BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing executive Mike Vazquez checked in with FightsATW to shed more light on various goings-on within his ascendant organization.
Word dropped Wednesday that BKB will be enjoying the talent of Cuba-born Olympian Yuriorkis Gamboa, age 44, for a spell. What light could Vazquez shed, who is a car guy in addition to being cofounder with DADA 500 of the BKB series and promotion?
Is there a matchmaking path that would suit BKB and Gamboa? What is his level of acumen in bare-knuckle? Just street fights… or has he been training, and learning/adjusting?
“Multi-fight over the next year and a half,” said the executive, who has ex-Golden Boy suit David Tetrault out front as company president. “Four fights. He can box in regular Boxing as well, and we will work with him should opportunities come up for him after his debut. We’ve been in conversations with him for the last few years, so he’s been watching us and what we’ve been doing, and he was at our most recent event.”
BKB held its splashy 50th show in Miami on January 31. As per usual, patrons on site at the arena were most often graced with a stoppage, a conclusive finish, and no sad pitty pat rounds as you see in some of the more heralded events. “We’ve had pretty good conversations regarding his strategies and how he’s going to work. Fewer rounds to contend with, but of course, the clinch, he seems not to be too concerned with the clinch, and he says he has his strategies and tactics already in mind. I think his speed and power will be hard to contend with; and his experience.”
Gamboa last gloved up in 2023, so he will be well rested. One might think rust could be a factor… then again, rust wasn’t so much an issue for fellow ex-pugilist, now gloves-off fighter Paulie Malignaggi. He turns 46 in November and had to think hard about hanging up the fighting aspirations once and for all after getting sliced in several places during his October 18, 2025, bout against Tyler Goodjohn in Leeds, England. That split decision win left him elated but then ruminative, in a local Leeds hospital, waiting in vain for timely service on facial lacerations.
So, does Vazquez assume we go one fight at a time for Paulie? The May comeback date allows him full recuperation after a rugged last outing, fair to say? Is he the favorite on paper versus one Rolando Dy? It is slated for May 16 in Manchester. And what are his thoughts overall on having these two heavily seasoned (44, 45, respectively) on the roster?
“We’re not done yet. We will be announcing another big signing over in the UK next week,” said the businessman, based in Florida. “The idea is to build out some of our divisions with experienced champs and entice other boxers to come as well. It’s a great opportunity for younger fighters to see their name on a marquee with boxing greats. But the idea is to attract more high-level fighters.
“On the pluses and minuses, the only minus to having a large roster is making sure you do enough events to keep everybody working. As we are at the top level, we’ll have to let go of a few guys who are either aged or experienced out. That happens in every organization, including the UFC. Sad to see some of the original guys go through that, but it’s just part of the sport, part of sports overall. Actually, part of life.”
So too is that urge to fight in, even when one’s prime is past. “On Paulie, I wasn’t sure he wanted to come back, but he seems to think that he can outwork Rolando and win,” said Vazquez. “It should be a magnificent fight.”
I pointed out that Vazquez isn’t one for flowery lingo. Magnificent, eh?
“No. Not at all. I was pleasantly surprised when Paulie came back and I saw his high-level. It was so fun to watch. If you look at Goodjohn during the fight, he’s smiling and watching Paulie instead of focusing on getting a win. I think this has the same kind of look and feel. Rolando’s father has a boxing pedigree–Rolando Navarrete held the WBC super feather crown, and having already beaten Roberto Duran Jr, now a chance at beating Malignaggi or Malignaggi becoming the first two sport champion.”
The talk with Vazquez came on text, and I laughed when I read this:
“Look at me, I’m starting to sound like a Promoter 😂 “
He and I had discussed what title he was /is comfortable with. I said I chose “founder” when taking about the website I started and ran and sold. “Founder” suggests someone being there from the start, as Vazquez is with BKB.
The founder shared more, that Team BKB will be in London February 21, at the 02 Arena, and in Connecticut March 28 at Foxwoods.
I touched base with Gareth A Davies, combat sports correspondent for The London Telegraph and Talksport, also working as a broadcast talent for BKB events: “There is something primordial, something deeply visceral, about what we are witnessing right now in the “Trigon.”
“We’ve spent decades watching these men under the bright lights of Las Vegas and New York, cocooned by ten-ounce gloves and the sanitized pageantry of modern pugilism.
“But the news that Gamboa—the “Guantanamo Cyclone”—has inked a four-fight deal with BKB, and that the “Magic Man” Malignaggi is set to challenge Rolando Dy for a world title in Manchester this May, tells us one thing: the old guard isn’t ready to go gently into that “good night.”
Davies continued: “Let’s be clear: Yuriorkis Gamboa is a thoroughbred. An Olympic gold medalist, a unified world champion, a man whose hand speed once resembled a glitch in the Matrix. At 44, the skeptics will say he’s chasing a ghost, or worse, a final payday. But bare-knuckle is a different beast entirely. It’s not just about the speed you’ve lost; it’s about the accuracy you’ve kept. Does this discipline suit Gamboa? In many ways, yes.”
And more from the Brit analyst, who could convince me to buy a scratched DeLorean:
“The “Trigon” Factor: BKB’s triangular ring is the smallest surface in combat sports. There is nowhere to hide. For a man like Gamboa, who thrives on explosive, short-range bursts, that lack of space is an ally. Without gloves, the “thud” becomes a “crack.” Gamboa has always had heavy hands for his weight class. If he can manage his chin—which has been his Achilles’ heel in the latter stages of his gloved career—his amateur pedigree gives him a technical map that most bare-knuckle brawlers simply don’t possess.”
Davies has worked with Malignaggi for a couple years. “Then we have Paulie. The Brooklyn native with the gift of the gab and, as it turns out, a remarkably high threshold for pain. His last outing against Tyler Goodjohn was a bloody, fractured affair that saw him in the ER with broken ribs and a ravaged eye. Yet, here he is, aged 45, stepping up to face Rolando Dy—a man ten years his junior with the “Land of the Morning” fighting spirit in his veins.
“Malignaggi is chasing a unique slice of history: to be a world champion in both the gloved and bare-knuckle codes. It is a romantic, albeit dangerous, pursuit. Dy is a seasoned operator with a 5-1 BKB record and a knockout ratio that should give any man pause.”
Malignaggi, the Bensonhurst upbringing still heard as he weighs in with news opinion and analysis on ProBox….is this a tell? His weight is looking light, like he is in getting to fight mode maybe. “Weight is good, eye returned to about 90%,” the current Florida resident stated to FightsATW. “Good enough.”
Spoken like a warrior, whose instincts for combat still stir. Gamboa, too, looks like he is in combat near-ready mode, he isn’t that far from fighting form. Both men will only really know come fight night, when their hands and chin and lungs and legs and wills get a full-on test. Regular folks like us avoid intrigue like that, but fighters of a certain level are a different animal. The urge to fight, to seek that extreme dopamine hit, doesn’t magically disappear as years and decades pass.
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