In the wake of the Iola City Council’s recent discussion of bare-knuckle boxing, I thought the social media response — positive and negative — a bit overblown.
Bare-knuckle is boxing and it isn’t. It’s a savage bloodsport, and it’s not. It’s its own niche where professional fighters are celebrated and amateurs should keep away.
The term bare-knuckle comes from competitors not wearing traditional boxing gloves but instead a wrapped wrist and exposed knuckles.
With bare-knuckle, traditional boxing techniques go out the window because it’s easier to slip a hand through a block than a 16-ounce glove.
In bare-knuckle, there is little wasted motion. Every punch come with a price. No gloves mean no hand protection, and can result in substantial injury to both a fighter’s hands and his opponent’s face.
Bare-knuckle boxing brings back old boxing traditions such as the Marquess of Queensberry rules, where fighters “toe the line” but punching in the clinch is legal. Fighters quickly take and inflict damage, shifting the entire outcome in moments.
I write this under the assumption the competitors are skilled fighters. The knock against the sport is that amateurs or fighters whose time has passed frequently take the ring. To some, that adds mystique, where a heavily scarred prizefighter risks their body for one last night under the lights or an amateur desperate for a wad of cash.
A bare-knuckle fight between two professionals is great entertainment. Watching the counters to counters, using the clinch to set up split-second devastating blows. After a few rounds, both fighters are bloodied and sometimes barely standing from exhaustion. It’s compelling.
But if it’s amateurs duking it out, throwing wild haymakers with an exposed chin, I’m not a fan. Same goes for “Toughman” competitions.
I don’t like seeing senseless injuries in sports. Professionals know the risks when they step in the ring, but professionals also don’t often do matches in towns of less than 8,000. Amateurs do, and unknowingly risk their lives for a small check and a night’s worth of fame.
