Bare-Knuckle Boxer's Companion: Learning How to Hit Hard and Train Tough from the Early Boxing Masters

The Comprehensive Guide to Bare-Knuckle Boxing Techniques

Martial artists David Lindholm and Ulf Karlsson present this practical guide to learning and effectively applying the classic combative skill of bare-knuckle boxing in real-world situations. This age-old fighting practice, also known as pugilism, began long ago in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire and developed over time into a precursor to the modern sport of boxing.

Lindholm and Karlsson discuss the differences between the bare-knuckle approaches used by various historical teachers, and provide useful technical instruction on how to implement the strategies yourself. They cover stances, strikes, punches, kicks, counters, throws, and avoidance as well as essential components of training and conditioning. Studying these time-tested techniques and carefully practicing the patterns will allow you strike hard yet still protect your ungloved hands, and be able to do so in a variety of conditions and scenarios.

The Bare-Knuckle Boxer's Companion is illustrated with hundreds of pictures depicting classical actions and poses, and is also rounded out with a superb bibliography of recommended historical source texts. This valuable guide is a must-have resource for any modern-day self-defense student, from beginners to experienced martial artists, as well as anyone interested in the history of fighting and boxing.

This book is also available from Echo Point Books in paperback (ISBN 1648370993).

David Lindholm has a MA in history and medieval archaeology from Lund University in Sweden. He has been practicing martial arts since 1977, when his father took him to a wrestling club. He has trained in karate, boxing, sport fencing, iaido, kendo, wrestling, and tai chi chuan, but since 1996 his main focus has been historical European martial arts and Japanese koryu sword arts. He have written on the medieval long sword, sword and buckler, medieval wrestling, and the quarterstaff.His interest in the early European martial arts led him to consider the art of pugilism. During his university studies he came across illustrations of Greek and Roman pugilists that piqued his interest. This book is a result of that curiosity and the subsequent work that went into his hands-on study of bare-knuckle boxing.

Ulf Karlsson studied business administration and Japanese at Vaxjo University and later took part in the Programme for East and South East Asian Studies (with a focus on Japan) at Lund University, including an exchange year at Waseda University. He started training in Taido-a Japanese martial art created by Okinawan Seiken Shukumine-in 1984 and has instructed in that art since 1987, currently holding the grade of Godan Renshi. Since 1992, Ulf has visited Japan more than 10 times to train, usually staying for three months per visit. He was a member of the Swedish Taido team from 1991-1999 and was the ladies' national team coach from 2003-2005. He has taught Taido in several countries, including Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, and Japan. Currently, Ulf is exploring the classical kata of the teacher Soko Kishimoto as a way to better understand the roots of Taido. Ulf has also trained in ESDS (Explosive Self Defence System) with Slavo Godzik, Splashing Hands with James McNeil, Ryu Te with Robert Rousselot, and most recently the Okinawan martial art Te with Mark Bishop.