Here's the fights you need to know about from BKB 38.
(Photo courtesy: BKB)
It was a massive weekend for boxing fans as Cinco De Mayo always brings, with Canelo Alvarez and Jaime Munguia providing an entertaining scrap in Las Vegas, NV. So, it’s forgivable if didn’t start your day off with a morning little bare-knuckle action (for those of us on the east coast) from the United Kingdom. Knowing that, we’ve got you covered in terms of what you should go back and catch up on.
BKB 38 was another one of the company’s reliably entertaining cards, well-produced, well-matched, and with plenty of shoulder content to help you get familiar with the fighters even if you’re coming into their shows as a bare knuckle novice. There’s also a distinctly different tone on BKB shows as compared to BKFC shows, or even BYB shows. The company really leans into the nostalgia of the sport and the idea that the participants are mostly respectful men engaging in “a straightener.”
As a main event fighter walked to the ring, the lead commentator Tom Ross drew a line of distinction. “You notice, the referee in each corner, making sure each corner is doing right,” he said. “We've got one checking the fighter as they come in. This is a professional organization. Don't believe all the nonsense you hear about haybales or other organizations. This is the most professional and safe organization on the planet.”
Marko Martinjak vs. Kevin Greenwood
The vacant world light heavyweight title was on the line in this one, but it took less than a minute for it to find its way around the waist of Martinjak.
In what was seemingly an evenly-matched affair between two fighters with extensive gloved boxing backgrounds and relatively lengthy bare knuckle careers, Martinjak pulled out an eraser of a right hand that brutally knocked out Greenwood.
True to the company’s style, the commentary team’s response to this moment was muted, almost apologetic about what had just happened. Again, the company really leans into the masculine ideal of a bloody battle in which both fighters never lose consciousness, leave the ring and have a stout together at the pub.
Once Greenwood was up and sufficiently recovered, pundits were free to acknowledge that this was one of the most brutal knockouts in modern bare knuckle history.
Martinjak’s lights out power and lanky frame have made him a two-weight world champion after avenging his only loss in the last ten years to Jerome Hatch.
Dominic Negus vs. Stanlee Wilson
The Dominic Negus story deserves a feature of its own, and there’s one on its way here at Bare Knuckle Nation, but to summarize: Dominic Negus is a 53-year old former professional boxer who is most famous for headbutting Audley Harrison and then turning to a life in the criminal underworld where his “enforcer” days came to an end when a group of men attacked him with guns and an axe and nearly killed him.
"I was on the verge of huge things but I got involved with the wrong people and paid the price,” Negus told TalkSport last week. "I nearly went to prison for 15 years due to my line of work. Then I had a bit of trouble when three men [armed with guns, axes and baseball bats] came to kill me at my gym. But that is only what I deserved, you can't live that life and not expect to get your comeuppance.”
Negus says he’s cleaned up his life entirely thanks to his daughter, and at least outwardly now presents as a cuddly old man who also happens to be very dangerous if he wants to me. At 53, he says he wants to fulfill some deeper desires and exorcise a few demons by leaning into the bare knuckle world.
Negus got the loudest ovation of the night during his ringwalk by far, even louder than Greenwood, whom he trains, in the main event. They were equally excited when he stopped Wilson in the second round—an outcome Wilson was not entirely surprised by either, as he simply said before the fight that he was “willing to give it a go.”
Kamil Sokolowski vs. Volodymyr Skurtu
Sokolowski was a cult favorite heavyweight journeyman in professional boxing, sharing the ring with names like Dillian Whyte, Otto Wallin, Martin Bakole and more. Then, after a 2022 loss to Fraser Clarke, Sokolowski tested positive for exogenous testosterone and was banned by UKAD for three years. He fought again in the gloved circuit in Germany once more, but is more or less banished from pro boxing for the moment.
Those restrictions do not carry over to bare knuckle, so Sokolowski has started a new career sans gloves, where he made his debut back in January, smashing Bri Morrow in one round.
Sokolowski didn’t take any longer this time, scoring three knockdowns that were so heavy that they produced a WWE-style “selling” reaction from Skurtu each time completely genuinely and involuntarily.
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