Stayton Bonner’s venture into bare-knuckle fighting research, history, and book publishing begins with Bobby Gunn, an icon and pioneer of the sport. The book is titled “Bare Knuckle: Bobby Gunn. 73-0 Undefeated. A Dad. A Dream. A Fight Like You’ve Never Seen.”
The bestseller hit the shelves in the spring of this year, and even if fighting isn’t someone’s cup of tea, it’s bigger than just throwing a punch.
Bonner sat down with MMAKO’s Zain Bando in June to chronicle the book and Gunn’s journey, along with additional projects being worked on, including a potential unspecified book.
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As for the story itself, the book can only be described as a dark read. When Gunn was coming up the ranks, bare-knuckle was unknown to the general public and was all but considered a sport of yesteryear, a sport that had been overshadowed by NHB (No Holds Barred), the UFC and professional boxing.
Gunn set out to change that. First, he fought underground with little to no sanctioning bodies and watched the evolution of the biggest promotion the sport has ever seen, BKFC.
Bonner said Gunn was a special talent who simply needed an opportunity, but most importantly, it was the backstory of bare-knuckle fighting which drew him to writing about Gunn and telling his eventual story.
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“The history of bare-knuckle boxing was fascinating,” Bonner said of the book’s development. “This used to be one of the top three sports in the United States in the 1800s, you know, you had horse racing, baseball, and bare-knuckle boxing. You know, the LeBron James of the 1800s, this gentleman, John L. Sullivan, had a big mustache, a classic kind of fighter pose when he traveled the country fighting people in different towns for bare-knuckle fights. His fights were covered by newspapers around the world.”
Given Gunn’s rough upbringing, Bonner knew he needed to dig in and watch the underground fledgling sport to understand its state, why it wasn’t being marketed well, and what needed to change. After hearing of Gunn competing for little money, but seeing his immense talent, Bonner said he knew he had something special.
“Bobby Gunn, his father raised him to be a fighter, literally from diapers,” Bonner said. “His dad would go drinking at night and come home at two in the morning. Bobby was 11 years old, his father, reporting home, wrote in the bar, saying, I bet you can’t beat my boy. And would wake up his son to come out and invite these people in motor courts, where he had a crowd of, you know, prostitutes, drunks, just various everybody else watching it. But he knew he always wanted his son to know how to fight somebody. So he would have a grown man be like, ‘I’m going to fight this kid.’ Bobby would take him out pretty quickly and build his pockets. I mean, that’s the kind of world Bobby Gunn corrupted.”
When speaking about it seven years post-retirement, Gunn said he had to compete given that it’s how his father raised him, but especially considering that, in his eyes, it’s part of who he is as a person.
“I believe that the Lord will never give more than you can handle,” Gunn said in an interview with Bare Knuckle News. “I was molded and bred to take on a hard life, and I fought a lot of things in life, and I’m still going through obstacles. Life is a fight, but try to be the best you can. Whatever religion you have, be the best with what you are. And the Lord will reward you openly.”
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Regardless of whether bare-knuckle boxing will become the sport of the future, one thing is for certain, Gunn was able to change his life by himself, helping the next generation of fighters along the way.
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