HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship celebrated their 50th overall event on Saturday night with a phenomenal thirteen fight card in front of their fourth straight sell-out event at Hard Rock Live.
Making his fifth lightweight world title defense, the “champ champ,” Luis “Baboon” Palomino (8-0) of Miami, continued his dominance in BKFC with a third-round stoppage victory over valiant challenger Tom Shoaff (4-4, 2 KOs) of Lawton, Okla.
Palomino displayed excellent footwork opening the fight and landed a big right hand to drop Shoaff midway through the first round. Using excellent counters, Palomino sent Shoaff to the canvas again before the opening stanza ended.
After another aggressive second round opened multiple cuts on Shoaff’s face, Palomino landed a beautiful short right counter to Shoaff’s head in the third round, dropping the challenger once more. As the fighters retreated to their corners, the ringside physician called a halt to the fight for Shoaff.
Said an elated Palomino, “I fight for the fans, I came and said I wanted to draw blood. All respect to a true warrior, Tom Shoaff. This has been the best year of my life. Outside the ring, I married the most amazing woman. And next year, I’m hoping BKFC will host an event in Peru and I can defend my titles there.”
Palomino also holds the BKFC welterweight world title and is the No. 1-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in BKFC.
Co-featured at BKFC 34, David “The Redneck” Mundell (6-1) of Dunedin, Florida put on the best performance of his BKFC career, handing No. 1-ranked and interim titleholder Francisco Ricchi (5-1), of Fort Lauderdale, Florida his first loss while winning the vacant BKFC middleweight world title.
The hard-hitting southpaw Mundell closed the distance early against the taller and longer Ricchi, dropping him twice in the first stanza. After an aggressive round 2 from both fighters, Mundell would score with battering body shots in round 3, dropping Ricchi twice more, the last being a massive left hand to the head. The fight was stopped at 1:48 of the third round.
Fighting in the featherweight division, Montana’s Louie “El Loco” Lopez (2-1, 2 KOs) earned a stoppage victory over Plantation, Florida native Howard Davis (3-1-1), the fight being called to a halt at the end of a hard fought first round as David suffered a bad cut to his right eyelid. The ringside physician stopped the bout at the end of the opening stanza.
In the women’s flyweight division, Florida’s Christine Vicens (2-0, 1 KO) won a unanimous decision over Jocelyn “Lights Out” Jones-Lybarger (0-2) of Phoenix. In a fight that featured excellent two-way action throughout, the busier Vicens proved to be more accurate and have a heavier volume of punches which made the difference. Scores were 50-45 on all three judges’ score cards.
Blake “BAD” Davis (2-0, 2 KO) of Davie, Florida continued to impress, with a first-round, one-punch right hand knockout of Will “The 208 Underdog” Dunkle (0-2) of Idaho. Time of the stoppage was 1:43 of the opening stanza.
In the lightweight division, Florida’s Bryan “El Gallo” Duran (3-0, 3 KOs) welcomed BKFC debuting Kobe Brown (0-1) of Bridgetown, Barbados to the squared circle with four clean punches to the head right off the scratch. The fallen Bowen did not beat the count and Duran was awarded a first-round knockout in just 15 seconds.
Underground bare-knuckle legend Rene “White Boy” Rodriguez (1-0, 1 KO) of Tampa, Florida made his successful debut in BKFC with a first-round knockout of Jake “The Goon” Young (0-2) of Wyoming. An overhand right dropped Young early in the first round with a big left hand calling a stop to the contest, Rodriguez earning the TKO victory at the 1:57 mark.
BKFC cut man, flyweight Guillermo Perez (1-0, 1 KO), made his successful debut stopping Rob Fuller in the first round. Perez easily countered the wild swinging Fuller, scoring four knockdowns towards the knockout.
Popular welterweight Joshuah “Famez” Alvarez (2-3) of Miami returned to the win column with a unanimous decision over Glendel “The Berserker” Futrell (1-1) of Lakeland, Florida. The southpaw Alvarez continuously beat Futrell to the punch with excellent countering and more accurate punchers throughout. Scores were 49-46 and 48-47 twice.
Headlining the prelims, bantamweight Alberto Blas (1-0, 1 KO) of Miami knocked out Jeremiah Potts (0-1) in the first round. Blas overwhelmed Potts from the start of the fight with a barrage of unanswered power shots.
South Africa’s Jeremy “Pitbull” Smith (3-0, 2 KO) scored a come-from-behind knockout victory over BKFC debuting Leo Valdivia (0-1) of Estrella, Nicaragua. Displaying an excellent skill set, Valdivia won the first two rounds. However, Smith would switch up tactics in the third stanza, taking control of the fight with his effective aggressiveness. A tremendous double left hand to the head dropped Valdivia for good with the fight being stopped at the 1:52 mark of the third round as Smith continued his rapid ascension in the light heavyweight division.
Fighting in the flyweight division and making their BKFC debuts, Florida’s Matt “Rambo” Russo (1-0, 1 KO) and Jakobi Lowry (0-1), also of Florida, had an explosive first round. Lowry dropped the overly aggressive Russo early in the first round as both fighters landed accurate power punches. Before the round ended, Russo returned the favor, and the ringside physician stopped the bout at the end of the opening stanza with Lowery’s vision being impaired.
Rounding out the card in the featherweight division, Freddy Masabo (2-0, 1 KO) of Miami drilled Shawn Moffett (1-2, 1 KO) of Kansas to the canvas twice with hard body shots. With Moffett’s knee giving out after the second knockdown, the bout was called to a halt at 0:27 of the first round.
