Bobby Gunn Calls Out Kimbo Slice, Gary Shaw

Former IBA world cruiserweight champion Bobby “The Celtic Warrior” Gunn (21-5-1, 18 KO) recently expressed his interest in fighting street fighter turned You Tube sensation, turned MMA fighter turned pro boxer, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson (7-0, 6 KO) inside the squared circle.

Outside of the boxing ring both fighters carry a more than reputable standing on the bare knuckle circuit, and in 2010 both parties nearly came to an agreement to wage war without gloves as Gunn’s team offered Team Slice $400,000 for a fight.

 
Slice and his team rejected the offer.
 

Gunn has established himself as the top dog in bare knuckle boxing, winning the first sanctioned even in 123 years. 
 

“Kimbo and his team can pretend to deny that they were ever contacted about our fight,” said Gunn. “But the writer who broke the original story was Lorne Scoggins, and he was in contact with both camps. It’s simple. On the street, in a vacant warehouse or in the ring, fighters fight. And it doesn’t make a difference to me; every fight is important to me. To be the man, you have to beat the man. And Kimbo Slice, you will never be the man.”

 
Now nearly three years later, Slice has since moved on from dominating less than formidable street opponents, having done his time as a MMA fighter inside the octagon, and now is focusing his career on professional prize fighting. 
 

Since turning pro in 2011 Slice has won the first seven fights of his career, with his opponent’s total combined records of 13-19. One of the baddest backyard fighters of recent times, Slice has fallen short in showing his dominance inside the ring. Now promoted by Gary Shaw, Slice is slowly working his way to bigger and better fights in the heavyweight division.
 

“Kimbo has never proved himself against any reputable opponents,” said Gunn. “He avoided us in the bare knuckle circuit, and since turning pro as a boxer he has struggled to walk through the tomato cans Gary Shaw has put in front of him. I’ve reached out to Shaw countless times to show my interest in going to battle with Slice. We are both bare knuckle legends, and it would be a hell of a show if we met in the ring. Kimbo needs to show he is the real deal and fight a real fighter, and I am more than willing to give him the chance.”
 

Gunn’s last outing between the ropes was a hard-nosed battle fought against future Hall-of-Famer James Toney, where Gunn suffered a broken hand in the 4th round and was unable to fight past the 5th. 
 

“A fight with Kimbo makes sense,” Gunn continued. “He wants recognition as a boxer, and he needs to stop fighting these jokers they put in front of him. He wasn’t ready to man up three years ago when we presented him the chance to fight without the gloves. Now we can see if his bite is as bad as his bite by him stepping up and agreeing to fight me. It’s not complicated. It’s time to step up to the plate Kimbo.”
 

At 39-years-old, Kimbo needs to take on a statement fight in order to establish his legitimacy as a gloved contender. 

 
Gunn expressed he is willing to fight Slice at the location of his choosing, and whenever he feels ready.

Is Dada 5000’s Bark Much Worse Than His Bite?

Anybody familiar with MMA or Bareknuckle Boxing (BKB) has at some point or another become acquainted with the Kimbo Slice look-a-like, Dada 5000.  Best known for building the biggest backyard brawling empire, Dada has recently stirred up some excitement naming himself Team Captain for a BKB tournament to be held against a selected crew from the UK.

So while Dada may have established himself as a “Top Dawg” in Florida, cracking on backyard fighters, one may wonder how he can be even remotely considered as a top BKB fighter, let alone be the captain of a national team.

Is it because of his proven success within the MMA circuit?

And by proven success I am referring to his two victories against tomato cans (though even that term is giving them way more credit than they are due).  

Dada has gone to battle inside the cage with Cedric James (0-6) and Tim Papp (1-7).  Now while I don’t claim to be a genius when it comes to math, I believe the records of Dada’s opponents is 1-13.  So this clearly qualifies him as a team captain of BKB?

And amongst all of the talk –simply visit his Facebook page—he has yet to recognize any legit BKB champions.

USA Heavyweight BKB Champion Danny Batchelder has recently announced he would like to give Dada a chance to fight for the title...a true, legit title.

But that is what the Dada bandwagon doesn’t seem to recognize—it takes more than a few BKB fights in a backyard to legitimize yourself as a “Top Dawg.”

And despite the countless videos created showing the world that he can bench press and throw his weight around against MMA bums, there’s nothing out there showing he even deserves to be a sparring partner for the real BKB fighters out there.

It’s simple, if you want to be the man, you have to beat the man.

Til Dada 5000 is ready to step up and go to battle with a true champion, he is nothing more than a Facebook sensation.

Gunn Talks Toney Fight, Future In Boxing

This morning I sat down with Bobby Gunn for an exclusive interview about his fight with James Toney and what lies ahead in his future within the squared circle.

CC: How you feeling?

Gunn: I’m doing good.  My hand is healing up great.  I’m starting my training and I feel really good. 

CC: Tell me your thoughts about the James Toney fight.

Gunn: First and foremost, I want to thank James Toney for the fight.  A lot of things happened before the fight, but after the fight we became friends; he’s a nice guy and a total class act. 

Every prisoner in jail claims that they are innocent, and every fighter has an excuse after a loss.  Plain and simple, he did what he was supposed to do, and I didn’t do what I should’ve done.  Hats off to him, he is a great champion.  It really was an honor to share the ring with a hall of famer like that.

CC: Going into the fight, you had some distractions regarding finding out the fight was not for the IBA Heavyweight title as well as some other issues.  What happened with that?

