The history of bare knuckle boxing cannot be told without at least a chapter on Sam Shewmaker.
While Bobby Gunn represents the bridging figure between bare knuckle’s renegade era and its era of legitimacy, Shewmaker became the sport’s first star of the modern era in 2018. Known as “The Hillbilly Hammer,” Shewmaker had all of the elements that attracted writers and broadcasters from mainstream outlets curious about the resurgence of this once banned sport. Just as the practice itself seemed like a relic from a prior time, Shewmaker appeared to be a man of almost mythical origins.
A construction worker from the Ozark Mountains, living in a town of just over 2500 people in Verseilles, Missouri, Shewmaker showed up at one of the very first BKFC open tryouts ahead of BKFC 1. Company head David Feldman had commissioned a punching power machine, which he had aspiring fighters hit to measure the force of their blows. Reportedly, most fighters registered in the 700s, some reaching about 1300. Shewmaker stepped up and threw four right hands and one left hook, topping out at close to 1700 pounds of force.
Shewmaker, who was a multi-time Golden Gloves champion and amateur MMA fighter, had no idea how strong he actually was. Working in construction and growing up in a family of masons, Shewmaker said he’d been hauling stones and doing heavy physical labor his entire life. He knew he was functionally strong—his living had always depended on it—but there were certainly no fancy machines to test prodigious power on the job sites. Rather, he was simply a man who loved a good fight who had responded to a Facebook ad posted by Feldman looking for potential bare knuckle fighters.
“You could feel the electricity in the room,’’ Shewmaker told USA Today. “That event really kind of opened my eyes. Man, I knew I had a punch. I had obviously knocked people out before, with gloves and without gloves, but I guess never to that extent.’’
Feldman offered Shewmaker a spot on the BKFC 1 card, which was the first round of a tournament to decide the company’s inaugural heavyweight champion. Shewmaker was matched against Eric Prindle, a 6’4”, 280-pound chiseled monster with an MMA background. Though not small or out of shape by even the most unkind of standards, Shewmaker looked overmatched to anyone’s eye.
Then the bell rang. Before commentator Sean Wheelock could even get through the formalities of telling the viewers which color trunks each fighter was wearing, Shewmaker uncorked a right hand from hell and knocked Prindle out cold.
It was the perfect storm that BKFC needed, and the perfect character it needed, to get the company off the ground. Shewmaker was the embodiment of the American everyman, a small town laborer with a huge beard, star-spangled trunks and a right hand from hell. A comic book character come to life in the form of a bare knuckle boxer.
Shewmaker found himself as the central figure of a VICE documentary, a USA Today profile, an appearance in Rolling Stone magazine and more. That he went out and grinded a split decision victory over Maurice Jackson in the semi-finals only added to his mystique.
“They love to see that raw power and they love to see the knockouts,’’ Shewmaker told USA Today. “I’d love to give the fans what they want.’’
In essence, Shewmaker became the company’s mascot, its most recognizable figure during its formative years. A man with a relatable story and one clip in particular that was easily digestible and shareable in a time when the company was in need of attention to survive.
Shewmaker would never win the heavyweight title. He lost to Arnold Adams by decision in the tournament finals, and in 2021, lost to Joey Beltran in a crack at the heavyweight title once again. In between that period, he produced one more particularly memorable performance against Bobo O’Bannon, stopping the former pro boxer in the first round of a wild firefight.
This weekend, BKFC ventures to Sturgis for what feels like a seminal moment in the promotion’s history again. Borrowing from the World Championship Wrestling playbook, BKFC is staging an event in the midst of the world’s largest motorcycle rally, headlined by Britain Hart and Taylor Starling. It’s a chance to showcase the sport in front of a new audience, a demographic that would seem to be interested in the kind of edgy, counter-culture produce that BKFC is offering.
So just as it did on its very first show, it will lean on Shewmaker and his old foe Josh Burns to help bring new fans in. The two will rematch in a heavyweight clash three years after Burns stopped Shewmaker in Omaha back in 2021.
As much as we, the folks who follow bare knuckle on a daily basis, may fixate on the new wave of technically gifted fighters at the top of the rankings, the reality is that fighters like Shewmaker and Burns are who will quite often help usher new fans in the door. The average, casual fan just wants to see two behemoths throwing bombs, and that’s exactly what Shewmaker and Burns are going to give you. The heavyweight division has likely evolved past Shewmaker, at least in terms of him being a true title threat, but this is still an entertainment property. The median fan who wants to pay $4.99 a month to watch bare knuckle fights every week might not care if Shewmaker can beat Gustavo Trujillo or not, at least not initially.
It's important that we honor the OGs like Shewmaker, who helped us get to a place in this sport that we never thought imaginable.
Photo courtesy: BKFC
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