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{{trope}}
[[File:Pugilist.jpg|frame|Can't get more Old School than that.]]
Ah, the [[Fight Scene]]: Noble sport and elegant artform that elevates two combatants through ritualized combat, proving their worth as human beings by savagely beating each other upside the head with 2x4's or whatever else they can get their grubby little paws on. No matter what the [[Media Watchdog|censors]] say, nothing beats a savage beatdown. Or does it?
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See [[Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty]] and [[Combat Pragmatist]]. If the hero (or the villain) is a threat not because of technique but innate [[The Gift|Gifts]] like [[Made of Iron|unnatural damage-soaking abilities]], he is probably [[Unskilled but Strong]].
{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* There's [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdBK4gdYcA a commercial for Heineken Light] where a gent with a handlebar mustache engages in an "old-timey boxing match."
== Anime and Manga ==
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* Sure, Monkey D. Luffy from ''[[One Piece]]'' trained all right, but so far his official training was only shown to be survival training and endurance- Garp was never shown teaching him any hand-to-hand combat. Luffy apparently got strong from brawls with his two older brothers and his [[Rubber Man]] powers he obtained in early childhood gave him durability. But, it's implied by [[Word of God|Oda]] that the only technique he worked on as a child was the [[Rocket Punch|Gum Gum Pistol]], (although a recent anime filler showed him practicing his Fuusen technique, too) and confirmed by [[Word of God]] that he doesn't train, but comes up with attacks on the spot; his most commonly used ones involving the ol' fists.
** He also plays the trope pretty straight, beating highly trained Martial artists who have been taught several different and deadly techniques since a young age ([[Crowning Moment of Awesome|the very first Gum Gum Jet Bazooka and Gum Gum Jet Gatling, anyone?]]). And in Rob Lucci's defeat with the Jet Gatling, it was even because Luffy had more heart and determination than him. Also, as a child, he lived with bandits and played in a Trash Mountain, and eating or getting money meant beating/killing animals and thugs or being beaten/killed.
* ''[[
* From the prologue of ''[[All Rounder Meguru]]'': "The truth is, experienced fighting will beat out half assed karate any time, especially when the other guys are older." Even after the timeskip, Takashi gets his ass kicked by an ex-boxer bodyguard.
* This trope shows up in, of all places, ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''. In an anime all about glorifying ages-old (fictional) martial arts schools with legendary histories, Juza uses a completely made-up-himself style that allows him to fight [[Big Bad|Raoh]] on a nearly equal basis. Sure, he also has [[Charles Atlas Superpower]]s, but almost everyone and their dog has that in the ''Fist of the North Star''-verse.
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{{quote|'''Puschov''':''*sweeps Tintin onto the ground*'' Yeah, pal, that's jiu-jitsu!
'''Tintin''': And this is a kick in the chest! }}
== Film ==
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* A pugilism match (read: street brawl) is the climax of ''[[The Quiet Man]]''. The townspeople continually remind the combatants that "the Marquis of Queensbury Rules will be observed at all times."
* In the recent movie ''[[Sherlock Holmes (film)|Sherlock Holmes]]'', Holmes engages in a pugilism match. Watson is also shown to be a decent bare-knuckle boxer.
== Literature ==
* In ''[[Discworld]]'':
** The contrast between the Silver Horde and the various stereotypical "ninja" bodyguards/assassins they dispatch in the book ''[[
** In ''[[
** This entire trope is lampshaded in Discworld: Marquis of Fantailler (A thinly
** Otto von Chriek then subverts it in ''[[
* In [[Thomas Pynchon]]'s ''Mason & Dixon'', Mason is [[Your Worst Nightmare|menaced in his nightmares]] by a [[Knife Nut]]. After being councelled in the matter by a Malay medicine man, he defeats his dream-foe through the Gloucestershire tradition of kicking him in the shins.
