By Skip Miller, Jan 3, 2010 

The styles and techniques of modern boxing can be traced to The Philippines and a martial art form named pangamot. Pangamot translates to “maneuvering of hands” or “bare fist.”

In the final decade of the 19th century, United States warships sailed to The Philippines as part of the military assistance extended to Philippine insurgents fighting to overthrow Spanish rule. To help pass the time while in port, the American sailors organized boxing matches and tournaments.

The sailors used the formal boxing stance of the day – hands kept little more than waist high, palms up, and extended from the body, something like where the arms wind up when dirt is shoveled. It was the style of famous heavyweight boxers such as John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett, and Paddy Ryan.

It was a robotic style. Fighters stood erect and moved in straight lines, forward and backward. Neither stance nor style was designed for power punching. That, combined with no limit on the number of rounds fought and a rule that a bout did not end until one or both fighters could not continue led to titanic struggles.

Middleweight champion William Thompson fought fellow Ben Caunt three times. He won the first bout on a foul in the 22nd round. He lost the second on a foul in the 75th round. The third bout ended in the 93rd round, again on a foul.