Bobby Gunn & Stayton Bonner: Bare Knuckle

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This is the Brian Kilmeade Show. A fight like you've never seen. 73-0, undefeated champion, Bare Knuckle. No gloves, right? What's the difference?

Yeah, 100%. Bare Knuckle Fighter is like bare fist boxing, but you have rules, like you're kind of boxing. You have a fair playman, a referee giving fair play. And that's how it was done.

But the fights I've done, the underground fights, it was organized. There's a referee, a fair playman, and winner take all. Each man puts a certain amount of money up. Like, you put five grand, I put five grand. Well, you know you gotta win, Brian.

You gotta go home the winner or you can't go home the loser. That's how it was done. When did you start boxing? I probably started about, well, I had diapers on, I had a shadow box. I think five or six years later I had my first amateur fight. Because your dad did what?

Fighting to. Dad was a fighter, my great-grandfather was a fighter, my grandfather was a fighter. He was born and bred into me, Brian.

And I say this a lot. I got my little dog, Max. That's who's panting in the background.

Yes, yes, he was. But all people in the world, they're the same, but there's different people, sir. All dogs have the same DNA, canine bloodline. There's different breeds.

Chihuahuas, poodles, and pit bulls. My people, sir, were pit bulls. We're born and bred for fighting.

Right. Yotai's inferior is a cousin of mine, heavyweight champion of the world. Born and bred. All of us like that. It's our life.

We're immortalized. We love the fighters. And just like in normal times, the toughest people are also the nice guys. You were a nice guy. Oh, thank you, sir.

Who wore tough as nails. Thank you, sir, Brian. So, Staton, what attracted you to this story? In all my years as a journalist, it's the most amazing story I'd ever come across. I mean, Bobby Gunn is a true-life, underdog, rocky story. You know, grew up, his father training him at 11 years old to fight grown men in parking lots for cash. When I met him in 2012, initially I've been reporting this book for 12 years, you know, I went with him around and met his family.

He was fighting in illegal underground mob-backed matches for money to put his 7-year-old daughter through private school. And I went with him one morning when he dropped his daughter off at her school. And he came back in the car and he told me, you know, the fights aren't what scare me.

I'm always worried, dropping her off, that one of her friend's parents are going to find out what I do and somehow shun or think less of my daughter. And I said, this is just an amazing person. So it's not a fighter story. It's a great family story. It's a father. Yeah, it's a story of a father. And his father. It's a story of a father. Bobby came up under very hard circumstances, an incredibly abusive, hard childhood, which he can talk about to harden him as a weapon. And he wanted a better life for his children. And that's what he was fighting for.

So when you say underground, Bobby, you were literally underground. Out of nowhere, a warehouse could turn into a ring. And these fights last, what, 5 minutes? There's no rounds. You fight as long as you want. I've seen fights go an hour. Really?

Yeah. What's the longest one you've had? Well, the longest one I had, maybe about 20 minutes. For me, I was a little bit luckier that way. But one time I fought in a plaza, and there was a grocery store right next door. And I mean, in this plaza, the room where we were fighting, there was a newspaper on the floor covered in soaking the blood of fights with maybe 20 fights before me.

Can you imagine, like I said all the time, an old woman and her granddaughter walking down L-9, oblivious to what was going on right next door. These fights happen, Brian. People just bet. They put the money down.

The fighter's there. You get half the purse, usually. You usually know how it goes. Underground fights, the range, winner take all. I put up money and you put money. You want to make money.

Sometimes there's range differences. Sometimes the backers, let's say a certain group backs me. He might put $50,000 up.

A group backs out. A guy I'm fighting, they put 50 grand up. I might get like 25 out of that if I win the whole thing. And a lot of times you've got to fight to get your money, right? Well, listen, you can't go home to my wife with no money. She'll kill me.

She's tougher than fighters on fight, you know what I mean? So this is happening. It seems like you're describing the 1830s. Yeah. But we're doing this in what years are you doing this? Was your dad doing the same thing?

Oh, yeah. I fought all like 2000s right now. I just retired about five, eight years ago.

I retired from it. But Brian, this has been going on hundreds of years. And it's going on right now. Even though the sport is sanctioned, it'll be going 100 years from now. There is bare knuckle boxing, yeah. Oh, yeah. The legal sanction bare knuckle boxing.

And then, like I said, the underground is still going. It's like Charles Bronson, Hard Times, the movie. Which was one of the best moves I ever saw.

Yeah, it was. So what makes Bobby great? I think it's his skill as a pro boxer. He was an IBA world champion in the boxing room. Cruiserweight, right?

Yeah, cruiserweight. Just never got his due. He was fighting under Don King's son, Carl King.

That'll do it. Yeah, never got his chance. And when his mother was dying of hepatitis C due to a bad blood transfusion, Bobby started fighting in underground matches. He'd been fighting bare knuckle for years, since his childhood, obviously, but for real cash. And he immediately started to win.

And that got his name around the circuit all across the United States. And that's when he began fighting and growing his legend. But I think he's a champion because he's got such a heart. Again, he lays prostrate on the ground before fighting. His two main values are religion and fighting.

And I think that's given him a champion's heart. Right. To me, in reading this, you're not in a rage when you fight. You're focused, right?

