Fist fights...

[Captain Phil]

When I was a kid, I was tall for my age.  My Christian upbringing taught me to avoid violence, so I talked my way out of most confrontations.  One day, a kid on the bus home picked a fight with me.  I told him we would settle it when we got off.  He was much smaller than me and I was sure I could beat him.  Boy was I surprised!  This kid hit me 3-4 times before I knew what happened.  After that we became good friends.  I learned he was an amateur boxer.  He asked me if I wanted to be his sparing partner at the local Boys Club.  I told him I would if he didn't hurt me.  Fat chance of that!  In those days they gave us head gear when we boxed.  We boxed all summer and I learned a lot from him.  Later I learned that there are people in this world that get their kicks from picking fights.  In time, they are eventually killed, go to jail or become marines.  It is best to avoid them if possible.   Never get into a bar fight.  When the cops come, they throw everyone in jail before they sort things out.

[FryDog62]

Freshman year of college was playing baseball. Guy from the other team came into second hot and spiked our second baseman. I was playing short and backing up but on top of the play and before I even had time to think I punched the runner as he popped up.  It was a reaction bite, really..

 

 

[Mike L]

Men of a certain age who lived in the intercity of many major northern cities remember the summers of ‘66-‘68. 
 

“Racial Strife” was rampant and neighborhoods were just beginning to change. Most people who lived in thier homes since immigrating from Europe over the previous 3 generations were in no mood for change.
 

Where I grew up in the Englewood section of the So Side of Chicago I literally had to fight my way to school or to the grocery store for my Ma. 
Once or twice a week the fellas in my  neighborhoods “local collective of friends” would have to band together just to take a walk. 
 

I still have the scars 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike
 

[volzfan59]

I played football in middle and high school, plus I was pretty tall. Don't really remember the details, but another member of our team shoved me during our biology class. I hit him in the jaw, he went down, that was the end of that.

Numerous times during my career folks, mainly drunks, would want to fight the Police. Never ended very well for them. Between the military and law enforcement training, you're taught certain ques or situational indications to look out for. I took the training to heart. 

[Bird]

I've thrown one punch in 62 years of existence.

He was a big kid in the 4th grade, his name was JR.

I was nominated by my classmates to humble him and I was terrified ?.

I stood in the bathroom trembling in front of a large audience waiting for JR to walk in.

 

When he walked in I threw a haymaker right straight to the kisser and the blood flew.

My friends drug me from the bathroom in a hurry and I became a legend in this little country school...... but got a whipping and was suspended.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Golly , it’s been a minute . Probably around 1999 or so. I grew up with a brother that would rather fight than talk, and I thought that was normal . It was when I got married that I learneded how to communicate real good and whatnot . 

[ScottW]

One time stands out back when I was living at home with my mother (father had passed) and brother. It was late at night and some jackwagon tried shimmying the patio sliding door open. Keep in mind we lived on the 2nd floor. ? I had been asleep on the couch and woke up to the racket he was making. I see this shadow outside the door because of the streetlight across the road. This guy wasn’t too bright.

 

Anyhow, I waited until he got the door opened and stuck his head through the drapes. Que one roundhouse and he fell back on the patio furniture. It was game on for a few then and ended with me serving an uppercut that sent him over the railing. He didn’t fall but it was close. Cops rolled up about then since someone had seen him breaking in and called them. My knuckles hurt something fierce for a few days after. I stuck a broom handle in the track after that to prevent any further attempts.

[PressuredFishing]

17 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

When was the last time you were in an actual fight? 

Never, even being a young mid 20s guy I've only had one punch thrown at me in school and I dodged, and de escalated the situation verbally. I'm not trying to sound bodacious or boastful, but generally I've always had a very good situational awareness, and can read people very well... 

 

You can't get into a fight if your never even spoken to by them.

[Mike L]

14 minutes ago, PressuredFishing said:

 

You can't get into a fight if your never even spoken to by them.

I understand what you’re saying and appreciate your entire post. 
In my opinion and from personal experience this sentence isn’t always true. 
 

