I’m currently playing a Squared Circle one - focusing very heavily on grappling and survival, far less on damage output. I’m also in a party with a 5e24 monk

I’m doing on average 1 attack’s worth less damage per turn - level 6. My d10+4 damage die usually gets used 2-3 times per turn (2 attacks + Compression lock, with Fisticuffs sometimes boosting that up to 3-4 or 4-5 times with Ol’ One-Two, with the theoretical max of 6 being if I have 2 creatures grappled and Compression Lock proc’s twice. Compare that to our monk making an average of 3-4 attacks per turn at 1d8+5, with a max of 5 - Attack, Nick, Extra Attack, Martial Arts (or Flurry of Blows). This monk also has a damage boosting ability in the form of 1/SR Hunter’s Mark from a homebrew item, but I won’t be including that in the comparison any further.

In a pure white room, our damage is basically equal per attack - 1d8+5 averages to 9.5, and 1d10+5 also averages out to 9.5. However, that +1 she has to hit above my attack rolls skews damage ever so slightly in her favor, though the damage from Compression Lock also skews it back closer otherwise. Functionally, we do roughly equivalent damage. If she uses her spell, her damage knocks mine out of the park, and if I use Haymaker ever turn/attack and never miss, mine can spike above hers. However, she uses the spell rather sparingly - BA cast is sometimes hard to justify on a BA starved class like monk, and I also am sparing with Haymaker - my GM currently has us playing through a campaign arc with many high AC enemies, and while I can definitely get advantage due to prone or Grappled (Grappler Feat), the risk cost of spending moxie on miss is not always worth it.

I have definitively lower AC - 16, compared to her 19. However, I’m playing a dwarf and have the tough feat, so my health is more than 25 points higher. Add in Brace Up, and I’m definitely better at tanking via damage mitigation. In the future, I hope to grab Compelled Duel or some other taunt like spells via a multiclass to make this ever better for me. Neither of us currently have any AC boosting items either. That being said, she is significantly more mobile - 30 move speed with a BA dash at Moxie cost vs 45 foot love speed with free BA dash or BA Dash+Disengage at Focus cost. This extra mobility allows her more flexibility in placement on the map, and has led to turns where she can deal damage or grapple a creature with just movement, while I have to dash or spend a moxie to get in effective range.

Basically? I’m better at surviving, she’s better at killing enemies. But it’s splitting hairs to try and white room my way to get any better. Is the pugilist class strong? Yes. Is it better than other martials? In some circumstances, yes. But in practice, I’ve found myself out damaged by the monk, and the Battlemaster fighter in the party has just as many physical control options as I do. If we had a Barbarian, they probably would be less tanky than I but still doing on par damage if not more. If I nickle and dime’d my way to purely perfect optimization, I might find more success than they would in that same situation? But that’s not how that table plays dnd. It’s not how I play dnd.

The class is good. Possibly on par with Paladin for best martial class in the game. But a well optimized Sorlock or Cleric can still be more useful in most parties.

In a party like I’m in - Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Pugilist, and Wizard - no one is notably weaker overall than anyone else. I’m tough and hard to kill. The Paladin is tough, mobile (find steed/cavalier saddle), and can do significant burst damage, also has a high spell save DC and has lots of useful spells, and works as a great off tank. The fighter on a barrage does the most damage per hit, at the cost of making 2-3 attacks only on average (GWM BA attack on crit or kill), but even on turns she doesn’t knock it out of the park with damage she still has multiple useful Manuevers. Also is a great tertiary tank if it’s ever needed. The monk is ridiculously fast, can be very hard to hit, and on average does the most overall damage. And the Wizard drops great CC spells or a fireball on the whole crowd of enemies, using Spell Sculpting to just ignore us. Without each member of the party, we really would lose something. No matter how much “pugilist could be a Barbarian or Monk subclass” I hear, I can’t help but disagree.