I think you're missing out one relevant factor. Our culture is SURROUNDED by images connecting the punch to fighting. It is mainly due to boxing and Martial Arts films. I'm not so sure that tiny kids naturally punch at all, until they are exposed to the images.
In Britain of the very early 1970's you would not see people kicking each other until the Kung Fu film boom. Seeing all those images kick-started (pardon the awful pun) the public into putting the boot in.
I never said punching wasn't very commonplace - I said it wasn't "natural".
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