Since Bobby Gunn secured the linear bare-knuckle heavyweight championship, a title last held by John L. Sullivan, offers have been pouring in. But while many self-proclaimed tough guys seem ready and willing to jump in the ring and cash in against Gunn, he is not looking to fight just anybody.
?I?m not going to go fight Joe Buck from Wisconsin in the back yard of his house,? Gunn said. ?I?m not interested. I?m only here to fight names. I?m getting a lot of calls for a lot of fights that make no sense. I?m not going to just fight anybody. I want to defend my title against guys with established names.?
And a fight that does make sense is now on the table.
?It looks like I?m going to be fighting James Quinn in Ireland. He?s very famous in Europe. They offered me a fight in Ireland for a very huge purse. I?m going to be defending my title against him in a bare-knuckle championship fight. It?s probably going to happen in November.?
James Quinn McDonagh is an Irish Traveler, highly regarded as one of the greatest bare-knuckle fighters in the world. He once fought for a solid two and a half hours in what he called the ??biggest fight of my life?. McDonagh has never suffered a loss. Much of his underground career was recently chronicled in the documentary film entitled Knuckle. Producer Ian Palmer spent 12 years filming the stories of McDonagh and other members of the Irish Traveler community. The film was released on August 5 of this year.
