New head canon I cannot stop rotating in my brain: Percy learned to box the summer after his first quest.
One time a school friend threw a fake punch at him and he froze. He had thought being a demigod, being strong, knowing how to swing a sword, would make him feel safer around mortals. He had the muscle memory to swing a sword now. But he also had muscle memory for when he saw a fist. And it was to freeze.
He started going a boxing gym after that. He wanted to learn a new response. He wanted to know how to defend himself against mortals.
After he learned the basics and got decent, he kept going, turns out boxing was a pretty good way to let off steam. Especially when you couldn’t casually challenge your friends to a sword fight.
He had the Hephaestus kids make some punching bags (extra strong/durable) and he started practicing at camp too. He even lead some self defense classes at camp.
Later on, he teaches Jason to box too. He works with him on the stances, he holds his waist, he shows him how to properly making a fist, he teaches Jason the basics punches. It doesn’t take long for Jason’s entire face to turn red.












