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Origins of Bare-Knuckle Prize Fighting
Elliot J. Gorn's book The Manly Art follows the development of bare-knuckle prize fighting in America over the course of the 19th century. His traces the origins of its popularity in America all the way to the time when it is replaced by boxing matches which were fought under the Queensberry rules. He also traces the social climb of boxing. It began as a completely lower class sport that was seen as extremely disreputable. Bare-Knuckle boxing eventually worked itself up to a measure of acceptance from the mainstream culture, however it would never be able to completely shake its image as a shady lower class activity. Even when boxing began to introduce gentlemanly rules to the sport it was still seen as a disreputable activity and for that matter still is today.
The point of Gorn's that I find very interesting is that bare-knuckle prize fighting was popular in England way before it began to become common here. In many ways the rise of......

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Approximate Word Count: 581
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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