Lake of the Ozarks native Sam Shewmaker will contend for the United States Heavy Weight Bare Knuckle Boxing Championship against Chicago BKB Fighter Arnold Adams on Saturday, October 20.
The fight will air on worldwide pay-per-view live, from Biloxi, Ms. and will also be live-streamed via paid Internet channel bareknuckle.tv. To follow Shewmaker, visit his Facebook page, "The Ozark Mountain Fighter."
Shewmaker grew up in Gravois Mills, Mo. where he said he fought a few legal fights and a few street fights. “It’s just how some people settle their differences at the Lake,” Shewmaker joked. He started competitive boxing at the age of 17, after his uncle Damon Shewmaker, a boxing coach, opened a gym and invited him to box. Shewmaker went professional in September 2017.
Shewmaker won his second sanctioned BKB match, by a split-decision, in the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championships 2-A New Era, on Saturday, Aug. 25 at the Mississippi Coastal Coliseum in Biloxi, MS. The event was televised on pay-per-view.
The Semi-Final Round of the Heavyweight Bareknuckle-2 Fighting Championships pitted Shewmaker against the intimidating 6 ft. 9 in., 260 lb., Maurice Jackson. Shewmaker is 6 ft. 3 in. and weighed in at 233 lbs. the day of this fight. The BKB event was (unofficially) reported as the number two Twitter conversation world-wide, Shewmaker said, adding, “The pay-per-view numbers have not been released, but we believe they will be huge.”
“I went into the fight to knock him out, but ended up winning by a split decision,” Shewmaker said. “I kept trying to get in and rough him up, but he kept grabbing and holding on to me. He didn’t give me much of a chance.”
The split decision (48-45, 49-45, 46-48) was rare, because bareknuckle fights normally do not last long. “Usually someone gets knocked out,” Shewmaker explained.
But in an unusual turn of events, the fight went the full five rounds. “I really wanted to give the crowd more of a show – a knockout – but a win is a win. I never like leaving the decision in the hands of a judge, I’d rather get a knock out.”
First Legal BKB Tournament
Shewmaker also fought earlier this summer, in the very first legal, sanctioned and state regulated BKB fight in 131 years: on Saturday, June 2, 2018, he boxed Eric Prindle at the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center in Cheyenne, Wy.
The sell-out crowd of 2,000 in Wyoming roared as Shewmaker knocked out Prindle in 18 seconds. “I felt good going into it,” Shewmaker recalled. He had studied Prindle on film before the fight. Prindle was a five-time All-Army Boxing Champion and a three time All-Service Amateur Boxing Champion, with 400 fights under his belt, compared to Shewmaker’s 51 matches. Shewmaker was 43-8 going into this fight.
“There was a lot of hype going into the Wyoming fight. I had just turned pro, and Prindle had won a heavyweight tournament. I knew it he was going to be tough to beat, but I also knew I could beat him,” Shewmaker said. “I never expected it to only go 18 seconds.” Shewmaker threw a powerful overhand right, connecting firmly with Prindle’s chin, and he went down. This advanced Shewmaker to the BKB semi-finals.
There were 15 professional mixed-martial arts fighters, four boxers and one kickboxer that competed in Wyoming. Seven out of 10 were either a knockout or a technical knockout. Three went three rounds, in what was called a very bloody fight night. The messy reality is: not everyone wants BKB to be legal. Some call BKB ‘barbaric and bloody,’ but the Wyoming fight also generated a huge and positive response worldwide.
Bare Knuckle Boxing is not for everyone, and definitely not for the faint of heart. There are some people who are adamantly against it.
“It’s kind of taboo,” Shewmaker admitted. “It may be bloodier, but it’s safer. It is bloody and brutal. Cosmetically you get more cuts, stiches and broken noses in BKB. But, it’s not as bad as boxing or MMA glove boxing, because they can go 12 rounds, and every time they get hit, their brain takes a beating. In BKB, you get one good hit, you go down, and it’s over.”
He explained, “If you take a basketball outside and punch it and see how far it goes and then kick it, and see how far it goes, you will see why MMA has more of a potential to cause brain damage.” He argues BKB is safer because the typically fewer amount of blows won’t cause the deep trauma head damage that a higher volume of hits can.
“Founder of the Bareknuckle Fighting Championships David Feldman worked hard, going state to state, tweaking the rules and he finally got Wyoming to sanction the first legal BKB fight, and then Mississippi,” Shewmaker enthused. A BKB tournament was held in 2011 on an Indian Reservation in Arizona, but it was not state regulated or sanctioned, with medical doctors and rules. Bobby Gunn won that championship.
BKB Rules
“BKB boxing has the same rules as professional boxing. The only difference is you don’t use gloves, and if you get in a clinch, you can hold someone with one arm,” Shewmaker said. Just like in regular boxing, there are no elbows, no kicking and no head-butting.
“It makes a big difference when you are getting hit with bare fists,” Shewmaker explained. “You can’t take as many punches as you can when you get hit by a glove. It makes the fight more interesting and you are more apt to get knocked out, or at least get a good cut.” He explained a good cut means “a cut that bleeds a lot.”
BKB History
The first BKB Heavyweight Champion was John L. Sullivan. Sullivan defeated Paddy Ryan in a BKB fight on the lawn of the Barnes Hotel in Mississippi City on Feb. 7, 1882. That fight established Sullivan as the undisputed World Heavyweight BKB Champion. “This sport is rooted deep in America,” Shewmaker proudly said. “It is what started glove boxing. I think it is great that we have been able to bring it back!” In 1889, the sport was forced to go underground, after The Marquess of Queensberry Rules mandated that the use of gloves in boxing came into effect in the United States. After that BKB fights took place in garages and warehouses.
“It is an amazing, humbling honor to represent the Lake area and I want to thank my fans for all their great support. I hope to continue in this winning streak. This is the first time in 131 years this title is up for grabs,” Shewmaker said.
He said he would love to see BKB grow to be as big as the USC and professional boxing. “BKB is full of excitement and fans love to watch it. As long as it stays legal, I think it will be hard to keep this momentum down.”
