BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing, the world’s largest professional bare knuckle boxing organization, today announced a main event change for Saturday’s BKB 58: Miami card at the James L. Knight Center.
Olympic gold medalist and former two-division boxing world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa’s highly anticipated bare knuckle boxing debut against Yesner “Cuajadita” Talavera will now serve as the main event for BKB 58.
This comes after world title challenger Mark O’Neil was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout due to visa issues. BKB Heavyweight World Champion Gustavo ‘The Cuban Assassin’ Trujillo will now face former BKB Cruiserweight World Champion Jarome ‘The Hatchet’ Hatch in a non-title co-main event.
Gamboa’s move to the top of the card puts one of boxing’s most decorated champions front and center for his first appearance inside the Trigon. Known as “El Ciclón de Guantánamo,” Gamboa won Olympic gold for Cuba as a flyweight at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens before turning professional and compiling a stellar 30-5 (18 KOs) record. He captured the WBA Featherweight World Championship in 2009 and unified it with the IBF crown in 2010, becoming the first Cuban fighter in history to win an IBF world title.
Gamboa went on to capture WBA interim titles at super featherweight and lightweight while sharing the ring with a who’s who of pound-for-pound greats, including Terence Crawford, Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis and Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Crawford has repeatedly called Gamboa one of the toughest opponents of his career, even describing Gamboa as the man who landed “the hardest punch” he ever took.
David Tetreault, CEO of BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing, said: “This is why we stack each of our cards with elite talent and 50-50 match-ups. There’s 5 or 6 bouts that are more than strong enough to headline any event, but this replacement will be special. Yuriorkis Gamboa is one of the greatest boxers of his generation, and headlining BKB 58 gives fans in Miami exactly what they deserve: a true world champion making his bare knuckle debut in the main event. This is a huge moment, not just for Yuriorkis, but for what it shows about the level of talent bare knuckle boxing is now attracting.”
Yuriorkis Gamboa said: “I’ve fought at the highest level my whole career, and now I get to bring that experience into the Trigon for my BKB debut, headlining in Miami. This is a new challenge and I’m ready to show the Miami fans exactly why I’ve been a champion my whole life.”
Stepping up to the co-main event on short notice is Hatch, who’s looking to make an impact at Trujillo’s expense. The former BKB Cruiserweight World Champion last fought inside the Trigon at BKB 55: Carnage in Cardiff, where he dropped a hard-fought decision to Dan “Big Pod” Podmore. Now, Hatch will test himself against the reigning BKB Heavyweight World Champion.
Hatch is one of only two men to defeat BKB Bridgerweight Champion and pound-for-pound great Marko Martinjak in bare knuckle boxing, stopping the “Marvelous” Croatian by first-round knockout to win the National Police Gazette Cruiserweight Championship at BYB 16: Desert Brawl in early 2018. A 19-time “Tough Man” champion, Hatch also held the Fierce Fighting Championship light heavyweight title in MMA and boasts a 161-27-1 overall combat sports record across all disciplines.
Gustavo Trujillo said: “Changes happen, that’s part of this business, but nothing changes for me. I’m still fighting Saturday and I’m still finishing fights in the first round. Jarome Hatch is stepping up and I respect that, but he’s walking into the same storm everyone else has.”
Saturday’s card remains stacked from top to bottom, including the BKB debut of UFC veteran Aspen Ladd against Bianca Daimoni, while hometown favorite Robert Duran Jr., son of boxing legend Roberto Duran, takes on Ryan Spivey.
Tickets for BKB 58: Miami are on sale now via http://bkbtickets.com/miami.
