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KNUCKLE DUSTER
Bare-knuckle boxers claim their brutal sport is SAFER than boxing and more technical or ‘you’ll break your hands’
THE PROMOTERS behind controversial bare-knuckle boxing events have faced threats from both underworld gangsters and pro boxing chiefs but vow to fight for the sport’s legitimacy.
Jim Freeman and Joe Brown, who now run Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB), met at a bare-knuckle fight held in a barn in 2014.
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They walked away with the idea of taking the underground scraps and flipping it into a mainstream sport.
But they had to overcome death threats from gangsters and travellers who believed they were taking bare-knuckle fighting away from its roots.
And also legal threats from the British Board of Boxing Control who claim bare-knuckle fights break the law.
Bare-knuckle boxing is a fast-growing sport in the UK but it attracts as many critics as devotees.
Fighters almost always end up bleeding from facial cuts - which are part and parcel of the sport - but organisers claim bouts are legal as long as correct safety measures are in place.
Freeman told SunSport: “We struggled massively for years.
"We had death threats from gangsters and travellers who were against people like myself and Joe taking bare-knuckle fighting into the mainstream, they wanted to keep it underground.
“It’s been a hard road. The first show we ever booked at the O2 it took us 10 meetings to get it booked with the security and the reservations everyone had over it.
“Eddie Hearn had a show across in the main arena and the British Board of Boxing Control actually wrote to the O2 and wanted it banned and said it’s not gloved boxing or sanctioned by us.
“Well we didn’t want to be sanctioned by them anyway, we’re a different sport.
"There've been so many challenges and I’ve still got that letter from the board and I’ll keep it until we got massive and show how they tried to shut us down.”
The BBoBC, which regulates licensed boxing, believes BKB is operating in a grey area and has even called for police to prevent shows in the past.
People will say ‘it’s brutal, it’s just for thugs’ but there’s so much more to it stylistically and technically or you’ll break your hands.
Tyler Goodjohn, BKB lightweight champion
The board’s general secretary, Rob Smith, has said previously: “It is a cloudy area, but I do believe it is illegal. Police deal with it as a public order matter and stop it.
“It is crazy, there is an inherent risk in licensed boxing and we work very hard to ensure it is as safe as possible.”
But BKB is sanctioned independently by the The World Bare Knuckle Boxing Council with the promotion staging over 40 events since starting up six years ago.
Experienced cutwoman Sam Cheesa - who works in gloved boxing, bare-knuckle and MMA - argues injuries can be more serious in pro boxing.
She says gloved boxers have more protection on their hands, so the fighters throw more punches to their opponents' head.
In comparison bare-knuckle competitors throw fewer punches to avoid injuring their fists.
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Cheesa says: “You’re almost guaranteed to get cut in bare-knuckle because it’s bone on bone, but it’s superficial because these boys heal up.
“In gloved boxing I deal with more swelling, I very rarely see cuts. But you end up taking more sustained damage because your hands are protected.
“So over 12 rounds it’s more damaging to the brain. Also one shot in bare-knuckle you can be knocked out and it’s over, whereas in gloved boxing the fight can go longer.”
Bare-knuckle boxing has not yet had a recorded death inside the ring, but gloved boxing suffered a tragic year in 2019 with four fatalities.
Former English title challenger Tyler Goodjohn, who retired with a pro record of 13-5 and now holds the BKB lightweight belt, insists bare-knuckle boxers are forced to punch with more technique than gloved fighters - an element he feels goes unnoticed.
He explained: “There’s a lot of shots in gloved boxing you can’t get away with in bare-knuckle.
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“When I threw my jab I used to just flick it, now I twist the knuckles or you’ll potentially break your hands.
“People will say ‘it’s brutal, it’s just for thugs’ but there’s so much more to it stylistically and technically or you’ll break your hands.”
Goodjohn used to train with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in Essex and once fought on his undercard.
But the 29-year-old reveals the £4,500 he was paid for the chief support fight is far less than he earns as a BKB fighter due to promotional and managerial expenses in pro boxing - and claims he enjoys more notoriety as a star of bare-knuckle fighting.
Goodjohn says: “I’m getting more everything as a bare-knuckle boxer compared to pro boxing in money, sponsors and recognition.
“I’m so much more well known, I fought on Sky Sports for my English title but with the social media impact in BKB it’s crazy. I’ve been on holiday and been recognised by Spanish people.
“I fought on Anthony Joshua’s undercard and was chief support fighting 20 minutes before him and made about £4,500. The trouble with pro gloved boxing you play to the tune of the promoter.
“With training costs and everything else I probably only made £1,500 - £2,000 for 12-weeks training and work. It just wasn’t worth it.”
Promoter Freeman adds: “If you’re a boxing or MMA manager don’t ever contact me, we’re not interested. We deal with the lads, we’re their managers, they don’t need parasites taking money off them.”
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In the US last June, Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship staged a pay-per-view grudge match between former boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi and ex-UFC contender and training partner of Conor McGregor, Artem Lobov.
But BKB, who claim to have refused staging big-money celebrity fights, insist they have no interest in “freakshow or special interest” bouts and reveal they are close to agreeing a TV deal to have their events televised in the UK.
Freeman says: “We are one step away. We just need someone to take a gamble on us. We’re already going out on 28 countries and cable TV in America, Ukraine but just not the UK.
“It will happen, 2020 we will be on TV. We’ve got people knocking on the door. And when it goes on one and they see the numbers it can generate they’ll follow.
“We don’t ‘ex-UFC’ ‘ex-this’ we want our fighters to be known as professional bare-knuckle boxers. We don’t want people to look at us as a freakshow or special interest.
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“We’ve been approached by celebrities and could have had a celebrity fight but I’d rather be known for the integrity of the quality of our fights.”
For most bare-knuckle boxing, however much it divides opinions, is a new and fast rising sport.
But for Irish traveller Jimmy Sweeney - who beat former middleweight champion Andy Lee as an amateur boxer - fighting with exposed fists is a long running tradition in his culture.
After coming out of prison in 2011, Sweeney was unable to box as a pro, but amazingly turned to professional BKB two years later to help prepare him to settle a family dispute with his cousin.
But after the civil war was resolved without fisticuffs, the 35-year-old used BKB as an opportunity to relive his dream as a fighter and faces Goodjohn for the vacant bantamweight title on April 6 at the O2 Indigo.
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Sweeney says: “I was scheduled to fight one of my cousins bare-knuckle, it was a family dispute. I hadn’t even been back training but I was meant to box him to set a traveller dispute.
“I started training again but I hadn’t had a bare-knuckle fight before so I needed some fights to get me into it, and that’s when I contacted Jim Freeman.
“To be honest I didn’t tell him why I needed to fight, but after two fights the feud got squashed between me and my cousin and I had fallen in love with BKB professionally.”
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