Bare-knuckle boxing comes to Boutwell

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It would be easy to understand if a sports fan, even a boxing fan, thought of bare-knuckle fighting as merely a forgotten relic of the 19th century.

However, bare-knuckle boxing — the sport’s original form — is coming back, thanks to David Feldman, a Philadelphia fight promoter and the founder of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, or BKFC.

According to the BKFC website, it became the first organization allowed to hold a legal, sanctioned and regulated bare-knuckle event in America since 1889 when it hosted BKFC 1 in Wyoming in 2018.

Feldman is now bringing bare-knuckle fighting to Birmingham.

BKFC 12 will be held at Boutwell Auditorium on Saturday, April 11.

There will be two bouts, with Chris Leben facing Marcel Stamps and Frank Tate taking on Dillon Cleckler, Feldman said.

This was made possible after the Alabama Legislature passed a bill in 2019 to sanction bare-knuckle boxing in the state.

The BKFC “is dedicated to preserving the historical legacy of bare knuckle fighting, while utilizing a specifically created rule set which emphasizes fighter safety,” according to the BKFC website.

Rules for the sport were approved Jan. 31 by the Alabama Athletic Commission (AAC), the regulatory body for professional boxing and mixed martial arts in the state.

For example, bare-knuckle fights will have a maximum of 12 two-minute rounds and can be held in a regular ring or an MMA-style cage.

BKFC bouts are fought in the organization’s specially designed “Squared Circle,” a four-rope circular ring.

“I knew that our bouts needed a unique fighting area to create maximum excitement and also to properly showcase what Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is all about,” Feldman said on the website.

Kansas and Alabama are the only two states that explicitly allow bare-knuckle boxing by statute, but the sport is also allowed in Mississippi and Wyoming, said Casey Sears, AAC chairman.

Bare-knuckle boxing is violent but carries no greater risk of injury than some other sports, including rugby, Sears said.

All fights require medical personnel, cut men and professional judges, he said.

BKFC 12 tickets begin at $40. VIP tickets are $200. For details, go to bareknuckle.tv.

Disclosure: Sears is also an employee of Starnes Publishing, parent company of Iron City Ink.