David Lindholm has a MA in history and medieval archaeology from Lund University in Sweden. He has been practicing martial arts since 1977, when his father took him to a wrestling club. He has trained in karate, boxing, sport fencing, iaido, kendo, wrestling, and tai chi chuan, but since 1996 his main focus has been historical European martial arts and Japanese koryu sword arts. He have written on the medieval long sword, sword and buckler, medieval wrestling, and the quarterstaff.His interest in the early European martial arts led him to consider the art of pugilism. During his university studies he came across illustrations of Greek and Roman pugilists that piqued his interest. This book is a result of that curiosity and the subsequent work that went into his hands-on study of bare-knuckle boxing. Ulf Karlsson studied business administration and Japanese at Vaxjo University and later took part in the Programme for East and South East Asian Studies (with a focus on Japan) at Lund University, including an exchange year at Waseda University. He started training in Taido-a Japanese martial art created by Okinawan Seiken Shukumine-in 1984 and has instructed in that art since 1987, currently holding the grade of Godan Renshi. Since 1992, Ulf has visited Japan more than 10 times to train, usually staying for three months per visit. He was a member of the Swedish Taido team from 1991-1999 and was the ladies' national team coach from 2003-2005. He has taught Taido in several countries, including Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, and Japan. Currently, Ulf is exploring the classical kata of the teacher Soko Kishimoto as a way to better understand the roots of Taido. Ulf has also trained in ESDS (Explosive Self Defence System) with Slavo Godzik, Splashing Hands with James McNeil, Ryu Te with Robert Rousselot, and most recently the Okinawan martial art Te with Mark Bishop.