President of the Bare-Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame, Scott Burt, travelled from upstate New York to Leeds to see fighters from Yorkshire and pugilists from Spain and North America compete in front of approaching two thousand spectators on the now annual Yorkshire bare knuckle show staged at Elland Road’s Planet Ice Arena by Anglo-American promotion BKB and themed as Leeds Brawl 2.
Yorkshire fighters included experienced bare knuckle boxer Scott McHugh who grew up in Belle Isle. He now trains at Al Osta’s Farsley gym and was joined in the trigon, the sport’s ‘triangular ring,’ by Patryk Fornalski from MSA gym in Beeston who faced Furqan Cheema from Morley’s AVT gym.
“I’m proud of Scott for winning his three bare knuckle bouts this year,” stated Osta. “We’re particularly pleased that he’s defeated the formidable Northern Irish fighter Joe Fitzpatrick with a second-round stoppage. Scott has worked intensely through multiple back-to-back training camps. He entered the trigon with the highest level of conditioning and readiness possible. His determination to win came from confidence and self-belief built up in training.”
Those attending all agreed that McHugh’s super welterweight bout was, as one pundit described, “an exhilarating intense brawl in an electrically charged atmosphere where you wonder how anyone could withstand the barrage of punches.” McHugh had Fitzpatrick against the ropes in the opening seconds before himself going down briefly as round one ended. The hyper vigilant referee stopped the contest after Fitzpatrick faced his second count allowing McHugh to take his fifteenth win in the 21 fights of his seven years as a bare-knuckle professional.
Despite making an aggressive, attacking start in the first round, Beeston’s Fornalski was overcome by AVT’s Furqan Cheema who won the fight on points after five action-packed three-minute rounds.
“I was proud here in South Leeds to present the Police Gazette Championship belt to the overall event winner American former professional boxer Paulie Malignaggi who defeated England’s Tyler Goodjohn. I also awarded high quality numbered event-unique medals to the winning fighters,” explained Burt. “First presented in 1882 the belt is pure quality made of real silk, real sterling and with real diamonds and real history.” A belt that the boy from Belle Isle McHugh would love to win.
This post was written by James Bovington
Photo: Nick Ledger
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