When Kimbo Slice first made his name as a backyard bareknuckle boxer, millions of people looked on with amazement. One man, Boston supercop and fighter Sean “The Cannon” Gannon looked at it and thought “I deal with guys like that every Saturday night.”

A bareknuckle sparring session between the two was set up in a secret location, and some ground rules were decided upon. For example, rather than the momentary loss of consciousness standard in MMA, or boxing’s 10 count, a 30 count was employed. There were no gloves.

What resulted is the most famous bareknuckle scrap of the modern era.

There has been a misunderstanding about the rules. Gannon did not violate them, and Kimbo did, but there were zero hard feelings afterwards.

Here’s a description of the fight from someone who was there when it happened:

“What a war! From where I was sitting, the fight went as follows: Both combatants came out swinging and it looked to me as if Slice was the stronger, crisper puncher.

“Kimbo landed some vicious punches and made Gannon’s face look like hamburger meat but Gannon kept coming. Early in the fight, Gannon looked to be out on his feet and held Kimbo in a standing guillotine while Kimbo’s crew yelled for him to finish it and that Gannon was hurt.

“I’m not sure Gannon gassed, I think it was more of the damage that he sustained that slowed him down. Major props to both men for an absolute slugfest.

“Kimbo gassed terribly and it seems that if he had better cardio … he may have won.

“Overall, it appeared to me that slice had slightly better technique and an iron chin while Gannon had that same type chin but much better cardio. Gannon looked to be hurt much worse while kimbo looked to simply be spent.

“What a war that was!”

It must be said in closing, that the MMA fighter Gannon stepped into Kimbo’s world, and won. Had Kimbo stepped into Gannon’s worlds (The Cannon is an experience amateur boxer and MMA fighter) the fight would not have been close.

Made famous by this fight, both men went on the UFC.