Two events and 5 championship fights gave the fans all they could ask for and more.
Holy s**t what a day to be a bare knuckle fan! October 12th will go down in history as one of the most exciting days of the modern era. Let’s get right into it!
Starting off with BYB 32 in Leeds England with the BYB Super Lightweight title on the line, Harry Gigliotti took some damage to start the first round but ultimately like he has his whole bare knuckle career he stuck to the fundamentals and sunk a nasty body shot into Fitzpatrick who was unable to answer the count. Gigliotti wins his first world championship and keeps the promise he made to his 92 year old grandfather! Pretty great stuff from one of the brightest young stars in bare knuckle today. Do we maybe see a Gigliotti vs. Tanori bout as a battle of the next generation of bare knuckle?
Liam Rees vs Scott McHugh was a perfect showing of what makes the Trigon so great. McHugh was a counter puncher with pure boxing tendencies while Rees was a much more aggressive guy in their BKB days. But now that they were forced to fight in the smaller ring we saw both men open up and got an awesome tilt, that if not for the BKFC main event would’ve been the best fight of the day. McHugh waved on Rees all fight even when he got tagged with some good shots. But ask and you shall receive and eventually Rees caught McHugh with a beautiful shot right on the chin knocking him down in a heap and it was clear this one was over. Rees in just his fourth fight can call himself a world champion.
Photo Courtesy: BKFC
To BKFC we go, Marbella, Spain to be specific. While the undercard more than delivered with knockouts and some sick action including the debut of two division boxing champion Hannah Rankin, the real action started with their championship double header.
David Mundell and Danny Christie went to absolute war for two rounds. It was fast and it was furious two rounds but when you enter the fire against a guy with the power of Mundell you have to be perfect, and Christie wasn’t even if it was just for a few seconds. Mundell was able to capitalize on Christie's willingness to trade and was able to knock him down in the first before finding the finish in the second. Mike Perry is the only fight that makes sense for Mundell unless they sign someone in free agency, Mundell has cleaned out the division.
In the Co-Main we were reminded why Austin Trout is the best bare knuckle fighter on the planet. The challenger Rico Franco was game and despite the puzzling defenses from Trout was able to get some offense going, But whenever it seemed like things were getting close, Trout would dazzle for a solid 45-60 seconds and show he was steadily in control. Trout would also score two knockdowns throughout the course of the match taking a clear 50-43 decision and keeps his BKFC welterweight title.
The Main event was the Fight of the Year. No matter what I say it wouldn't be able to encapsulate what went on in that fight for all five rounds. The opening three rounds had a knockdown each and things only got better from there. Both guys had times where you thought they were one combination away from getting packed in. But no knockout would happen, this bout had everything but. Both guys legitimately looked like they needed serious medical attention after the final bell. And if you think I’m over selling this fight feel free to watch this fight and decide for yourself. Whether or not you believe it's fight of the year, fight of the decade, one thing is for sure it was the fight of the day and one of the craziest I’ve ever seen!
Top Photo Courtesy of BYB.
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