\n<\/p>\n
“One punch could change your life. But I love the sport.”<\/b><\/p>\n
Bare-knuckle boxer Liam Rees is aware of the dangers when he steps onto the canvas.<\/p>\n
The Welshman juggles his day job as a carpenter with the demands of a sport so visibly brutal it has stayed in the shadows of combat sports for much of its existence.<\/p>\n
Slumped in a chair moments after losing his light-middleweight world title at the Vale Sport Arena, Cardiff, the Swansea native’s wife Emma gently implores her bloodied partner to give up the sport.<\/p>\n
“No more now babe,” she says.<\/p>\n
But nothing can replace the buzz for him.<\/p>\n
“You’ve got so much adrenaline pumping through your body in that ring,” he tells BBC Sport.<\/p>\n
“Some people think I’m crazy.”<\/p>\n
At licensed bare-knuckle events, fighters go toe-to-toe on surfaces half the size of a professional gloved boxing ring – which means there is nowhere to hide.<\/p>\n
There are more cuts, bruises and knockouts – which is exactly the appeal for some fans.<\/p>\n
After overcoming substance-abuse issues, the 31-year-old was introduced to the emerging combat sport by a trainer in his boxing gym.<\/p>\n
He made his bare-knuckle boxing debut in 2023, going on to become a two-time light-middleweight world champion in BKB.<\/p>\n
During camp, Rees trains three times a day, five days a week, forgoing seeing his two children on weekdays.<\/p>\n
He does not earn enough from the sport to quit his carpentry business. His goal is to leave a “legacy, just to prove to the city I’ve done something for them”.<\/p>\n
Bare-knuckle is the oldest form of boxing but became associated with unlicensed fights on wastelands after The Marquess of Queensberry rules were introduced in 1867, which insisted on gloves.<\/p>\n
However, in the past decade, licensed events have grown. As per data from BoxRec, there were only 21 licensed bare-knuckle bouts in 2015. Last year, the figure was more than 1,000 across 21 countries.<\/p>\n
Rees fights under the banner of Bare Knuckle Boxing (BKB) promotions \u2013 one of two major international promotions who host licensed bouts, alongside US-based Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).<\/p>\n
Attendances at BKB venues are capped at 2,000 and the organisation’s president David Tetreault says they generally sell out.<\/p>\n
Broadcast in more than 60 countries, BKB has partnerships with the likes of VICE TV and TalkSport.<\/p>\n
Retired boxing world champions Lee Selby, Paulie Malignaggi and James DeGale have all crossed into bare-knuckle boxing as the popularity grows.<\/p>\n
However, Luke Griggs, chief executive of brain injury charity Headway, said he is “hugely concerned” about its rise and the “glamourisation of a sport that’s going to be taken out into the streets”.<\/p>\n
In a new film, BBC Sport investigates the realities of a sport that is slowly becoming more popular, and the people at the heart of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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