Humans fist fight all of the time and, unfortunately, hit each other all of the time.
According to some research done at the University of Utah, humans seem to be optimized specifically for delivering hard punches while minimizing the likelihood of injury to the puncher.
The researchers did some observations on how both gorillas and chimpanzees strike with their hands, and then had humans replicate the various methods of strikes. While it’s not a perfect comparison, it does give an idea for how different postures shake out when striking objects.
It turns out that chimps and gorillas, while unbelievably strong, lose a significant amount of punching force due to the fact that their thumbs don’t effectively buttress their fists the way human thumbs can. The key is that humans can make a very tight, closed fist where the fingers are reinforced by the thumb’s positioning. Chimps and gorillas can’t make tight fists, but instead either make a partial fist with the thumb inline with the forearm, or just curl their their hand into a C shape.
tl;dr, humans are much better at bare-knuckle boxing than chimps and gorillas are, when overall strength is accounted for.
http://unews.utah.edu/news_releases/fine-hands-fists-of-fury/
