We had boxing royalty at ringside in Leeds on Saturday night and Carl Froch, Josh Warrington, Natasha Jonas and Paul Smith loved what they saw.
Carl instantly declared himself a huge fan of the sport – and says we will see him again at BKB shows.
No wonder he fell in love with our promotion.
He saw Marko Martinjak and Dan Podmore swap three knockdowns in just 91 seconds and then Paulie Malignaggi pipped Tyler Goodjohn in a hard five rounder.
Tyler tells us that was his last bareknuckle fight and if that’s the case, everyone in the sport should thank him.
Paulie afterwards told us he wants to be a two-weight world champion in the trigon and fancies a shot at the winner of Liam Rees-Rolando Dy.
Liam defends his super-welterweight title against the Filipino on BKB 49 on December 5.
Before that, we are in South Florida on Saturday, November 22 for BKB 48.
That includes the rematch between pound-for-pound No 1 Lorawnt T ‘Smash’ Nelson and Barrie Jones, along with Gustavo Trujillo defending his world heavyweight championship against Tony Johnson.
Gustavo has won all seven fights with us in the first round and is looking to become world heavyweight champion in both gloved and bareknuckle boxing.
Tony has held the heavyweight championship himself and looks sure to give ‘The Cuban Assassin’ his toughest test so far.
The prize for the winner could be a huge clash with Marko.
‘The Emperor of Bareknuckle Boxing’ became a two-weight world champion by getting off the floor to beat Dan and afterwards told us he wants to fightfor the heavyweight championship in 2026.
That would give Marko the chance to become a three-weight world champion – and be a huge fight for our sport.
We have built our business on making the best fights we possibly can. If we talk to a fighter who wants to pick and choose his opponents, we tell them: ‘You aren’t for us.’
It’s this policy of making the best fights that has enabled us to grow and we will keep growing.
Until next week
Jim Freeman
(Head of Operations, BKB Europe)