… that allowed the cultivation of manly virtues. To legitimize boxing, various discourses shaped it as a science and as an art in the context of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Boxing became increasingly associated to a conservative and … that allowed the cultivation of manly virtues. To legitimize boxing, various discourses shaped it as a science and as an art in the context of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Boxing became increasingly associated to a conservative and … boxing match – enabled the confusion of social classes, the middling-class mixing with the rank-and-file. Boxing as an art & a science The rules of prizefighting The growing popularity of boxing in the mid-eighteenth century coincided with …