HOLLYWOOD, Florida – In front of another sold-out crowd at Hard Rock Live, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship presented BKFC 45, a sensational card headlined by the victorious defense of the BKFC lightweight world championship by Luis “El Baboon” Palomino (9-0) of Miami over No. 1-ranked world title challenger James “Lights Out” Lilley (7-1-1) of Swansea, Wales.
Making his sixth world title defense, Palomino showed technical brilliance throughout the fight, consistently working angles to build points and avoid the incoming counters from the challenger. Scores at the end of the fight were 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47 for the Peruvian born Palomino, also BKFC’s welterweight world champion.
Co-featured at BKFC 45 in the light heavyweight division, “Brutal” Jake Bostwick (3-2-1), a native of the United Kingdom now residing in Miami, won a dominant unanimous decision over Erick “El Travieso” Lozano (1-2), of Zeeland, Michigan. Bostwick displayed excellent boxing ability throughout the fight against the hard-hitting and aggressive Lozano. The next level performance earned Bostwick the unanimous decision victory by scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 49.
Fast-rising lightweight star Howard Davis (4-1-1) of Plantation, Florida continued to impress with a first-round knockout of Eduard Peralta (0-2). On point from the start, David dropped Peralta with a battering left jab. Pointing to an eye injury, Peralta did not beat the referee’s count, as Davis was declared the knockout winner at 1:36 of the opening stanza.
Quickly ascending featherweight Bryan “El Gallo” Duran (4-0) of Miami stopped valiant Mexican veteran Gilberto “El Azteca” Aguilar (0-3) at the end of the third round. Using excellent pacing and pinpoint precision on his punches, Duran would earn the TKO stoppage as Aguilar was deemed unable to continue by the referee.
Fighting in an action-packed clash in the welterweight division, James “Knucklehead” Dennis (1-2) won his first BKFC bout in a huge come from behind win over Rene “White Boy” Rodriguez (4-3). Recovering from being dropped in the opening stanza, Dennis drilled Rodriguez to the canvas twice in round 2, as the referee saved the badly staggered fighter from further damage. Time of the TKO victory was 1:33 for Dennis.
Gee “The Cutman” Perez (3-0) continued to impress, using his full arsenal to drop Ryan Carroll (0-2) three times as the fight was stopped at 1:52 of the first round. The victory setup Perez for an officially announced, highly anticipated showdown with actor/social media influencer Bryce Hall at BKFC 48 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bantamweight Alberto “El Indio” Blas (2-0), scored a first-round stoppage of Roberto Armas. Following a barrage of right hooks and uppercuts that landed repeatedly, the fight was stopped at the 0:47 mark.
In an action-packed cruiserweight division opener to the main card, Dillon Winemiller (2-1) and Steve Townsel (2-2) traded bombs from the opening bell. Taking plenty of incoming fire, Winemiller turned the tables with a huge counter right hand to stop Townsel at 1:07 of round 2.
Fighting in the preliminary bouts at cruiserweight, BKFC debuting Mike Lee (1-0) scored a massive first-round knockout of Drew Nolan (0-1). Time of the stoppage was 1:26.
Heavyweights saw action in the prelims as newcomer Leonardo Perdomo (1-0), impressively stopped Joseph White (0-1) in the opening stanza.
Chris Garcia (2-0) scored a third-round TKO over Robert Madrid (0-1) in their bantamweight clash.
