Bare-knuckle entering sporting mainstream as BKB stage O2 London show

Nov 11 : Once an underground combat sport, bare-knuckle boxing has followed the way into the mainstream paved by mixed martial arts, and professional fighters now find themselves with greater possibilities than ever before.

Saturday's card at London's O2 Arena, promoted by BKB, will showcase some of the best British fighters in the sport, with Aaron McCallum one of those who will be wrapping his fists in thin gauze before his welterweight rematch with Simey Doherty.  

"If you look at how fast it's grown now, I dare say in two years max it will just blow everything else out of the water," McCallum told Reuters.

"It's going to be everywhere - the advertisements will be all over billboards, it'll be all over your normal adverts on TV channels. They're doing the (Anthony) Joshua (Tyson) Fury (boxing) fight now, advertising that, and I dare say that in two years, the big fights in BKB will be scattered everywhere."

The rise of the sport coincides with a time when some fans see traditional boxing fights as becoming boring, with an emphasis on defensive skills and footwork rather than knockout power leading to many high-profile bouts going the distance.

"In gloved boxing, for me, every fight's the same now, it just goes on and on and on. With bare-knuckle, you do not know what's going to happen in any fight," McCallum said.

BKB's style and rules are designed to leave nowhere to hide. 

Consisting of a maximum of six three-minute rounds - or half as long as a top-level boxing match - BKB fights take place in a triangular ring that effectively keeps the fighters toe to toe for the entire bout. 

CUTS INEVITABLE

McCallum took up the sport when he retired from bodybuilding and said that the lack of padded gloves means that cuts are almost