The world is a different place now than it was 50 yrs ago when I was your age, which in this instance and your experience is a good thing 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TOXIC]

Never proud of fights but when I was in high school in Nebraska, I was a wrestler and football player.  To make a little extra coin I would bounce at a bar across the state line into Iowa any locals might remember it…the Joker Lounge.  It was in Council Bluffs and was a converted quanset building.  Main room had 3 walk up bars and disco music with a DJ, second room with live music.  It also had a pool room, and arcade room and a movie theater.  It was a busy place because at the time the drinking age was lower than Nebraska so you had a lot of young kids getting their first drunks on and it was the Wild West on the weekends.  It also drew a not so good element that was dangerous.  Place was “family” owned and had a staff of bouncers.  Wasn’t unusual to have gunfire in the parking lots.  One of the bouncers went to prison for shooting and killing someone in the parking lot.  Point being it was a rough place.  I pulled in early for a Saturday night shift in my Formula 350 Firebird and I had a portable CB radio with a magnetic antenna.  I was putting it all in the trunk when a car pulled up and 3 guys got out and proceeded to tell me they were going to steal my CB.  Instinct took over and I grabbed the first guy by the back of the head and slammed him on my outside mirror knocking him cold.  On my way up, I came up with an uppercut that knocked the second guy backwards off his feet.  The third guy took a swing and I pulled back and felt his punch just graze my face.  By that time the second guy was back on his feet and he grabbed the first guy and they all jumped in their car and sped off.  I got a chuckle out of it.  I walked into the bar and back to the bouncer room when one of the other bouncers grabbed me and laid me down on the floor all the while telling me I would be ok.  I was confused and kept asking him what was going on and then I looked down at my white polo shirt that all of us wore and it was soaked with blood.  Evidently the last guy had beer can tabs on all of his knuckles when he hit me.  If you remember back in the day, when you opened a beer can the “tab” pulled all the way off and was attached to a ring of tin.  You could break the tab off and have 2 sharp metal spikes on the ring.  He slid them over his fingers like brass knuckles.  I had 4 pretty deep slices across my cheek.  We cleaned them up, put medical butterfly tape on them and all was good.  Worked my shift (with a new shirt).  There’s a lot more to the story but I’ll leave it at that. ?

[PressuredFishing]

1 hour ago, Mike L said:

The world is a different place now than it was 50 yrs ago

Thats true ? 

[desmobob]

Two fights in 61 years.  ?

 

I grew up as the baby in the family, with three older sisters.  I did not get the extensive training in fighting when growing up that some friends who were also the babies of the families except who had older brothers got.

 

First fight was about second grade or so.  Local troublemaker showed up where my friends and I were playing in my folks' driveway.  He started trouble and we started swinging wildly.  I remember the surprise and the strangely satisfying feeling I got when one of my wild swings connected!  

 

Just then, the mom next door came over to break it up.  The troublemaker told her, "Shut up you old bag!" and the rest of us almost fainted!  We couldn't believe he said that to her!  (My, times have changed.)  He ran for home before she could get her hands on him.  

 

Second fight, I was in the Navy, in training at Ft. Ben Harrison, IN (Defense Information School; joint services).  I was returning from the gym with my girlfriend when an Army guy said something rude to her.  I told him to mind his manners.  He said, "What are you going to do about it, Bozo?"  I took care of business.

 

Of course, I ended up in front of the Command Master at Arms.  The problem was, the guy I took care of was of a different race, and his superior reported it as a "racial incident."  Luckily for me, the Leading Petty Officer of my detachment witnessed the whole incident and cleared things up.  And, as luckily, my girlfriend and I had just served as bartenders for that Command Master at Arms' wedding a couple of weeks previously.  I dodged Captain's Mast on that deal.

 

No problems that I recall in the forty or so years since then!

 

Fun thread, DitchPanda!

[Choporoz]

Never been in a real fist fight.  A few shuffles in middle school in which few punches were landed...and three rather large bar fights, one each in Philippines, Thailand and Australia.   40 years ago it wasn't too uncommon.  By the time I retired in 2010, the Navy's tolerance for barfights had decreased significantly,  especially in foreign countries. 

[GreenPig]

As a youth I was in 1 or 2, maybe 10 pecking order fights( young bucks sparring) with mostly friends. Only been in two real fights, the first was a amateur Golden Glove boxer that just couldn't leave my girlfriend alone until we squared up and I knocked five of his teeth out. He had a new found respect for bare fist fighters. He got some licks in but head is hard.

 

Between that fight and my last one, which was thankfully 31 years ago, me and two of my weight lifting buddies had started sparring a bit for some cardio. Sparring with those jokers went on for a few years until we wised up and figured out no matter what you do, when two 250 lb guys that are benching 400+ lbs punch each other you get seriously hurt. 

