Bare knuckle boxing is back and garnering much attention and love from the combat sports world. The promotion Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships has put on some very successful shows as of late and getting notable names to come out of retirement or to just take a fight to keep busy and earn some more dough along the way. The biggest event to date will be on June 22 in Tampa Bay, Florida. When the Russian Hammer Artem Lobov aka the goat as fans and internet trolls like to call him takes on former boxing world champion and showtime boxing analyst Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi. This will be Paulie’s first fight since his knockout lose to Sam Eggington in March of 2017. Paulie and Artem have had beef ever since Paulie was brought in to spar Connor McGregor during Connor’s camp preparing for the money fight against Floyd Mayweather. Its has been boiling over ever since sparring footage of Paulie and Connor was released putting dim light on Paulie during those sessions. This didnt sit well with Paulie and he has been on a tear trying to get his revenge on Connor with a proposed boxing match. Well he decided to take on Connor’s good friend and training partner for now. Vying that he will make him and every other mma athlete respect him and the sport of boxing he so dearly loves.
The verbal exchanges have been heated to say the least, with each man saying what they will do to each other and how much damage they will inflict. Though this last press conference really triggered something in the Magic Man. Paulie and Artem were have they face off and exchanging words as most face off lead to. Paulie spit on Artem during the end of the exchange which as given much more fuel to the fire. When these two clash in the ring there will be no love lose at all. Each of these men are coming for blood and to shut the other one up for good.
This is a very interesting match even without the trash talk and hatred between the two. Each man is a accomplished professional fighter who has fought at the highest level of there respected disciplines. The difference between the two is one man has been fighting and fighting as often as he can and is allowed by sanctioning bodies the other has been out of the competition lime light for 2 full years no and his last fight he was KO’d. With that being said will Artem’s inherent toughness and durability play a factor and lead him to a victory, or will Magic Man Paulie be able to with stand the pressure of Artem and pick and pop his shots to a victory. Either way this plays out I don’t see it being a boring fight in anyway. When emotions of this caliber are apart of the fight it there never seems to be a dull moment.
