By MARK REY MONTEJO
Bare knuckle fighter Michael Abad Santos took care of business right away and scored a first-round knockout victory over American Art Parker in the BYB Extreme Bare Knuckle in Denver, Colorado over the weekend.
Santos, 33, delivered a right-left combo straight to Parker’s face, leaving his rival staggering and convincing the referee to halt the bout.
The Denver-based Filipino bet, who enlisted in the US Marine Corps at 18, admitted he accepted the fight at a short notice despite enduring a broken hand.
“I was offered a bare knuckle fight on two weeks’ notice. I had no fight camp. I fought up a weight class,” Santos wrote on his social media post, adding that he was a heavy underdog in the betting lines.
But he proved that he was always up to the challenge, .as Santos, who also competed in taekwondo, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and muay, notched his second knockout victory. His last was in November last year.
Bare Knuckle boxing, which originally started in 17th century in England, is slowly becoming popular in many parts of the globe. The extreme sport is like boxing, but with no gloves, with matches going up to six rounds with three minutes on each frame.
Santos’ father, Benjie, hoped for more victories for his son, seeing how dedicated he was in training.
“Napaka-bait nyang si Michael, napaka-polite pag kausap mo pero when he was in the ring he’s a different animal,” the elder Santos said. “Bata palang yan talagang napaka-competitive na.”
