CHEYENNE, Wyo. — In 1889, the great John L. Sullivan, the Boston Strong Boy, beat Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds — yes, 75 — in what the International Boxing Hall of Fame has called the “last significant bare-knuckle bout in boxing.”

Since then, about the only gloves-off fighting many people have witnessed has consisted of barroom brawls.

But on Saturday night, 10 bouts of bare-knuckle boxing, including one involving female fighters, will take place at the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center.

The event, available on pay-per-view, is being promoted as the first legal, regulated and sanctioned bare-knuckle fight event in U.S. history. Back in Sullivan’s day, there were no sanctioning bodies and few if any regulations.

“I think it’s what the public wants to see. The public is begging for something new,” promoter David Feldman said, noting that it has been 25 years since the advent of UFC mixed martial arts.

The boxers will be allowed wraps around their thumbs and wrists but will not wear any protection over their knuckles the way fighters normally do in traditional boxing, MMA or other combat sports where padded gloves of various thickness are used.

Each bout is scheduled for five, 2-minute rounds, fought in a ring with rounded ropes instead of the traditional square.

Bare-knuckle regulations are otherwise similar to those of glove boxing, in that opponents can only throw punches and there’s a standing eight count and a three-knockdown rule.

“But when you’re in a clinch, you can hit with the open hand. You can pull the back of their neck into punches,” Feldman said.

ESPN boxing columnist Nigel Collins said gloves — originally known as mufflers — were introduced around the 18th century to help protect fighters’ hands and the faces and hands of aristocrats who took up the sport.

Some authorities on boxing have argued that padded gloves made the sport more dangerous by allowing fighters to hit their opponents in the head more often with less risk of hurting their hands.

Collins said he personally isn’t interested in bare-knuckle fighting “but I wouldn’t knock it. If that’s what people want to do, let them do it.” He said it would be hypocritical of fans of boxing and other martial arts to object to the danger and brutality.