History Main / GoodOldFisticuffs

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'': Joe is quickly established as a powerful fighter capable of taking on multiple opponents through nothing but his brawling experience, but the moment Danpei, an old and out of shape former boxer, decided to give him a lesson, Joe went down ''fast'' and hard. Joe still kept his mindset until he decided to actually try out Danpei's lesson on the jab and noticed his punch had become much faster and powerful.

* Buried beneath his super-orthodox boxing style, this is Takamura's specialty in ''Anime/HajimeNoIppo''. His usual style is devoid of gimmicks or signature punches like the rest of the cast, meaning he gets by on his sheer boxing skill alone. This was actually beat into him by his coach in order to hone his sharpened street fighting experience into something greater. But if he's pressed hard enough or just gets [[UnstoppableRage right and truly pissed]], he lapses back into outright brawling. He's arguably ''more'' dangerous in this state, as his instincts and experience guide his wild punches to create a fighting style "designed to beat a man to death".

* ''Blood on the Sun'' with Creator/JamesCagney vs. a judoka.

* In Creator/ThomasPynchon's ''Mason & Dixon'', Mason is [[YourWorstNightmare menaced in his nightmares]] by someone wielding a knife. 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.

* ''Anime/{{Symphogear}}" has the main Character Hibiki Tachibana. Despite having the relic. [[NorseMythology Gungnir]], unlike [[PosthumousCharacter Kanade]] and [[TeamMom Maria]]'s incarnations of the relic which actually use the spear, Hibiki's just appear as gauntlets and greaves on her hands and feet. She makes due by beating the snot out of her foes instead, with an Extra dosage of training with fellow her Good Old Fisticuffs wielder [[BadassNormal Genjuro Kazanari]] in both Real Martial Arts and [[IKnowMortalKombat imitating action movies]], turning her into basicall]y a Anime/PrettyCure on steroids. The spear like component of her relic does pop up as a [[ThisIsADrill Drill Arm]], though, as a special attack.

* ''Film/BladeRunner2049'': [[spoiler:Luv’s]] fancy acrobatics and kickboxing deal plenty of damage to K during their brawl, but it ultimately does nothing to save her; [[VictoryByEndurance he’s simply far stronger and more durable than her]], and once he manages to get his hands on her, he easily pins her down and strangles her to death.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': This is Touma Kamijou's preferred style of fighting enemies. However, [[SubvertedTrope it's not so effective against]] [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours martial artists]] [[ZergRush and multiple enemies]]. (Unlike other examples, he doesn't fight with his fists much, he mostly [[CombatPragmatist uses tactics and weapons]]).

* Jet Black from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' is able to regularly defeat armed, multiple or better-trained opponents by utilizing his own brutal brand of pugilism. In one instance he is able to overcome a ruthless and feared Syndicate assassin with a well-timed [[CombatPragmatist head-butt to the face]].
** There's also Andy, who was able to stand up to Spike without any apparent martial arts training.

[[folder:Fanfics]]

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'': Alessi's Stand has the power to reverse age their targets and, along with them, revert any powers they might have had and trained. He manages to use this ability on Jotaro, which regresses him to a little kid without his Stand ability. The child Jotaro proceeds to beat the shit out of Alessi with his bare fists.

* In ''LightNovel/EndoAndKobayashiLiveTheLatestOnTsundereVillainessLieselotte'', Fiene tends to use StatusBuff magic on herself, to increase her status, and then fight enemies with bare fist.

* Double subverted in the Creator/EoinColfer novel ''{{Literature/Airman}}''. The protagonist is trained in several forms of martial arts and fencing, and early in the novel is wrongly convicted and sent to a prison/diamond mine. On his first day, he's ambushed by the leader of the resident prison gang and gets beaten into unconsciousness. The next day, however, he's prepared and handily beats the thug with some simple but effective strikes.

* In ''Literature/TheCaliforniaVoodooGame'', the AwesomeByAnalysis 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.
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':

* It even turned up in that body switch comedy, ''[[Film/EighteenAgain 18 Again]]'', with George Burns. (Frat JerkJock sees hero with girlfriend. Hero asks "sorry, did you want to dance?" Frat Jerk says 'no', and does a spin kick/badass pose. Hero: "I thought you said you didn't want to dance!", then fights him old-school fisticuffs style.)

** [[ImplacableMan The Stranger]] fights exclusively with his fists and needs absolutely nothing else. He manages to give a hard time to Kratos who is armed with an [[AnAxeToGrind magical axe]], but its justified since [[spoiler:he is a PhysicalGod blessed (or rather [[BlessedWithSuck cursed]]) with near-invulnerability and superhuman strength, giving no need to use any other weapons]].

** The Heroes of [[ThePowerOfTheVoid Void]] tend to rely on "[[StealthPun fistkind]]" as their WeaponOfChoice.[[note]]The pun: They're using their natural abilities by "wielding nothing" in battle.[[/note]]

Some films ''insist'' that their average Joe, [[BareFistedMonk didn't-train-in-Tibet]]-or-[[StreetSmart live-in-a-]][[ViceCityFrench-ghetto]] hero can upstage and beat ''any'' fighting style because his rough and tumble streetwise fisticuffs is either more resourceful, more [[TheDeterminator tenacious]] or less "frilly" than the competition. If any explanation is given for why this disparity always goes in the hero's favor, it's because the hero has [[TechnicianVersusPerformer "heart" while his opponent is more obsessed with good form,]] or is all flash and no substance (whereas the hero learned all the important, combat-relevant bits through sheer life-or-death experience).