* Played straight in the ''Dunk & Egg'' tales (prequels to the main story of ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''). Dunk is only a fair swordsman, but he is also quite tall, strong, and an experienced streetfighter. When a more skilled swordsman gets the better of him, he tends to grab hold of him and start tossing him around like a ragdoll.
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* Near the beginning of ''[[Flashman|Royal Flash]]'' , Flashman witnesses an impromptu match between Otto von Bismarck and retired bareknuckle boxer John Gully. Gully dodges all of von Bismarck's punches until he is finally provoked into knocking the German down, demonstrating that there's more to boxing than wild swinging.
* In ''The California Voodoo Game'', the [[Awesome By Analysis]] villain winds up in a one-on-one fight with Dream Park's head of security. Although the villain's sophisticated martial arts training has always served him well in the game, Griffin is so furious at the man for murdering one of his trusted employees that he throws caution to the wind and ''tackles'' his opponent, pounding him so viciously without regard for his own injuries that his foe has no chance to utilize his fancy moves. "Two cats in a sack" is how the narrative describes it, and the villain proves the weaker cat.
== Live-Action TV ==
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* In ''Outlaws'', a private detective is menaced by a martial artist. The detective knocks him out with one punch. {{spoiler|It's understandable that the detective doesn't try martial arts himself, given that he's a former cowboy brought forward in time.}}
* Subverted in the [[Cold Open]] of an episode of ''[[Magnum, P.I.]]''. A triad member is meeting with a local to buy information. He makes a move that the local takes as a threat, and said local starts listing off all the martial arts styles he's beaten with Good Old Fisticuffs, then demands the triad guy's necklace. He hands it over, gets the information, then jabs him in the throat and kills him.
== Music ==
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* [[Professor Elemental]] steps into the ring in boxing gloves and his "fighting trousers" in the video for his song, "Fighting Trousers." Still wearing his trademark pith helmet and [[Sherlock Holmes]] pipe.
== Tabletop Games ==▼
* ''[[Exalted]]'' First Edition uses the Brawl Ability to cover untrained hand-to-hand combat, while the Martial Arts Ability covers refined unarmed combat [[Martial Arts and Crafts|along with just about everything else]]. Second Edition merged them into one Ability to make room for War, leading to an odd situation where [[Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting|anything that could punch or kick knew Martial Arts]]. This includes ''horses''.▼
** ''[[Exalted]]'' Second Edition has Solar Hero Style, essentially Good Old Fisticuffs the Supernatural Martial Art, eschewing the subtle metaphorical effects of other Supernatural Martial Arts in favor of just hitting things ''really hard''.▼
*** And this being ''Exalted'', it takes Good Old Fisticuffs [[Serial Escalation]]. There's one Charm that allows you to punch people ''through walls'', and one to punch them '''into Hell'''. This, unsurprisingly, hurts a great deal.▼
* Mildly subverted in the original DC Heroes RPG by Maifair Games and the system's ''reincarnation'' as Blood Of Heroes by Pulsar Games. The martial Arts skill could be taken as-is, or could simply be used to represent ''Him Fight Good'' - whether it's Iron Fist's intense training, or the otherwise physically slow Juggernaut's ability to hit all but the most agile of opponents with his hamfists, to use Marvel Comics examples (is that a [[Take That]] ?).▼
* The Brawling skill in ''[[GURPS]]'' is for "unscientific unarmed combat". It is costs less to reach a high level than skills like Karate or Boxing but gives a smaller damage bonus.▼
==
* This is Joker's fighting style in ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'', complete with the traditional pose.▼
* Most of the combat in ''[[Zeno Clash]]''. While some enemies use elaborate spin kicks and martial arts, [[Player Character|Gant]]'s unarmed fighting style essentially boils down to bashing his foes with his fists until they get dizzy, then smashing their skulls against his kneecaps.▼
* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]: The Game'', you as Aldo Trapani don't have any fancy evasive rolls in the style of ''[[Devil May Cry]]''-esque "Stylish Action Games", [[Vacuum Hurricane Kick]]s, [[Wrestler in All of Us|wrasslin' moves]] or [[Waif Fu]]-like flips [[Firefly|a 90-pound girl]] might use, only simple punches, a lunging grab and [[Extremity Extremist|maybe the occasional kick.]] Unfortunately, this means that you have trouble dealing with three or more enemies at once.▼
