Bare-knuckle boxing in the eighteenth century was somewhat different from boxing with gloves in the twentieth.
To put it plainly, before John Broughton, Britain's reigning boxing champion, established new rules in 1743, it had been an "arena." Competitors could grab, bite, tear, and use other methods; they could even continue attacking after their opponents fell, until the opponent died. John Broughton's rules prohibited striking anywhere below the waist and forbade hitting a fallen boxer, yet the death rate in underground boxing remained high nonetheless.
The women's ring was somewhat better than the men's, because most of those watching were not particularly concerned with how well the female boxers fought. Beneath Charlotte's lace gloves, her hands were wrapped in bandages. She was not injured. It was similar to the French Army, whose soldiers wore leg wraps beneath their boots. This made marching easier, prevented the calves from becoming sore and swollen, and sometimes even helped hold bones in place.
She would not go looking for trouble by challenging heavyweight male boxers. Even with bandages wrapped around her hands, her strength could not penetrate their thick muscle tissue and make them feel pain. Men and women differed greatly by nature, but as a professional boxer, she could easily break two or three ribs with one punch when facing an ordinary person.
After Charlotte publicly revealed her "iron fists," the strange muttering around them suddenly quieted considerably. Georgiana covered her smiling face with a folding fan made of shells, while Charlotte put her gloves back on and resumed her appearance as a "lady."
Everyone in this world had different talents. Take Lady Hamilton, Emma, for example. Her early life had been full of hardships; if she had not met Grenville, no one knew what she might have become.
Charlotte was not as beautiful