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In the rowboat of life there are rowers and there are rockers.

Can't really pick a second. But I just finished River's West again for the first time over 20 years and I enjoyed the wrestling match in Chapter 6.

Wrestling was common on the early frontier. Maybe more common than a display of fisticuffs. Both Washington and Lincoln were skilled wrestlers. Many early frontiersmen and Native American tribes seemed to have praciced wrestling and weapons use but not boxing.

From what I can gather, pugilism seems to have become more commonplace in the late 1800s but in earlier eras people settled things by wrestling, using weapons, or both.

For instance, Jim Bowie's famous 1827 Sandbar Fight started as a pistol duel but degraded into a free for all melee that included shooting, stabbing, slashing, and clubbing with empty pistols. And of course wrestling: accounts say that Bowie grabbed hold of one opponent and pulled him down onto his knife to kill him.

I've drifted off topic, but I just wanted to point out that wrestling is ancient for personal combat. Some speculate that the Biblical "smite them hip and thigh" might refer to wrestling holds and throws.

What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die dogs--I was a man before I was a king!
---From The Road of Kings

the fistfight in High Lonesome between the protagonist (a desperado) and the town sherriff. It lasts for almost an entire chapter, and the two combatants (former friends who once longed for the same young lady) show the utmost respect for one another even as they try to knock each others' heads off. Of course, the entire brawl turns out to be a distraction to cover up for a bank robbery which is taking place in the town. There is so much going in the scene besides just a couple of guys engaged in fisticuffs!