Some films ''insist'' that their average Joe, [[BareFistedMonk didn't-train-in-Tibet]]-or-[[ViceCity live-in-a-French-ghetto]] hero can upstage and beat ''any'' fighting style because his rough and tumble streetwise fisticuffs is either more resourceful, more [[TheDeterminator tenacious]] or less "frilly" than the competition. If any explanation is given for why this disparity always goes in the hero's favor, it's because the hero has [[TechnicianVersusPerformer "heart" while his opponent is more obsessed with good form,]] or is all flash and no substance (whereas the hero learned all the important, combat-relevant bits through sheer life-or-death experience).

Some films ''insist'' that their average Joe, [[BareFistedMonk didn't-train-in-Tibet]]-or-[[ViceCity live-in-a-French-ghetto]] hero can upstage and beat ''any'' fighting style because his rough and tumble streetwise fisticuffs is either more resourceful, more [[TheDeterminator tenacious]] or less "frilly" than the competition. If any explanation is given for why this disparity always goes in the hero's favor, it's because the hero has [[TechnicianVersusPerformer "heart" while his opponent is more obsessed with good form,]] or is all flash and no substance.

** While being an extreme NiceGuy is usually Bob's greatest strength, allowing him to attract allies and [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talk monsters to death,]] the downside seems to be that he's [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/502 really pretty worthless in a fistfight.]]

* Saitama from ''Manga/OnePunchMan''. He has no formal combat training, but he is so strong that simple attacks (in this case, a simple punch) are totally sufficient to smash his opponents.

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' while being an extreme NiceGuy is usually Bob's greatest strength, allowing him to attract allies and [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talk monsters to death,]] the downside seems to be that he's [[https://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/502 really pretty worthless in a fistfight.]]
* When [[http://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/952 Lari the Ninja fights Rocko Sasquatch]] in ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the former of course uses martial arts, while the latter just punches really hard. They're pretty evenly matched, and it [[http://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/955 eventually degenerates]] into a BigBallOfViolence, [[http://bobadventures.thecomicseries.com/comics/956 which is even lampshaded.]]

* ''Anime/DemonSlayer'': In his life as a human, Upper Rank 3 Akaza was so highly-trained and skilled that he was able to brutalize and kill sixty-seven kendo swordsmen with his bare hands, with the Demon Lord Muzan himself initially believing that the resulting carnage had been caused by a demon. After becoming a demon himself, Akaza continued to hone his mastery over many decades and augmented his technique with a rapid regenerative factor and the ability to project highly-destructive concussive blasts with his punches and kicks. By the time of the series he is powerful enough to [[spoiler: defeat the powerful and highly-respected Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku with his barehanded technique]] and later on [[spoiler: contend with both the equally-powerful Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and the prodigious Tanjiro Kamado and overwhelm them at once]].

* In Creator/ThomasPynchon's ''Mason & Dixon'', Mason is [[YourWorstNightmare menaced in his nightmares]] by a KnifeNut. 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.

While it may seem at first sight to be only about fighting with your fists, this trope is about learning to fight in the "hard way", by pure, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown brutal]] and [[TaughtByExperience constant brawling for your life]] in dirty streets. It is emphasized that the person [[HadToBeSharp had to go through a life that served]] as TrainingFromHell. Do not confuse with BareFistedMonk or BoxingBattler, which are character types that only use melee but do not have the styleless "street brawling" connotation.

See CombatPragmatist. If the hero (or the villain) is a threat not because of technique but innate [[TheGift Gifts]] like [[MadeOfIron unnatural damage-soaking abilities]], he is probably UnskilledButStrong.

* ''Anime/SenkiZesshouSymphogear" has the main Character Hibiki Tachibana. Despite having the relic. [[NorseMythology Gungnir]], unlike [[PosthumousCharacter Kanade]] and [[TeamMom Maria]]'s incarnations of the relic which actually use the spear, Hibiki's just appear as gauntlets and greaves on her hands and feet. She makes due by beating the snot out of her foes instead, with an Extra dosage of training with fellow her Good Old Fisticuffs wielder [[BadassNormal Genjuro Kazanari]] in both Real Martial Arts and [[IKnowMortalKombat imitating action movies]], turning her into basicall]y a Anime/PrettyCure on steroids. The spear like component of her relic does pop up as a [[ThisIsADrill Drill Arm]], though, as a special attack.

** He learned from the best, apparently, as in a Franchise/{{JLA}} comic just a few months later, Franchise/{{Batman}} does this same thing to ComicBook/KarateKid, [[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes a super martial artist from the 31st century]] whose [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower fighting skills are so advanced he can fight Kryptonians despite being "only human."]] To the writer's credit, Batman doesn't win (merely stalemates his opponent until a superpowered ally can take him down), but he still lasts a lot longer than he had any business lasting.