Brass knuckles
It kind of seemed out of character that buddy would use brass knuckles. The whole time, it was kind of implied that buddy was more misunderstood than an actual delinquent and he mostly wanted to kick the guys ass to adhere to his personal code. I never got the idea that he wanted to cause real harm to the kid, but a line was crossed, and he had no choice but to kick his ass to remain consistent with his code.
Him going for the brass knuckles suggests a level of maliciousness and foul play that would be inconsistent with any real codes and giving the kid an honest shot.
Anyone else confused by this?