BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing will make its Newcastle debut this fall, and the promotion is bringing one of the North East’s own home for the occasion.
BKB 60 takes place Saturday, Oct. 10, at Utilita Arena Newcastle in Newcastle, England. In the heavyweight main event, North Shields native Mick Terrill returns home to face Kamil Sokolowski. The co-main event features BKB super welterweight champion Rolando Dy defending his title against three-time world champion Scott McHugh.
The event marks BKB’s first trip to Newcastle as the promotion continues to expand its presence throughout the United Kingdom.
Terrill enters the main event with an 11-2 bare-knuckle record and 10 knockouts. The former multi-promotion heavyweight champion will compete in front of his hometown crowd as he looks to move closer to another world title opportunity.
“There’s nothing like fighting in front of my own people,” Terrill said in a press release. “Newcastle has seen me become a world champion once, in this very arena, and now I get to push closer to my world title shot once again wearing BKB colours.”
Standing across from Terrill will be Sokolowski, who brings a 3-1 BKB record into the matchup. The Poland-born, Devon-based heavyweight has faced former BKB title challenger Mark O’Neil and brings an extensive professional boxing résumé to the Trigon.
Before transitioning to bare-knuckle competition, Sokolowski shared the boxing ring with a long list of heavyweight names, including Dillian Whyte, Martin Bakole, David Price, Lucas Browne, Otto Wallin, David Adeleye, Bakhodir Jalolov and Frazer Clarke.
Sokolowski will now attempt to spoil Terrill’s homecoming and establish himself as a heavyweight title contender.
“Mick’s the hometown favourite, but this is my chance to silence the crowd and prove I belong at the top of this division,” Sokolowski said. “I’ve already been in with the best heavyweights BKB has, and I’m not in Newcastle to make up the numbers, I’m coming to win.”
While the heavyweights occupy the top spot, championship gold will be on the line in the co-main event.
Dy will make the second defense of his BKB super welterweight world championship when he meets McHugh. The Filipino champion holds a 6-1 record with five knockouts and became the first fighter from the Philippines to capture a BKB world title when he defeated Liam Rees.
Dy followed that victory by stopping former two-division boxing world champion Paulie Malignaggi in the second round at AO Arena in Manchester in his first title defense.
The son of former WBC world champion Rolando Navarrete will now face one of the most experienced bare-knuckle fighters on the BKB roster.
McHugh is a three-time world champion and Bare Knuckle Hall of Fame inductee with more than 20 professional bare-knuckle bouts. The Leeds native will attempt to add Dy’s championship and the Police Gazette Diamond Belt to his résumé.
“I’ve fought all over the world and won titles everywhere I’ve been, and I’m here to add another one to my collection,” McHugh said. “Rolando’s a great champion, but every champion loses eventually, and I plan on making that happen in Newcastle.”
BKB 60 will also feature the returns of undefeated welterweight Adel Altamimi and former IBF world champion and Olympic veteran Joseph “JoJo” Diaz Jr.
Altamimi returns to the U.K. after earning Fight of the Night honors at BKB 57 in Los Angeles. That performance followed a knockout victory in his BKB debut in London earlier this year.
Diaz, meanwhile, will make his first BKB appearance in front of a U.K. audience. The former IBF super featherweight champion represented the United States at the 2012 Olympic Games before embarking on a professional boxing career.
Additional bouts for BKB 60 are expected to be announced ahead of the Oct. 10 event.
Tickets for BKB 60 go on sale Monday, Aug. 24.