* Of all games, ''[[Tekken]]'' has a few examples. In the original games, he various Jacks typically have "Brute Force" listed as their only style, and since they're all [[Mighty Glacier|gigantic robots]], it only makes sense. This started getting taken into overdrive with the newest games in the series, however, as we've had Lili, Miguel, and Alisa Bosconovitch introduced into the series. Just to sum up, Lili is a [[Alpha Bitch|wealthy ballerina]] and Miguel is a Spaniard (both have no attributed styles), and Alisa . . . [[Robot Girl|fights by detaching her own head and has ''friggin chainsaws on each arm!'']]▼
* At a meta level, you can consider fighting game players who train in arcades, repeatedly pitting themselves against targets that fight back, thus favouring [[Boring but Practical]] jabs and bread-and-butter combos. This contrasts with fighting game players who can use the home releases' training modes to perfect their knowledge of the moves against compliant dummies. Of course, who comes up tops when they square off is not set in stone. A home player may, having explored the depths of [[Awesome but Impractical]], come to stand by the simple combos, while an arcade player can very well show his dominance by going flashy-like.▼
* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' the Heavy's default melee weapons are simply his fists. Taunting with it [[Finger Gun|kills any foes in front of him instantly]].▼
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' recently gained the Street Justice powerset, which is all about this kind of fighting, as opposed to Martial Arts. Both sets have their strengths over the other.▼
* [[Asura's Wrath|Asura's]] main Ffighting style is all about this.▼
* Tifa in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' doesn't truly fight with her ''bare'' hands - the weapons she can equip are all gloves and gauntlets - but most of her attacks are punches, which is pretty remarkable in a game where many of the enemies are robots and other machines.
* Juliet's father in ''[[Lollipop Chainsaw]]'' is, like his daughter, [[The Hunter|a zombie hunter]], but doesn't need any weapon other than his bare hands.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' while being an extreme [[Nice Guy]] is usually Bob's greatest strength, allowing him to attract allies and [[Talking the Monster to Death|talk monsters to death,]] the downside seems to be that he's [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20101026.html really pretty worthless in a fistfight.]
* Jake English of ''[[Homestuck]]'' enjoys his fill of fisticuffs and old-fashioned wrestling.
** Equius doesn't enjoy it as much, but relies on FISTKIND as his [[Super Strength|ludicrous STRONGNESS]] makes him break every other weapon he'd rather use.
== Western Animation ==
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* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|It's called Sokka style!]] [[Let's Get Dangerous|Learn it!]]
* Hilariously happens in [[American Dragon: Jake Long]] when [[It Makes Sense in Context|Fu fights a magical hairless cat for an ancient jewel]]. The cat starts an acrobatic martial art move she declares to have learned in the Shaolin temple. Fu slugs her with a simple punch he learned at a bar in Bronx.
* Subverted in ''[[
* Terry McGinnis in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' uses these over a formal karate fighting style his predecessor used having first learned to fight on the street. It later proves very useful against {{spoiler|the Joker}}.
▲* This is Joker's fighting style in ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'', complete with the traditional pose.
▲* Most of the combat in ''[[Zeno Clash]]''. While some enemies use elaborate spin kicks and martial arts, [[Player Character|Gant]]'s unarmed fighting style essentially boils down to bashing his foes with his fists until they get dizzy, then smashing their skulls against his kneecaps.
▲* In ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]: The Game'', you as Aldo Trapani don't have any fancy evasive rolls in the style of ''[[Devil May Cry]]''-esque "Stylish Action Games", [[Vacuum Hurricane Kick]]s, [[Wrestler in All of Us|wrasslin' moves]] or [[Waif Fu]]-like flips [[Firefly|a 90-pound girl]] might use, only simple punches, a lunging grab and [[Extremity Extremist|maybe the occasional kick.]] Unfortunately, this means that you have trouble dealing with three or more enemies at once.
