Chancery, but it opens up a vast array of chokes,

strangles, neck cranks and the infamous Grovvit.

In-fighting also offers us the opportunity to break all of the rules of punching we

discussed early by the use of the “contracted arm” strike. This is a short range

technique in which a punch is delivered along a curved line, and the alignment of

the fist varies as to target area. The arm remains bent throughout and the elbow is

kept tight against the body to protect your ribs and mark. Force is generated in this

punch by rotation of the torso for hooking strikes, and level changes from the legs

for uppercuts. Contracted arm strikes can be used to create enough space to set up

throws such as Mares and Cross Buttocks, or simply to cause damage while in close.

The contracted arm strike is not something that should be utilised unless In-

fighting, as soon as the distance is such that your elbow must leave your side then

not only does your arm become vulnerable to all the grips, closes, and wrestles that

a loose arm sets up, but also you can no longer be entirely certain which part of the

fist your blow will land with, and so you risk damaging the small bones in your

26
hand. However when in close any other form of strike is lacking in power and thus

can be considered wasted energy.

Repeated contracted arm strikes against

the floating ribs and mark can be used as

an excellent defence against a standing

Chancery. It is worth bearing in mind that

they can also be used as a defence against

other forms of Chancery as Broughton's

Contracted arm strikes as a counter to rules did not prevent striking below the
Standing Chancery
waist, simply taking hold. Repeated solid strikes to the groin are enough to put off

all but the most determined of attackers. If you are not confident in your ability to

utilise throws to put your opponent to the floor you should concentrate on utilising

contracted arm strikes in order to create enough distance between you and your

assailant to allow you to use the more powerful and damaging falling step strike.

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Conclusion

Classical Pugilism is a phenomenally complex art that evolved over centuries of

competitive fighting in order to deliver the most damaging of strikes without the

associated damage to the striker. There is much we can learn from the great

fighters of old who made their livings, and in some cases massive fortunes from

their fists. Whether we look at the specific techniques they used and integrate them

into our general repertoire, or we look at the core concepts and underpinning

philosophies of the system and use that knowledge to safeguard ourself both in the

ring and on the street. Pugilism is growing in popularity in the UK and abroad, and

it is easy to see why when you look at how effective it is as a system of combat.

Whichever of the three eras of pugilism you focus on there is one thing that is safe

to say. By including pugilistic techniques and principles in your personal training

you will become more accurate, faster, more dangerous, and most of all, safer.

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