Gunn:  It was terrible.  The promoter wanted to change the contract two days before the fight.  There was some money issues that we had to work out—the purse being totally different from what we agreed upon going into the fight.  There was a lot of headache, and a lot of stuff that I never had to deal with in my past, but 100% I learned my lesson and a few things will be different in the future. 

CC: How has your hand been healing up, and is it going to affect you going forward? 

Gunn:  I am a two-handed fighter.  A few months back I had a bare knuckle fight where I hurt my hand, and through training camp it started to aggravate me and I was basically a one-handed fighter.  So going into the fight it was injured.  Again, I don’t want to start making excuses like every fighter does.  Plain and simple, it’s over, it is what it is. I lost, he won, and I wish him the best.  He is a great champion. 

CC: Do you plan on staying at heavyweight going forward?

Gunn:  I learned this fight that I am absolutely not a heavyweight, in any way, shape or form.  I fought a hard 5 rounds with James Toney, with only one hand through basically four of those rounds.  But it is what it is.  I am not a heavyweight.  I will definitely be dropping down a weight class, and I’d like to fight next month if I could.  Right now I feel excellent. 

Following the fight, I spoke with James Toney at the hotel.  He asked how Bobby’s hand was and commented that Bobby Gunn was one of the hardest punchers he had faced. 

As a cruiserweight Bobby Gunn won multiple titles, including the IBA Cruiserweight Title.  In coming months he is looking to work his way toward a Light Heavyweight Title. 

Is Paddy Monaghan the Biggest Farce in Bare Knuckle Boxing?

Bare knuckle boxing (BKB) is the original form of combat, and over the hundreds of years champions have stood up and fought wars that would be unheard of in combat sports today.

BKB fans and historians are of course all well-educated of the famous 75-round war between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain, and epic battle in which Sullivan came out the victor. Through the years countless warriors have stepped up and gone to battle in the bare knuckle circuit, whether it was for competition, fighting for your family name, or simply a payday, although one name stands out and may be the most questioned name in all of BKB—Paddy Monaghan.

Now, Paddy and his followers claim that the middleweight retired from the BKB scene with an unblemished record of 114-0, yet there are no photographs, videos or any other documentation supporting these claims.

Sure, you can Google his name and find countless websites, nicely written stat sheets and such, but anybody with a first grade education can create a page claiming to be the world champion bare knuckle boxer. Not to mention half of the photos of when Paddy was in his prime look photo shopped with his head on someone else’s body. True gloved boxing champions and current Hall-of-Famers have in fact told me Paddy was nothing more than Ali’s number one fan, and that is his TRUE and ONLY claim to fame.

As BKB continues to reemerge and become more mainstream, people like Paddy Monaghan are doing nothing but giving the critics and the analysts fuel for their fire.

Jokers who are nothing more than laptop warriors and telephone tough guys-- http://www.facebook.com/groups/ragebareknuckleboxing/  -- are taking away the legitimacy of true BKB from the actual fighters and champions.

Bobby Gunn, James Quinn, Dada 5000—all pioneers and LEGIT fighters working towards taking this sport to the next level, diligently striving to show the world the true science that BKB is.

But it’s a shame that anybody who can type can create such a farce as Paddy Monaghan, and people wonder why BKB isn’t as mainstream as gloved boxing or MMA.

So to all fans of BKB, and to potential fans, don’t get caught up in the nonsense and theatrics about Paddy Monaghan’s impressive 114-0 BKB record.

Documentation beats conversation all day long.

Paddy Monaghan is simply a comic book superstar; joker…call it what you will, but a fraud is a fraud is a fraud.

Still A Few Bullets Left In The Gunn

Following last Saturday’s loss to James Toney for the IBU Heavyweight Title, Bobby “The Celtic Warrior” Gunn thought long and hard what the next move of his career would be.

After thoroughly discussing options with his team, Gunn has announced that he will be dropping down to light heavyweight and will be seeking the WBU title by summertime.

“I spoke with my family, friends and team about how to proceed moving forward, and although retirement was brought up, I couldn’t bring myself to accept that my career inside the ring is over,” said Gunn. “I feel that the light heavyweight division is the best for me right now, and once my hand is healed we are going to begin a strong training camp to get me ready.”

Gunn (21-5, 18 KO) fought at heavyweight against Toney for the first time in his career last Saturday, and lost via TKO after breaking his hand and being unable to continue past the fifth round.

A former IBA world cruiserweight champion, Gunn has fought wars in the ring; in addition to James Toney, Gunn has gone to battle with future hall of famer and former world champion Tomasz Adamek, amongst others.

“I’ve never shied away from a fight my whole life,” said Gunn. “When I was presented the fight against Toney—when everybody else ducked him—I graciously accepted it. I am a fighter, and that’s what I do. I believe with all my heart I have one more championship run left in me, and this summer I am going to capture a Light Heavyweight title.”

Team Gunn has been speaking with several promoters about bringing this fight to life, and Bobby Gunn is anxious to heal up and get back into the ring to avenge the heavyweight title loss.

At 38, Gunn is “old” in boxing sense, although throughout his career he has faced inactivity at times, and claims that he feels the best he ever has.

“Going into the Toney fight I was in the best shape of my life. My trainer Dominic Scibetta can get me down to light heavyweight the right way, and in a few months the boxing world is going to see a new Bobby Gunn.”
Gunn has established himself as a warrior, winning multiple championships inside the ring and the World Heavyweight BKB Title outside of it. Fighting is what he knows; he was born and bred to go to war. He brings excitement and passion into the ring each time he steps between the ropes, and boxing fans can expect fireworks when he makes his debut as a light heavyweight.