MK Boxing Gym, Billerica MA, USA
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Did the Pilgrims know boxing? We don’t know that for sure.
According to Wikipedia the earliest known depiction of boxing comes from a Sumerian relief from the 3rd millennium BC. Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists. In AD 393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality. It was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. The sport would later resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting.
The first documented account of a bare-knuckle fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury, and the first English bare-knuckle champion was James Figg in 1719. This is also the time when the word “boxing” first came to be used.
We see that first mentioning comes 60 years later after first settlers came to Plymouth, Massachusetts. But there is no other proof that they didn’t know boxing before coming. Maybe it was the Pilgrims or later comers who brought boxing knowledge to the USA.
Happy Thanksgiving, dear friends!
Yours, MK Boxing gym