> Boxing was developed specifically to get around the many problems with punching: protecting the hands from being broken, and developing defensive strategies to avoid blows from even padded fists.

Perhaps that's true, but isn't it also true that fisticuffs were a "natural" way for impromptu humans fights? I highly doubt that boxing was the first invention of fighting by standing up and punching the other person. It seems more likely that human already tended to fight that way when genuinely angry at each other, and as people began to be interested in fighting prowess, the protective rules of boxing were developed to allow experts to fight for longer.

And, like in any discussion regarding evolution, it's important to point out that phrases like "if hands were for punching" are dangerously close to being deceptive because of the implied attribution of purpose to the evolutionary process.