THE undercard of Deontay Wilder’s comeback fight on Friday night features another knockout specialist who is targeting heavyweight history.
Only John L Sullivan has won heavyweight titles in both gloved and bareknuckle boxing and ‘The Cuban Assassin’ wants to put his name alongside the ‘Boston Strong Boy’ in the history books.
Gustavo Trujillo has already conquered the bloody world of bareknuckle boxing, winning the BYB Extreme heavyweight championship and making a successful first defence against Blackpool removals man Richie Leak last December.
Leak proved his mettle when winning a battle described as “the greatest heavyweight bareknuckle fight ever” on YouTube and getting off the floor to beat Dan Podmore for the title – but he lasted only 49 seconds against Trujillo.
“He was very quick, very sharp,” said Leak, “and he knows which shots to land.
“He’s a good size and he has the skills.”
The 6ft 4ins, 240 lbs Trujillo is 7-0 in bareknuckle boxing and all his fights have ended inside a round.
Trujillo has also built a 7-0 (6) record in an under-the-radar pro-gloved career in Florida and gets valuable exposure on the Wilder-Tyrrell Anthony Herndon undercard in Wichita on Friday night.
Never past four rounds before, Trujillo meets Lateef Kayode (22-5) over 10.
The 42-year-old Kayode has been inactive and is on a losing record, but he should tell us more about Trujillo and how far he might go.
Unlike in Britain, fighters in the States can box bareknuckle and gloved and Trujillo said: “I can combine both, I feel confident and I’m still young.”
Trujillo is also fresh. He claims he never boxed in Cuba and was a Greco-Roman Olympic wrestler before moving to the States and starting his pro boxing career. He’s shown good skills, fast hands and wasted little against the opposition he’s been facing in both the boxing ring and the trigon.
Only hard-as-nails journeyman Terrell Jamal Woods, a cult figure among hardcore fans, has gone beyond the second round in the ring.
He lasted the full four rounds in Miami last March and tested Trujillo’s chin a couple of times in the second half.
Trujillo was then out for 11 months and had three one-round wins in the trigon before returning to boxing in February to blow away overmatched Matthew McKinney (18-9-3) in only 55 seconds.
Trujillo told Boxing News that bareknuckle boxing is his first love, but that his goals are to “have fun” and “become a millionaire.”
Dorian Darch, a former opponent of Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, was also hoping to combine bareknuckle and pro-gloved boxing careers, but the Welshman was told by the British Boxing Board of Control that at 41 years old, it was too late for him to resume his gloved career.
The Board were also likely to frown on Darch’s career in bareknuckle boxing.
He has had two wins inside a round this year in the trigon and was hoping a return to the ring would lead to a clash with Moses Jolly for the Welsh heavyweight title that has been uncontested since 1989.
That plan has been scuppered by the Board refusing to relicense Darch and he instead continues his bareknuckle career in Bolton on Saturday, July 5 against the sport’s answer to Tyson Fury.
The 6ft 8 1/2ins Tryone Eliffe, a 34-year-old from Coalville, Leicestershire, is also a colourful showman who has put a troubled past behind him.
