Jeremy Sauceda hasn’t been involved in bare knuckle fighting for very long.
Then again, the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) hasn’t been around too long either.
While the sport itself has been around for centuries, the BKFC held the first sanctioned bare-knuckle card since the 1800s back in 2018 when the league got started.
Sauceda, a native Odessan who graduated from Permian in 2008, has been training in the sport since 2021 and has been in two fights in the last year.
His third will be coming up when he takes on Joshua Moreno on Aug. 11 in Albuquerque, N.M.
“I’m ready,” Sauceda said. “I’m excited. I’m looking forward to it.”
Sauceda’s days in bare knuckle fighting began two years ago when former mixed martial artist Leonard Garcia, from Lubbock, was asked to participate in a BKFC card.
After agreeing to it, Sauceda began training with Garcia.
“(Garcia) knew I was a good boxer so we started a training camp,” Sauceda said. “He and I were sparring every week and getting him ready for his fight against Julian lane. He told me that I could do a good job in bare knuckle fighting. As it went on, he kept getting more fights and I helped him prepare. … he’s a world champion in his weight camp.”
BKFC is presided over by former American professional boxer David Feldman.
Each fight takes place in a specialized circular four-rope ring, referred to as the “Squared Circle”.
Sauceda originally was a boxer but now does bare knuckle fighting full time.
He talked about some of the differences between boxing and bare knuckle fighting.
“A lot of people ask me that,” Sauceda said. “It’s not just simply boxing without the gloves. It’s hard to explain it to some people. When you eliminate that glove, it changes everything. Now you can grab your opponent with your bare hands and you can have an act to clinch. You can legally grab someone in the back of the neck and as long as you’re punching with your opposite hand, then it’s still legal.”
After receiving approval to hold a sanctioned event in Cheyenne, Wy. In 2018, BKFC held the first state sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing event in the United States since 1889.
Since then, the sport has grown.
“It’s kind of new but it’s growing crazy right now,” Sauceda said. “Everyone loves it right now. Connor McGregor, the Diaz brothers, all those guys are in the works of joining bare knuckle fighting. It’s a big deal.”
Sauceda’s first fight was against Roderick Stewart in August last year in Albuquerque which resulted in a win for the Odessan.
His recent fight was against Alonzo Martinez on May 19 in Omaha in which he lost, bringing his record to 1-1 at the moment.
For Sauceda, training contains a lot of cardio and conditioning.
“What I’ve been doing these past couple of weeks, I’ve been using a very small glove or no glove at all,” Sauceda said. “I’ll wrap my wrist and make it as similar as possible when fighting in an actual fight. Whoever’s helping me train will put on a body vest and I’ll be punching at them bare knuckles to try and keep it as real without punching anyone in the face.”
He’ll train out of different gyms in Odessa including Crunch and TruFit.
As far as boxing gyms, Sauceda boxes out of Gorilla Heavy Hitters.
The time Sauceda takes in between each card depends on his condition from the previous fight.
“It depends on how healthy you are and how good you are,” Sauceda said. “It can get pretty gruesome. You take a lot of cuts to the face really fast.”
Sauceda has suffered his share of injuries.
“My first fight, my nose got broken pretty good,” Sauceda said. “They put it back in place. That’s the difference between bare knuckles and boxing. You get a lot more cuts very quickly.”
It’s worth it for Sauceda who enjoys taking part in a type of fighting where it’s hard to fake anything.
The boxing world has seen more celebrities and media personalities take part (most notably Jake Paul).
However, Sauceda feels that in bare knuckle fighting, nothing feels staged.
“I feel like more fights these days are set up with all these celebrities,” Sauceda said. “It’s kind of brought the sport down from fighting and training hard to fighting a famous YouTuber. But in bare knuckle, it’s hard to fake getting hit by a fist. I think it helps open people’s eyes to combat sports again.”
