Franco Tenaglia rose through a violent underground fight scene and a life of crime to fighting for a world title.
To put Franco Tenaglia’s life into perspective, taking part in a bare knuckle boxing match is not even close to being the most dangerous undertaking in his life. In fact, in order to get into the fighting world at all, Tenaglia had to encounter unfathomable danger.
Franco will vie for the world lightweight championship against Tony Soto this Saturday at BKFC Spain as the company embarks upon a new era on DAZN with a foothold in a new country. Being a world champion is a galaxy away from the lows of Tenaglia’s life, but for that matter, taking part in controlled, sanctioned bouts with reasonable pay is too.
It’s obviously not uncommon for bare knuckle fighters to come from hardscrabble backgrounds, climb the lower rungs of the fighting world, or even dabble in the underground where bare knuckle remained alive for over a century. But if some of his contemporaries' roots are in the underground, Tenaglia’s are decidedly subterranean.
Tenaglia dropped out of school when he was just 17 years old to pursue his dream of fighting professionally. As a youth, Tenaglia trained in kickboxing and has said that he found himself both too exhausted and too distracted to focus on schoolwork every day anyway. Without an idea of how to turn professional as a fighter, he made his way to Spain with 350 euros in his pocket, determined to find a way to make it work. He would find fights for sure, but unfortunately, he also found many people seemingly willing to prey on his circumstances as well.
Tenaglia’s first “break” came as a teenager when he met a group of Welsh tourists who decided to hire him as security. One of the group members was also a boxing promoter, and was able to arrange for some unsanctioned bare knuckle bouts for Tenaglia which paid him between 200 and 250 pounds, which in combination with his security payments were enough for him to survive. Before long, the toll of the frequent bouts, especially for a kid fighting grown men, began to set in, and he turned his focus to MMA, thinking it would be slightly easier on his body.
That wouldn’t prove to be the case. Amateur bare knuckle MMA on wooden or cement floors isn’t exactly a gentle yoga routine, and Tenaglia once broke his hand, foot and jaw all in the same fight, putting him on the shelf for six months.
"They used me as a fighting dog. I was there alone, without a family, I didn’t speak English very well and on top of that I didn’t have papers. I was useless if I couldn’t fight. When I got injured they took everything away from me and my life started to get complicated," Tenaglia told Fabricio Soza of Infobae last year.
In need of money, Tenaglia found himself in the world of gangs and criminal activity, where he says that “horrible things” happened to him, including several attempted murders, once with a machete.
“My family is lower middle class. My mother works, she was a teacher at the time and asking her for 200 euros would ruin her. Plus, I only had to eat for a week with that. I never asked my family for money, if I came here and screwed them up alone, I would be risking it all on my own. I really took a risk in a lot of ways,” he said.
Once his body healed, Tenaglia entered a world that bridged the gap between street crime and organized fighting, so to speak, with King Of The Streets. The underground MMA organization often consists of opposing football hooligans, or members of a particular political ideology facing off against one another. One team versus another, or Nazis vs. anti-fascists, for example. Others, like Tenaglia, are unaffiliated and simply there to participate. Although the fights can now be found on YouTube, something Tenaglia has expressed disbelief in, participants are said to sometimes be blindfolded on their way to the venue to keep the location secret, spectators and organizers are in ski masks and carrying machine guns, and the referee sometimes has a gun on his waist too. Biting and eye gouging are allowed.
It's from this world that Tenaglia somehow emerged. After acquiring a European passport, he formally began his bare knuckle career in 2022 with a second-round KO win over Chas Symonds at the Wembley Arena, taking home $5000, or 25 times what he was making in the underworld. Earlier this year, he endured a war with ten-fight veteran James Lilley to walk away with the European Lightweight title.
“I have a somewhat crazy philosophy of life and I am not afraid of dying,” Tenaglia told Soza.
The man who isn’t afraid of the unexpected will encounter a challenge he’s been bracing for this weekend. Tenaglia and Soto had been rumored to fight in the past, as had Tenaglia and Rico Franco, who will face Austin Trout for his welterweight title on the same show. As one might expect given his past, Tenaglia is unafraid of what’s in front of him this weekend.
After all, there are no hooligans, no guns, no knives. Just fists.
“I like to bring the madness to the ring, that’s my style," said Tenaglia. “I’ve fought many crazy hooligans from all over like this guy Tony Soto, he’s going to find out the real truth on October 12. (Soto is) so boring I slept through (his) fights.”
Photo courtesies: BKFC
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