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Why were early prizefights often held without gloves or weight divisions?

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Floyd Mayweather Jr., wearing black and gold trunks, lands a left punch on Manny Pacquiao, in yellow trunks, during their welterweight title fight in a boxing ring. — boxing Manny Pacquiao (right) and Floyd Mayweather, Jr., in their 2015 welterweight bout; Mayweather won in a unanimous decision.

Early prizefighting evolved from unregulated, informal contests where participants fought for side bets and purses without standardized equipment or categories.1

Absence of Gloves

In the early bare-knuckle era, fighters competed without gloves, relying on their fists. While Jack Broughton introduced "mufflers" in the 1700s to protect hands and faces, these were primarily for training. Ironically, the later adoption of padded boxing gloves under the Marquess of Queensberry rules contributed to increased head injuries, as fighters felt more secure aiming for the head rather than the softer targets they targeted when fighting bare-knuckled to avoid hand damage.12

Absence of Weight Divisions

Early boxing lacked weight divisions because the sport was not yet organized into the structured athletic endeavor seen today. There was typically only one champion, and lighter fighters were at a significant disadvantage against heavier opponents. It was not until the 19th and early 20th centuries that the sport's growing popularity led to the formalization of weight divisions to eliminate the handicap smaller contestants faced when conceding excessive weight.13