Tommy Turner and Barrie Jones battle for the Police Gazette middleweight world title at BYB 18 on June 25th.
This huge cross-promotional event between BYB Extreme and BKB emanates from Indigo at The O2 Arena in London, England, and broadcasts in North America on BeIN Sports.
Turner spoke to Dylan Bowker of Bare Knuckle News before this US versus UK showdown. Excerpts from the chat are below.
Tommy Turner
Can you speak to your rich historical appreciation of bare-knuckle as you get ready to compete for a title with one of the deepest lineages in all of combat sports?
“So when I started boxing, one of the guys I had looked up to and obviously you hear of is John L Sullivan. The Police Gazette diamond belt is the oldest belt out there. From the 1800’s where boxing belts started and I think the first one was 1922. So just being able to fight for the same title and belt that he fought for, I feel absolutely honored. To fight Barrie (Jones), someone that I absolutely respect. The guy’s a stud and he’s a humble guy. He’s hard to not like. So just being able to fight this guy is a pleasure.”
BYB vs BKB
You’re fighting a three-weight titleholder and one of the best fighters in all of bare-knuckle boxing. What do you think some of Jones’ better stylistic attributes are?
“Stylistically, we’re super similar to each other from what I’ve seen. I’ve seen a lot of his boxing stuff and I’ve seen all of his bare-knuckle fights. Other than me being right-handed and him being a southpaw, we both come forward. We both press the action, we both like to bang quote unquote. So I mean it’s; stylistically I think the fight’s perfect for me. I mean we are in the Trigon, so there’s not a whole lot of dancing and moving anyway. But even if we were in a big ring, he’s not a dancer.”
Tommy Turner continued, “He wants to bring the action and fight and see who goes down first. That’s what I want to do. So I think it’s a win-win for both of us. I believe we’re both A-side in this fight. The fans are going to get a fight of the year, I believe.”
BYB 18
What are your thoughts on this Police Gazette Cup and the BYB versus BKB dynamic to uplift the sport of bare-knuckle boxing overall?
“I think it’s great for the sport, you know. Having BYB and BKB kind of work together and though there’s a lot of talk between us, crap talk, most of it’s just kind of joking around and giving each other a hard time.
These guys are helping each other grow. The other promotion out there is just kind of trying to do their own thing. So having these guys work together and making this international is awesome.”
“Then being able to fight in this international cup, every fighter that fights on this card is going to be forever remembered in the sport of bare-knuckle boxing. So I just feel like I’m in a dream still. Just excited for it and then my debut they asked me who would you like to fight? I said well, I know I’ve got to work up to it but I want Barrie Jones eventually.”
Tommy Turner continued, “Then in my second fight they’re like hey, you’re going to fight in the first-ever international cup against Barrie Jones in the main event for his title. So it’s just kind of happening fast, you know, and I’m thankful for it.”
Tommy Turner vs Barrie Jones
Have visualized Scott Burt wrapping that Police Gazette belt around your waist and said it will be among the greatest day of your life. Do you have a particular vision for how the fight itself ends or is it more adapting and being fluid in the fight?
“A little bit of both. Adapting is kind of always in my game plan. But we do have a game plan and that’s; obviously, in studying him, every fight he’s done has been coming forward. Every fight I do is going forward. So the way I see it is whoever gets the biggest cut and the doctor stops it or whoever lands the right shot on the button. One of us is either going to sleep or we’re going to cut the other guy up so bad that they’ve got to stop it or something.”
Tommy Turner continued, “So I can’t sit here and say I know for sure that I’m going to beat Barrie Jones. But I can tell you right now that one of us is going to sleep. I don’t really feel too tired right now. So I plan on it being him.”
