There are fighters and then there are bare knuckle fighters.
It goes without saying that it takes a level of courage near-unfathomable for the common person to step in a ring with or without gloves, but to do the latter is something that even the most hardened pro boxers simply can’t envision themselves doing. Certainly, there are risks inherent to both kinds of combat, but the brutality of a bare knuckle fight insists upon a certain type of participant.
It takes another type of person entirely to essentially say “boxing isn’t violent enough for me.” That’s the kind of man Scott McHugh is. In 2020, McHugh spoke with the Yorkshire Evening Post about his bare knuckle career, which was already five fights deep at that time—enough to be considered a grizzled veteran in the still infantile sport of bare knuckle today—and revealed why he chose to go directly into it without a stop in the gloved world.
He said: “With BKB, there are lots of people who are ex-UFC and there are no journeymen. You don’t get hurt enough in boxing and I like a bit of a challenge.”
Eleven fights later, McHugh will face off with Liam “Rocky” Rees in the main event of BYB 32 with the BYB Police Gazette World Diamond Super Welterweight championship on the line.
McHugh is one of the most experienced, decorated and celebrated bare knuckle fighters in the world. Within the modern realm of bare knuckle fighting, a 16-fight veteran is nearly unheard of. As the years go on, fighters will certainly start reaching records like McHughs, but many won’t. The demands of bare knuckle are such that careers are going to be short, and fighters like McHugh will in all likelihood always be rare.
McHugh is a major piece of a recently expanded BYB roster with its acquisition of BKB and the combining of the two companies, bringing together the best bare knuckle talent from the UK, Europe and the United States. If he never fights another second, he’s already a three-time world champion and a member of the Bare Knuckle Hall of Fame.
“It’s really expanded our reach when it comes to being a global company. Someone like McHugh is one of the first guys that isn’t a transplant from another sport. He’s a real bare knuckle fighter,” BYB CEO Greg Bloom told Bare Knuckle Nation. “It’s fortified our roster with guys like that who are real veterans in this sport that a lot of our competition doesn’t have. It goes to show why we have the deepest roster in bare knuckle fighting. We have guys like Scott McHugh who have ten plus fights already.”
Photo Courtesy: BYB
While the bout against Rees is certainly no walkover for McHugh, there is already curiosity about how McHugh and fighters like him might match up against some of the more familiar BYB talent who have been developed on US television on beInSport. Recently, LT Nelson went over to the UK and upset all-time great Barrie Jones in perhaps the first high-level clash between name-brand US-built fighter and a UK veteran since the merger.
“Part of the thing you have to keep in mind is, it’s not us against them anymore,” said Bloom. “We’re all BYB now, it’s not BKB vs. BYB like it was two years ago. We’re all one, we’re all under the same umbrella. So, although it was interesting to see someone like LT come in with less bare knuckle experience and get a victory over Barrie Jones, I think it was also the rule set. When I was watching that fight, you could tell that Barrie was uncomfortable in the clinch, and so the different style and ruleset that the BKB fighters are adapting to, the American ruleset, I think it’s gonna add in a little spin.”
Photo Courtesy: BYB
One thing that was noticeable in the Nelson-Jones fight however, was the extraordinary atmosphere for a bare knuckle bout in the UK. A casual fan tuning in to that fight would immediately understand that it’s a big deal, with a ravenous crowd encroaching on the ring, singing and chanting throughout the bloody battle. McHugh has an opportunity to make a statement in his hometown of Leeds against Rees, and produce a similar type of atmosphere, one that BYB should be—and by all accounts appears to be—eager to replicate as often as possible.
Often times there can be a mindset in combat sports that one must make a mark in the US marketplace at all costs, but McHugh in particular could help create additional momentum for the company on home soil. In other words, the expansion of the BYB brand doesn’t mean pillaging UK talent and bringing them across the pond, it means helping establish the BYB brand where BKB was once the recognizable trio of letters.
So could a McHugh win lead to a date in the United States, perhaps on BYB home turf in Florida?
“It depends on who the opponent would be, but again, part of our plan of this global expansion is to showcase our fighters from the UK and the US. We want to build this as a global fanbase. Now, obviously as a business perspective, we may want to keep guys in their hometown because they’re a draw,” said Bloom. “But at the end of the day, we want to build these guys’ brand on an international basis, so the more that we can showcase them around the world, the better.”
Top Photo Courtesy of Scott McHugh and DN4 Photography.
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