Former two-division boxing champion Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi is ready to make his bare knuckle boxing debut in a grudge match against UFC veteran Artem “The Russian Hammer” Lobov in the main event of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) on Saturday, June 22, 2019 from the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Tampa, Florida. The BKFC 6 event will be shown on Pay-Per-View, available for live stream on FITE.TV.
The bad blood is real and Paulie Malignaggi wants to show Artem Lobov that his striking skills are no match for him even in the bare knuckle rule set.
Malignaggi who held world titles at 140 and 147 pounds in boxing, and has fought some of the best from Miguel Cotto to Shawn Porter, has felt disrespected by the mixed martial arts world and Conor McGregor fans when they ridiculed him and made up stories off of leaked photos by the McGregor camp that he got beat up in sparring by the former UFC two-division champion.
Artem Lobov who is a long time training partner and friend of the Irish superstar Conor McGregor vocalized his opinion on the sparring session between Malignaggi and McGregor saying the retired Italian American boxer couldn’t hang in the ring with McGregor and was making excuses for why he struggled.
Malignaggi could be in for a rude awakening if he underestimates Lobov because the Russian Hammer has a hard head and heavy hands and in bare knuckle boxing there are no gloves to protect the hands from breaking.
Lobov said Paulie having a history of breaking his brittle hands in boxing with the padded gloves will make it even worse on fight night, he could see Paulie breaking his hands and possibly quitting because of the pain.
The pre-fight build and trash talk between the two combatants has truly made this a can’t miss event of the summer.
Who will shut who up? Will Paulie prove his boxing ability too much or will Lobov be able to make the loud talking Brooklyn fighter pay for all the disrespectful pre-fight antics?
Watch BKFC 6 live on FITE (fite.tv/watch/bare-knuckle-fc-6/2owk6/) June 22, at 5:00 PM PT.
