The sport as it is known today originated in 17th-century England and differs from street fighting as it follows an accepted set of rules.

[1][2] The American National Police Gazette magazine was recognized as sanctioning the world championship titles.

"[7] The first bare-knuckle champion of England was James Figg, who claimed the title in 1719 and held it until his retirement in 1730.

In 1719, he set up a 'pugilistic foundation' and charged himself as 'a professional in the Noble Science of Defense' to instruct boxers on the utilization of clench hands, sword, and quarterstaff.

Prior to that date, the chief sanctioning organization for bare-knuckle boxing was the magazine National Police Gazette, which set up matches and issued championship belts throughout the 1880s.

Classical pugilism began to adopt rules by the mid-1700s to decrease cases of injuries and death, while also showcasing the sport as a respectable athletic endeavor.

An early account of boxing was published in Nottingham in 1713 by Sir Thomas Parkyns, 2nd Baronet, a landowner in Bunny, Nottinghamshire, who had practised the techniques he described.

The article, a single page in his manual of wrestling and fencing, Progymnasmata: The inn-play, or Cornish-hugg wrestler, described a system of headbutting, punching, eye-gouging, chokes, and hard throws that are not recognised in boxing today.

Fights could also end if broken up beforehand by crowd riot, police interference or chicanery, or if both men were willing to accept that the contest was a draw.

Fibbing, where a boxer grabs hold of an opponent by the neck or hair and pummels him multiple times, were allowed.

[21] Tom Spring popularized the use of the left hook and created a technique called the "Harlequin Step" where he would put himself just within reach of his opponent, then avoiding the instinctive punch while simultaneously delivering one himself, basically inventing the boxing feint.

They discovered that, by law, fighters would have to wear hand wraps in order to compete in bare-knuckle contests legally.

The bout was held in Wolverhampton and was sanctioned and governed by the International Sport Kickboxing Association, with Wilson winning by first-round TKO to become the first Scandinavian woman ever to compete professionally in bare-knuckle boxing.