Brad Scott and Kevin Greenwood battle for the British cruiserweight championship at BKB 33 on July 29th.
The fistic fireworks emanate from Indigo at the O2 in London, England and the pugilistic proceedings are set to broadcast on Fite TV.
Scott spoke to Dylan Bowker of Bare Knuckle News before the championship bout. Excerpts from the chat are below.
Brad Scott
How do you feel readying to embark on this first defense of your title?
“Well, it’s really good because this is one of the first times in my entire career I’ve never had to worry about actually making weight. I’m actually under the max weight category already. I’m allowed to be 101.6 kilograms really and I’m about a hundred now. So I’m not really too bothered. So in terms of training, I can do exactly what I want and I’m doing pretty well. I’m really enjoying it at the moment.”
BKB
You’re 2-0 in bare-knuckle boxing with a pair of finishes and are already a defending champion in this looming outing. How do you feel about your arc in this combat sport less than a year into your tenure?
“Yeah well, I’ve got a funny story for you. My first bare-knuckle, well I don’t really count my first bare-knuckle boxing bout. But it was a funny story; I was actually, as you do, you get sort of suckered in and you end up going on Netflix and then you keep clicking. You actually spend more time searching for your next movie than you do watching Netflix. I was doing that and I got a message saying do you fancy having a bare-knuckle boxing bout in a few weeks’ time? I went ah yeah why not, let’s ******** go for it.”
Bare Knuckle Boxing
“Then next morning I had all these text messages. Turns out I’d accepted a bare-knuckle boxing bout. I won it and I thought oh ****. So I had the bout, I won in the second round by KO. I thought this isn’t too bad then I looked to the biggest organization in the UK which is the BKB. I’d done that and then within I think it was six months I went 2-0 and won the title. I mean I was blessed to get the title because I had an opponent drop out. So getting a title was just also a little bit of luck. But I’ve done really, really well.”
Brad Scott continued, “I’m not actually an actual pro boxer as such. My boxing’s not bad. I can hold my own against a lot of people. But I think I’ve done well because I used to fight in MMA gloves. Then, how can I say this, I’m not scared of getting hit. So I don’t mind being in the pocket and trading a little bit. I’ve got no fear of being hit. Been getting hit by small gloves or no gloves for a long time. That’s worked in my favor.”
BKB 33
You’ve had a similar arc to Alan Belcher where you moved up multiple weight divisions from where you fought as an MMA fighter to be a champion in bare-knuckle boxing. Have you noticed anything different as far as how you can curate your camp for more strength and conditioning as well as how the gas tank is informed now that you’re a cruiserweight as compared to when you were a welterweight?
“That is actually a really good question because first of all, me and Alan Belcher we’re about the same size. I’ve met Alan Belcher a long time ago from a distance. I’d love to get a photograph with him, I think he’s a legend. So we are literally; I think he might even be shorter than me. But we are the same build. I noticed that because there’s no grappling involved and it’s striking, that we don’t really care so much about making the weight.”
“We just want to fight where we’re comfortable at. I am not making weight to do bare-knuckle boxing. I will make weight to be professional but I’m not going in the sauna for hours… Not taking laxatives and all that drivel for bare-knuckle boxing. I’ll fight at whatever I feel comfortable at and I think maybe that’s why some of us are doing so well.”
Brad Scott vs Kevin Greenwood
What do you think about Kevin Greenwood’s BKB debut vs Lawrence Tracey and his better stylistic attributes overall?
“Yeah, so I used to train with Lawrence Tracey at Free Fighters back in the day. I think he was more of a grappler. I’m definitely a better striker than Lawrence Tracey. But I was looking at Kevin Greenwood’s technique, he’s a sharp cookie. He may not look in the best of shape but he’s actually a really technical boxer. He’s really sharp, he’s gonna be a tough cookie to crumble. It’s hard to ******* explain.”
“He’s got a tight guard. When I watched him fight in gloves, he was a lot better than when he fought bare-knuckle. But now he’s had that experience against Lawrence Tracey, I don’t know what to expect. I’m expecting it to be a tough fight. He’s a very fit guy, very strong guy. I think I’ve got the reach advantage. He’s probably got the experience on me. But I’m used to fighting with small gloves. I think that’s going to go a long way.”
