Page "Boxing" Paragraph 7

Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again and interest in fighting with the fists waned.

However, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries.

There was also a sport in ancient Rus called Fistfight.

As the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists.

The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting.

The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719.

This is also the time when the word " boxing " first came to be used.

It should be noted, that this earliest form of modern boxing was very different.

Contests in Mr. Figg's time, in addition to fistfighting, also contained fencing and cudgeling.

On 6 January 1681, the first recorded boxing match took place in Britain when Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle ( and later Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica ) engineered a bout between his butler and his butcher with the latter winning the prize.