You do realized that modern gloved boxers are much bigger, stronger, and faster than boxers 150 years ago. In modern times, the majority of legal boxing that occurs is boxing with gloves. I don't quite see on what basis the two are comparable.

Fokker any intelligent person would know that regardless gloves or not, blows to the head kill you ...

~ Cloud

Ultimate fighting is more of a "body fight", while boxing is limited to the upper body (especially the head), no?

" In 150 years of recorded Bare-Knuckle Boxing there were only 2 deaths. Compare this to the 5 deaths a year (average) from modern gloved boxing in America alone "

Is that amateur or pro?
I'm assuming its pro, in which people don't wear hear protection.

Also remember that now boxing is alot more popular (read: raw numbers of people).

Also not using wont stop people from head shots & upper cuts...

"Depends on the fighter.  Some go for the body, arms, or legs hoping for tap outs while others go for the head looking for a knockout."

It doesn't depend at all. All ultimate fighters have to train in multiple disciplines. It's a "body fight" in the sense that all parts of the body (save eyes and groin) are potential targets and a fighter needs to know how to attack and defend those targets. An ultimate fighter who only boxed would be terrible. He'd just get taken down and be absolutely helpless on the ground. So, though they may have a preferred style and a preferred path to victory, they have to split their training. Professional boxers on the other hand don't need to train in multiple disciplines. They only need to train in one....boxing. The average pro-boxer will be a much better boxer and will be much better at delivering blows to the head than the average ultimate fighter.

> Telstar wrote:

> Ultimate fighting is more of a "body fight" [just like bare-knuckle boxing], while [gloved] boxing is limited to the upper body (especially the head), no? <

Edited to explain a point.

You (most of you) don't actually know how BK Boxing works do you? Here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bare-knuckle_boxing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Prize_Ring_rules

fokker, you ignored my point.

"Fokker ignores that the gloves lengthen fights, which makes boxing more entertaining to watch, which makes it more popular in general, and while boxing may average 5 deaths per year in the US, if Boxing wasnt so entertaining, it wouldnt be so popular, and if it wasnt so popular, alot of the kids that would be boxing would be in gangs, where there are much, much more fatalities; so in reality, boxing gloves saves alot more lives then it destroys."

Hmm I think this argument could be used to support the death penalty...interesting.

But if you think that boxing without gloves wouldn't be as popular I suggest you look at the success of "Bum Fights".  It isn't seeing two particular individuals fight that entertains people it's violence.  If boxing matches were shorter all they'd have to do is have more fights in a night.  You give people one fight lasting 6 rounds or 3 fights lasting 2 they'll be just as entertained.

"The longest bareknuckle fight on record occurred in Melbourne, Australia, on October 19, 1856. James Kelly and Jack Smith fought for 6 hours 15 minutes. [1]"

"Modern Parallels
The development of these rules has since been mirrored in the evolution of modern 'No holds barred' competition into Mixed martial arts.

During the development of boxing, while some rules were added for the protection of the fighters, most rule changes such as the addition of gloves (which became thicker with time) were not added so much for the protection of the fighters, but rather to create more action in a typical fight.

In the bare-knuckle era, fighters were unable to throw as many full-force punches without risking damage to their hands. Therefore, after a couple of rounds, the punches tended to be less forceful. The addition of gloves meant that the fighters could throw more hard punches without injury.

Ironically, the addition of gloves to boxing made it a much more violent sport than without. Modern boxers frequently suffer head trauma due to the repeated full-impact punching that the gloves are able to offer.[3] Visually, mixed martial arts competitions may look more violent to the casual observer, with fights continuing on the ground, in truth it is actually safer for the competitors because the risk of head trauma from constant impacts is substantially lower[4]. This is demonstrated by the rarity of deaths and severe head trauma in regulated MMA competitions, while in boxing people die every year, and head trauma is a major concern, leading to physically debilitating illnesses such as Parkinson's Disease.

Although modern commercial mixed martial arts competitions use some form of gloves (thickly padded boxing type for most stand-up styles such as in K1 or a lighter fingerless version for those that include more grappling such as Pride or UFC), another modern parallel with full contact bare-knuckle fighting can be found in Kyokushin karate, which uses no gloves or body padding in its highest level tournaments. Kyokushin fights differ in that fist or elbow strikes to the head are no longer allowed, although all forms of kicks and knee strikes are permitted, including to the head."

The human body is remarkably frail. If you engage in boxing or "ultimate fighting" [which is a terrible joke... where do they find such awful amateur boxers?] you accept the concsequences. No reason to cry about it.

Very good
Now tell me how (or why) traditional Bare-Knuckle Boxing, using your sources and logic, is safer than modern day Gloved Boxing.