Interestingly, up through the early 18th century, pugilists were trained in both unarmed fighting and some weapons (sword, dagger, buckler, and cudgel (and/or quarterstaff)). Their unarmed techniques included not only punches, but some kicks (e.g. shin-kicks), throws, chokes and grappling. They could even use techniques such as eye gouges, fish-hooking, head-butts, and groin shots.Pugilism specifically refers to boxing though.
An example of a James Figg fight involved One round would be fought with swords. Another round fought unarmed. The third round was fought with cudgels.
In 1743 Broughton introduced the first set of rules which included such things as no weapons, no eye gouging, no hair grabbing, no striking a downed opponent.
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