Bare knuckle boxing in the UK has a long tradition in the gypsy (Irish traveler) culture and is used as a way to settle disputes between individuals or sometimes even entire families.

Thanks to the internet, bare knuckle boxing is now growing rapidly in popularity not just in the UK but worldwide. Despite the brutal nature, there is usually a lot of respect and sportsmanship involved in these contests.

There is also an argument to be made that fighting bare knuckle may be safer than with gloves as a gloved hand can deliver a harder blow without damaging the hand. With wraps on though (like this and most bare knuckle contests) it pretty much defeats the purpose as it strengthens the hand but offers no protection for the person you are punching.

Nevertheless, in the video below we see a pretty good, organized bare knuckle fight between two tough guys and though there isn’t much technique, it is a pretty evenly matched affair.

The main issue with these type of bare knuckle fights is that many times it is not as evenly matched as the one we see here. When there is no regulating body, mismatches can often occur and they can end very brutally.

Both fighters in this video get dropped yet keep fighting on, showing heart. There isn’t much footwork or any kind of dancing around in this one. Both men just go straight at each other like rock and sock ’em robots, throwing hard until someone goes down.

Then again, they don’t have much room to move around in the small enclosure it seems making this a good representation of the phrase ‘fighting in a phone booth.’

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Both men are bloodied by the time this brutal affair is over when the bald man has had enough, awarding the victory to the man in black.