Agnesa Kirakosian is in a state of mind only few could be in when it comes to this wild ride that is bare knuckle boxing.
(Photo courtesy: BYB Extreme)
Two weeks ago, Agnesa Kirakosian was rapping along to a song made about her as she walked to the ring to fight Shelby Cannon for the BYB super flyweight title. Today, she sits with her right hand in a cast, the belt and medal she won displayed on her mantle, left-handedly thumbing through a stack of records to listen to today as she awaits a call back from the doctor. While the swelling and gashes began to subside after four days, her broken hand obviously did not, muting the blowout celebration she’d had planned for after the bout in Tampa. Rather than dancing the night away in the outfit she’d packed just for that, she listened to the rhythmic beeping of the medical facility, a turquoise gown draped over her bloody trunks.
These are the highs and lows of being a bare knuckle fighter, even a champion. The adrenaline so high that you don’t even notice you’re fighting with a broken hand for almost four rounds. But then, the somber time waiting for the body to heal, to tell you when it can accept more punishment.
"I was so relieved. I was just happy. Finally, all the hard work, all the doubts, worries, all the stuff I went through in camp. It felt amazing. I felt very relieved,” said Kirakosian "I don't think it's hit me yet. It's starting to hit me now that you're telling me this. If I'd lost, my whole world would be crumbling down. I would feel like shit. Winning, I'm just relieved, I'm happy, I'm cool, but there's so many other obstacles, like this hand. But I'd rather get a broken hand than a loss!"
There’s an air of self-deprecation about Kirakosian, an eagerness to downplay her accomplishments, a hesitation to be too boastful, at times almost a disbelief in where she’s at in her fighting career. It’s a valorous, self-effacing style of communication that instantly warms people to her, but it would also be forgivable if Kirakosian were indeed a little surprised by what she’s achieved and the unpaved road she’s travelled to do so.
A decade ago, Kirakosian was a student at Glendale Community College, where she was also a member of the legendary GCC cross-country team. She describes herself as an “angry” person at the time, dealing with the weight of several traumas, including an abusive relationship and being victimized by police brutality. Kirakosian felt as though she’d hit a “dead end, fork in the road.” While wandering through campus one day, she saw group of people boxing rather than shooting hoops on the basketball court and was instantly captivated. The group invited her to join and set off her whirlwind journey in the world of boxing.
Within her first year as an amateur, she had 11 fights, in less than five years she was teaching the sport to children, and within seven years she’d turned pro in Mexico.
“I was mad at everything. I feel like the sport of boxing gave me that peace,” said the 33-year-old Kirakosian. “I was going through a lot of stuff at that moment. Fighting gave me direction and discipline, and it made me a much better person. I feel like I can overcome any challenges. It was kind of like therapy. It took my mind off of everything else. And then I just felt like I could be champ. I had that dream to be world champion, and it's crazy that I am now."
(Photo courtesy: BYB Extreme)
The sport of boxing might provide its participants with tools to handle certain challenges, but it also produces a new set of challenges as well. Suddenly Kirakosian had not just a purpose, but a dream to protect, one that the world threatened to take away time and time again. In 2018, Kirakosian’s coach, Jesse Lechuga, who gave her the “Spitfire” nickname she’s known by, passed away. Not long after, her friend Carlos Lopez, one of her earliest and most ardent supporters in her fighting journey, passed away as well.
Kirakosian had her own battles with mortality too, undergoing two major surgeries before her pro fighting career could even begin, a hysterectomy followed by an appendectomy. As her parents counselled her after the procedures, afraid she’d be worried about reproductive consequences or recovery time, Kirakosian was only concerned about the impact on her yet-to-begin pro fighting career.
"That was hell. I think after that, I don't feel pain. Physically, I mean. I have a soft heart, I'm sensitive and stuff,” said Kirakosian. “(But) I always looked forward to getting over that because of boxing. Most people would be depressed and stuff. But I was like, I don't care if I can't have kids, I just want to box. I just want to get those belts. Boxing gave me a purpose. Something to look forward to, something to help me get over those hurdles. I can't say that boxing was the only thing that changed my life, it was all the circumstances I've been through in my life, they were a character-building process. Boxing and my faith in God helped me get through those obstacles. I also feel like I'm pretty optimistic. I always think ‘it could be worse.’ I show gratitude for what I have. Oh, I have this broken hand? Well, I still have one hand that works.”
As a “gloved boxer,” Kirakosian, who was born in Armenia before moving to California along with her family, started her career 6-0, before suffering her first and only loss to Kumora Yang in February of 2023. But it’s as a bare knuckle fighter, inside the Mighty Trigon of BYB, where Kirakosian has truly flourished. In 2023, she signed with the promotion to take part in her first bare knuckle bout against Mariana Kamra in Dubai.
As a trained cosmetologist who often works with her mother in the family salon, Kirakosian was understandably hesitant about telling her Mom about starting a new profession in which grotesque facial lacerations and hand injuries are both closer to a guarantee than they are a possibility.
She got the anticipated response, but her mind was already made up. Plus, she found an unlikely ally in her father, who had been at her side in hospitals seconds after major surgeries hearing her groggily talk about her desire to fight. He understood what this meant to her.
"I signed the contract before I told them, because I knew they were gonna tell me no. My Mom was throwing a fit. I thought my Dad was gonna go crazy too, but then he told her, if we were going to stop her, we would have stopped her in boxing, a long time ago, and we couldn't do that, so what makes you think we're going to stop her now? We just have to support her. My Dad said Agnesa's like a lion, whoever you put in front of her, she's going to destroy them."
Mom came around to the same mindset too, even letting Agnesa take time off work before and after her most recent fight. Even Kirakosian’s 2023 fight against Jessica Link, one so exciting and brutal that it will be honored at the Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame this summer, didn’t change her mind. Kirakosian says her career is “a family affair” now.
In the lead-up to the Cannon fight, Kirakosian says she had difficulty sleeping, visualizing the fight over and over. Just days prior to the fight, she was able to see how it’s done, as her close friend Seniesa Estrada defeated Yokasta Valle to become the undisputed minimumweight champion in pro boxing. In addition to being close friends, Kirakosian trains with and spars Estrada, who also worked her corner for the Cannon fight.
In watching Kirakosian fight, the reference points are obvious knowing the amount of time she’s spent around Estrada. The use of stance-switches, the gliding footwork and utilization of the ring, it’s clear that Spitfire has been enjoying the fruits of the Superbad learning tree.
But it was one affirmation in particular that stuck with Kirakosian on fight night. Prior to the bout, Estrada simply told her: “Now it’s your turn.” In fact, that’s the last thing Kirakosian remembers hearing from Estrada, even though Estrada was clearly shouting plenty during the fight.
"I was so zoned out. I don't think I was hearing anyone. I was just in my head. But just seeing her face, her presence being there, obviously it helps. I'm sure she said the right things and gave the right facial expressions. I'm sure whatever she said, it helped! I was just in the moment. I was like, she did it, now it's my turn. It's like a winner’s circle."
As much as the win over Cannon is the pinnacle of her fighting career thus far, it was also a culmination of a personal journey, the moment when determination and self-belief fully and truly met for her. Her career has been a series of moments both fortuitous and heartbreaking, ones that a collection of loved ones have helped support her through. But on her biggest night, with welts covering her face, her hand broken and the other raw and bloodied, she only needed to hear her own voice. One telling her there was no way she was going to lose. And one that piped up when she held the title and simply asked when she could do that again.
"Bare knuckle,” she said, “for us, it's like a drug.”
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