▲* Of all games, ''[[Tekken]]'' has a few examples. In the original games, he various Jacks typically have "Brute Force" listed as their only style, and since they're all [[Mighty Glacier|gigantic robots]], it only makes sense. This started getting taken into overdrive with the newest games in the series, however, as we've had Lili, Miguel, and Alisa Bosconovitch introduced into the series. Just to sum up, Lili is a [[Alpha Bitch|wealthy ballerina]] and Miguel is a Spaniard (both have no attributed styles), and Alisa . . . [[Robot Girl|fights by detaching her own head and has ''friggin chainsaws on each arm!'']]
▲* At a meta level, you can consider fighting game players who train in arcades, repeatedly pitting themselves against targets that fight back, thus favouring [[Boring but Practical]] jabs and bread-and-butter combos. This contrasts with fighting game players who can use the home releases' training modes to perfect their knowledge of the moves against compliant dummies. Of course, who comes up tops when they square off is not set in stone. A home player may, having explored the depths of [[Awesome but Impractical]], come to stand by the simple combos, while an arcade player can very well show his dominance by going flashy-like.
▲* In ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' the Heavy's default melee weapons are simply his fists. Taunting with it [[Finger Gun|kills any foes in front of him instantly]].
▲* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' recently gained the Street Justice powerset, which is all about this kind of fighting, as opposed to Martial Arts. Both sets have their strengths over the other.
▲* [[Asura's Wrath|Asura's]] main Ffighting style is all about this.
▲== Tabletop Games ==
▲* ''[[Exalted]]'' First Edition uses the Brawl Ability to cover untrained hand-to-hand combat, while the Martial Arts Ability covers refined unarmed combat [[Martial Arts and Crafts|along with just about everything else]]. Second Edition merged them into one Ability to make room for War, leading to an odd situation where [[Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting|anything that could punch or kick knew Martial Arts]]. This includes ''horses''.
▲** ''[[Exalted]]'' Second Edition has Solar Hero Style, essentially Good Old Fisticuffs the Supernatural Martial Art, eschewing the subtle metaphorical effects of other Supernatural Martial Arts in favor of just hitting things ''really hard''.
▲*** And this being ''Exalted'', it takes Good Old Fisticuffs [[Serial Escalation]]. There's one Charm that allows you to punch people ''through walls'', and one to punch them '''into Hell'''. This, unsurprisingly, hurts a great deal.
▲* Mildly subverted in the original DC Heroes RPG by Maifair Games and the system's ''reincarnation'' as Blood Of Heroes by Pulsar Games. The martial Arts skill could be taken as-is, or could simply be used to represent ''Him Fight Good'' - whether it's Iron Fist's intense training, or the otherwise physically slow Juggernaut's ability to hit all but the most agile of opponents with his hamfists, to use Marvel Comics examples (is that a [[Take That]] ?).
▲* The Brawling skill in ''[[GURPS]]'' is for "unscientific unarmed combat". It is costs less to reach a high level than skills like Karate or Boxing but gives a smaller damage bonus.
== Real Life ==
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* Although the cane fighting gets more attention, boxing/pugilism was a key element of Bartitsu, the mixed martial art developed by Edward William Barton-Wright in 1898.
* At one time [[Quintessential British Gentleman|high class Englishmen]] would go slumming it, either out of fashion, or just to Get Away From It All. If they got into a quarrel with a poor man in the process they could not fight a duel (because duels were for gentlemen). But they could not allow a commoner to [[Honor Before Reason|beat them in manliness.]] So they would themselves fight fisticuffs on such occasions. Hence, "the manly art of fisticuffs."
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Fight Scene]]
[[Category:This Index Is Ready to Rumble]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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