'All this is training for the moment of real danger.
You may be attacked in the street by footpads.
They intend to rob you, and you may be in a lonely, dark locality.
Of course, their first efforts are directed to rendering you helpless.
Now, take the man who does not know how to box, who has never been drilled to keep cool and calm in moments of danger.
What happens to him?
He is probably found lying in the gutter in the gray light of early morning, his pockets rifled, and with possibly a fractured skull.'

Bob Fitzsimmons, former heavyweight champion of the world, writing in his book 'Physical Culture and Self Defense' (1901).