BOSTON — If you’d have told me that Harry Gigliotti, a local boy from Haverhill, was fighting the bare-knuckle at Fenway Park against the undefeated “King” Kai Stewart, from all the way out in the northwestern regions of Great Falls, Montana, I’d have assumed it was 1913.
As it turned out, that particular event took place on Saturday night, while the Red Sox were away in New York taking on the Yankees. With a ring nestled into the backstop at Fenway, in “foul territory,” as it were, BKFC 92 became the first boxing event held directly on the sacred grounds in 70 years. For those who don’t remember, that was when Tony DeMarco, the old “Flame and Fury of Fleet Street,” took on Jersey’s Vince Martinez, who conducted his business through a mean left hook.
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DeMarco beat Martinez by a decision that night in 1956, the same day Ted Williams helped Tom Yawkey’s boys take care of the Detroit Tigers at Briggs Stadium.
In other words, it’s been a long, long time since the fists have flown at what John Updike called that “lyric little bandbox of a ballpark.”
Bare-knuckle boxing took over Boston’s iconic Fenway Park on Saturday. (Photo credit: BKFC)
And you couldn’t help but feel a little nostalgic for a bygone day as Stewart and Gigliotti traded punches back and forth at such a historic venue, with no gloves to cushion the blows. In the August night air, with just enough cool to suggest the first hints of fall, a good segment of the more than 12,000 fans packed into the infield seats chanted “F*** Montana” at the featherweight champ Stewart, who had among his rooters a proud row of loyalists up close to the ring, happily obstructing the sight lines with the Montana flags they held high over their heads.
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“Sit down hillbilly!” one fan yelled out, while another shouted, “down in front, Sasquatch!” One of the fellows who was riling up the Boston faithful by refusing to confine himself to a seat sported an impressive grill, which he flashed fiendishly as he egged things on. He was there for Stewart, the great undefeated champion. When Kid Rock hit the sound system between rounds of the co-main, this man erupted into one of the more impressive lip-syncing demonstrations I can ever hope to see.
Or hope to ever forget.
Needless to say, there was good healthy tension surrounding the fights, just like in the old days. Yet if there was a key difference in eras it was in the sheer volume of facial tattoos. At one point, just to make sure I understood the etiquette, I asked MMA Junkie’s Nolan King, who was seated on press row, if having tattoos on your face were a requirement for competition at BKFC. Robinson Perez, who fought on the prelims against a monstrous ironweight (225-pounder) named Guilherme Viana, had ink seeping up the side of his face, as did the fleet-footed strawweight Taylor Starling, who wore them well.
Taylor Starling (right) beat Kathryn Paprocki in a five-round decision at Fenway. (Photo credit: BKFC)
Though Stewart was in enemy territory, he gave a good account of himself, retaining his title on the scorecards after five vicious rounds. The crowd wasn’t pleased with the outcome, but they’d had plenty to cheer about in the previous bouts.
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Earlier in the night, the 42-year-old Boston legend Joe Lauzon, a former UFC fighter who built a small empire on end-of-the-night bonuses, said he enjoyed his violent encounter with Stash Kuykendall, which brought Fenway to its feet. Most fans assumed that whenever Joe decided to take off his gloves it would be to say farewell to the fight world, but on this night it was simply to uninhibit his knuckles.
“We always fight like it’s a car crash,” he said after knocking Kuykendall out. “I felt like I hit him pretty good. I’ve got a swollen eye but that’s the way it goes.”
When asked if he was done, he gave the old “yes/unless.”
“If you come back to Fenway, we’ll talk about it,” he said.
UFC vet Joe Lauzon (right) showed out at Fenway Park. (Photo credit: BKFC)
Not all the fights were classics. Peter Barrett, known in Boston circles as “Slippery Pete,” clobbered Elijah Harris like a pinata, knocking him down a grand total of nine times. Referee Kevin McDonald watched Harris pick himself up off the floor so many times that he seemed surprised whenever Harris was able to stay on his feet during an exchange.
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Yet most of the fights delivered exactly what they advertised. The “Queen of Violence,” Christine Ferea, flattened Argentina’s Sofia Landi with a savageness that you rarely see in the UFC and went so far as to call out Cris Cyborg next. After seeing Ferea up close, I can’t think of a better idea.
The great thing about BKFC is that it has created its own lane. It’s not trying to be boxing, and it’s not to be the UFC, and nor is it really competing with the UFC even if it happily gives a platform to former UFC fighters. On this night, UFC vet Charles Rosa, an area darling whose nickname is “Boston Strong,” gave his town a barnburner against Charon Spain, yet came up short on the scorecards. Say what you want about the judges, but they weren’t homers.
It was a unique event. Fenway Park. The Green Monster in the background, looming over the action. It made me think of all those fights that used to be held at old Comiskey in Chicago, or Yankee Stadium, or the Polo Grounds, where people would set up to watch from Coogan’s Bluff.
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BKFC has come a long way from those rough beginnings. The last bare-knuckle event I’d attended was BKFC 6 in 2019, which featured a fight between Paulie Malignaggi and Artem Lobov and was held at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. It felt very much like a fairgrounds event, taking place in a bunker of shouting day drinkers.
It was a sport with a barbaric past, not a future.
Seven years later, it was at Fenway.
