Joey Beltran and Tony Lopez fought in an all-time classic bare-knuckle boxing bout at BKFC 1. This event transpired close to five years ago (June 2nd, 2018), and the former emerged victorious over the latter via unanimous decision.
Beltran spoke to Dylan Bowker of Bare Knuckle News heading into this important anniversary event for the promotion’s inaugural card. Excerpts from the chat are below.
Joey Beltran
What were your first thoughts when a bare-knuckle boxing offer came your way in mid-2018?
“Well, I mean, I had already been knowledgeable of the sport of bare-knuckle boxing. I was a fan of it like watching on the internet. Even like the old Irish traveler videos with the families, like the Joyces and stuff like that. So, I was a fan of that and ‘Gypsy Boy’ Jim McCrory – Jimmy McCrory. I had known about it and I was actually interested in it already. So, when the opportunity came up I was like oh, that sounds fun (laughs).”
Joey Beltran vs Tony Lopez I
Did you feel like you were part of something historically significant since bare-knuckle boxing had been dormant domestically for over a century prior to BKFC 1?
“Yes and no. I mean because it’s like at the end of the day, I really didn’t have much time to give too much thought about the historical significance. I had to get in a bare-knuckle fight with Tony Lopez and I knew that was going to be crazy. So you know, I had to first and foremost focus on that.”
“But after the fact, and especially recently looking back on what the significance was to the sport and where I stand personally like historically, it’s pretty cool you know. But in the actual moment like the actual night per se, you know, I was focused on the physical fight (laughs).”
BKFC
What are your recollections of the first Lopez fight which became an all-time classic bout that reignited the modern era of the sport?
“Well, I mean it’s like – it’s up for argument and debate, you know. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion as far as what the most significant fight was in BKFC. A lot of people say that one; a lot of people say the Artem Lobov and Jason Knight fight, which was a great fight, don’t get me wrong. But I always say like hey, man, if me and Tony didn’t come out and set the house on fire that night, there might not have been an Artem Lobov-Jason Knight fight. Because that first show was kind of weird you know.”
“It had that big knockout with Sam Shewmaker which was kind of cool but kind of lame at the same time, it’s weird (laughs). Then it had like Bec’s (Rawlings) fight was kind of good but it was kind of one-sided. It was real kind of like almost hot and cold, if you will – the mood in the arena when we walked out. Then we walked out and we just started getting it on (laughs).”
“Blood started flying and by the third round, the whole place was on fire. The atmosphere was just electric, like you could feel it in the ring and that’s what set up everything. It’s crazy like how that launch padded the whole game and the whole sport and everything from that one night. Then the organization caught its rhythm and we haven’t looked back ever since.”
BKFC 1
BKFC picked up steam thereafter, and many at the time seemed to wonder, pre-event, if this was just a one-off, curiosity event, or could it be sustainable long term. Can you speak to the fallout from that fight and the ripple effect it helped send?
“It was pretty fun doing the actual fight (laughs). Then afterward it was like yeah, I remember Bobby Gunn coming up to me and grabbing my hands. He was like bless these hands, you have no idea what you did for us. I was like oh, thank you (laughs). That’s pretty cool. Yeah, man, so it was really cool. I mean shoutout to Tony Lopez. You have to have a willing dance partner obviously to fight that kind of fight. So it was really definitely surreal to be a part of.”
“The crazy part is that we were the swing bout. We weren’t even in the actual tournament. We were the alternate bout in case somebody got injured or whatever, you know what I mean? Then we would slide into the tournament. So that being said, that even adds more elements to the story. Because imagine if our fight didn’t get on the TV broadcast? That’s crazy but we did. So it all worked out the way it was supposed to.”