 

So 31 years ago I had a close family member get assaulted in my presence and I released a monster from deep inside me that I never new existed.  I struck him five times with my fist and broke his face up badly. According to the LEO's that wanted to know what I beat him with and wanted to arrest me, he had several facial fractures, possible blindness of one eye from a Supraorbital fracture, and multiple teeth knocked out. He was also bleeding from both ears and spent 14 days in the ICU.

 

Do not misunderstand the above as bragging as I'm no great fighter and detest violence. But that last fight showed me what I was capable of and seriously scared me at the same time. I haven't and will not put my hands on anyone in violence unless I'm protecting a life.

 

 

 

[Way north bass guy]

At 43, I’ve never been in a real fist fight. Couple little tussles with my brother when we were kids, but that’s it. Like some others have mentioned, I’m pretty decent at “reading the room”, and mostly have just gotten out of there before the crap hit the fan. Also, I’ve never really hung around people that tend to be violent like that, so it just never really happened. Now I do sometimes have a bit of a short fuse, but it’s pretty much always towards some dumb thing I’ve done myself, and doesn't usually have anything to do with another person. I suppose if it came down to protecting a loved one, I could get pretty wild, and let loose the “ country boy with stonemason strength” on someone, but I’m hoping to only have to use those powers on fireplace and patio stones  ?

[slonezp]

13 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I’ve been in a couple bar scuffles but none resulted in a fight, which is probably a good thing. I have Steve Buscemi eyes, so a couple shots to the face and it would probably be lights out for me and I’d be left joining the ranks of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles on the piano. ?

 

Better than Marty Feldman Eyes

 

[Catt]

Welterweight boxer & Shotokan Karate (1st Ikkyu Brown).

 

Won't start it but will end it

 

I might be 72 but that just means it ain't going 12 rounds!

[Deleted account]

40 minutes ago, Catt said:

Welterweight boxer & Shotokan Karate (1st Ikkyu Brown).

 

Won't start it but will end it

 

I might be 72 but that just means it ain't going 12 rounds!

 

Old guys in their heads think they (we) can do what they (we) could do when young, I suggest you just keep kicking that young guy on his ankles and crank up the O2 to high...  

 

[Catt]

20 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

I suggest you just keep kicking that young guy on his ankles

 

When I coached PE I told the boys I used to stand flatfooted & kick the top of a door jam, now I can only kick the door knob. They looked at me kinda puzzled until I asked them where the door knob's height was on their anatomy!

[Deleted account]

2 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

When I coached PE I told the boys I used to stand flatfooted & kick the top of a door jam, now I can only kick the door knob. They looked at me kinda puzzled until I asked them where the door knob's height was on their anatomy!

LOL. Knee to the thigh, knee to the stomach, knee to the chin (you can reach behind the head and pull em down, but they bend forward on their own) in one motion. The entire thing used to take .3 seconds or so, now it's almost twice that, and maybe a little Icy Hot after...  

[Catt]

@Deleted account First punch to the nose temporarily blinding em, first kick between the legs, catch em behind the head pulling em down to a knee to the face, which usually puts them on the floor where I tap dance on their head.

 

Told ya it ain't going 12 rounds!

[Bird]

3 hours ago, Catt said:

Welterweight boxer & Shotokan Karate (1st Ikkyu Brown).

 

Won't start it but will end it

 

I might be 72 but that just means it ain't going 12 rounds!

We have family in Mobile Alabama and often visit Louisiana while we're down that way.

I may stay put in Alabama ?

[Deleted account]

30 minutes ago, Bird said:

We have family in Mobile Alabama and often visit Louisiana while we're down that way.

I may stay put in Alabama ?

They named a town after a trailer park?...

[Bankbeater]

11th or 12th grade I guess for me.  It ended before it got started.  He tried to roundhouse me, but I took a step back and his fist went right into the wall.  Back then I had a terrible temper, but this time something kept me calm and I just walked away after he punched the wall.

I had this kid in my next class, and by then his hand was all swollen up.  The teacher tried to blame me for his broken hand, but one of his friends spoke up and said that I never touched him.  I think he was in a cast for 7 or 8 weeks with two broken bones in his hand.

[slonezp]

8 hours ago, Deleted account said:

They named a town after a trailer park?...

Or a trailer park after a town