Yeah, I'm focused. I'm a nice guy. Most fighters, Brian, are proper fightmen or good men. We're not bullies. You know, I'm a bully slayer, like I said. I like the bullies, but I give you something you needed, I take my shirt off, I give you something you needed. Because I know what it is to go through a time when you never had it. But when I focus on a fight, I'm nice right now, but there's a switch.

Right. Fully focused opponent. And to beat me, so Brian, they got to kill me. And they haven't beaten you. For 11 years, no, I never lost anything. I fought on the underground circuit.

That means America, from Los Angeles to New York. Everybody they could put in front of me, top mafia groups and put money together, I beat them all. And thank God I did. I was in pretty scary situations, right, Brian?

It's like a movie. One of the first things I get out of the book that surprised me is when you are a bare-knuckle boxer, it's so easy to break your hand, you're done. So you can't hit as hard?

No. And you've got to hit differently? Totally different world than boxing. I was a boxer, I fought the best fighters in the world, Roy Jones, James Toney, I was honored with Glenn Johnson, I fought the greats. But in bare-knuckle boxing, it's a different world, you know? I mean, the guys I lost in the box ring, put them in the street and I'll go for those assaults.

That's my world. So why? Why would you beat Roy Jones Jr. and James Toney in the street? Because them guys don't know how to fight the real bare-knuckle way. And the bare-knuckle way is a way to hit somebody? Hit somebody, a position, hit anything but throwing a bunch of punch combinations. Each punch can end it all. One punch is the most important punch in bare-knuckle boxing.

You're like a surgeon. Bare-knuckle's name of the book, Bobby Gunn, is the guy. Staton Bonner is the author writing Bobby's story. So, Staton, describe who comes to his fight. Sometimes he brings his son to his fight, right? Absolutely. His son was with him at all these fights. His son was with him at his side working every day. Do an asphalt.

Do an asphalt, yeah. When I first met Gunn and I learned about this world, I was given an address texted to me. I went to this address. I was working here in Manhattan at GQ magazine as a writer. And then I went to this address. I was given another address. And it was an undisclosed location.

Bobby Gunn walks out of an abandoned gym and he's wearing a black t-shirt with a baseball bat slung across his shoulder and it was slightly raining. And that was my introduction to the underworld. That day I saw a Hell's Angel fight a former Marine for cash.

And this is a group of people, you know, one guy standing next to me said this is incredible because it's illegal. I mean, it was exciting. You know, people were betting. You had to have known it was an invite-only situation. Obviously, there were multiple fights that day.

And I was just hooked by this world and especially Bobby's story. So, with everybody, you match up against his tough, right? Oh, yeah. I mean, I got lucky with them, but I'm not in those fights for Brian. He just said that you see different people. You see mafias, attorneys, district attorneys, police officers.

Did you find a guy from the Latin Kings? By this time, they're all together in harmony was watching fights. And they could be enemies and walk out that door.

It's a comical world. But I went and I fought across from a police station in a little place. There was oblivion that was going on.

Right. And if the cops found out? Well, why I used to wear a tank top, you know, there was my trademark and a pair of jeans. If it got right, I put a coat on and I just slipped into everybody else. Looked like everybody else.

Is it? How did you do against James Toney? I broke my hand. I was running the fight. I broke my hand first. I went into the fight with a broken hand, Sir Brian.

I didn't really heal right. And they stopped the fight because I wasn't thrown by right hand. I was one handed fight. Come on, Sir Brian.

Right. See, I fought Roy Jones. He stopped the fight. I cut my nose. Sir Brian, do you think I care about cutting my nose?

No. See, the boxing game, you're not just fighting opponent. You're fighting the judge. Right. You're fighting the referees and a lot of corruption in that game. And I love it. I'm a fighter.

But honestly, truly, and I mean, if the Lord's looking upon me today, there's more fair, the underground world, than the pro game world was. So what I was told with Vito Antofirmo, he was always a bleeder. Yes. So he used to put his face into pickle juice.

Yes, James. To tell the listeners about what you used to do to get your hands and your face ready. What types of things did your dad have you doing? My dad would take witch hazel, you know, witch hazel, olive oil, and rub that on my face, the wee boy, and all that. Rub my nose on it. See, my nose is gone.

Yeah. It's cartilage, right? So he rubbed it all like that. Did you have it removed or was it just knocked out? Actually, my dad took it out.

Your dad took out your cartilage in your nose? I was in a fight, right? I was in a fight boxing.

I fight this guy, he's an amateur. He goes, ugh, ugh, ugh. My nose just, I couldn't really, I couldn't breathe.

So I just, I was back to the corner. You know, naturally, you know, don't blow your nose, right? Everybody tells you that. Your nose, don't blow because it's small. He went, blow your nose, boys.

No, dad. He went, no, right now. He went, a little piece of cartilage, something like that. He pulled it right out of the fight. I went up the next round, I knocked the guy out. I won the fight, but that was it. It went away. He's like a surgeon, it ain't that bad, though. That's incredible. I mean, people will see when I talk to you on television, but you do, you push your nose all the way down.

I'll do it like that. And what about Roy Jones Jr.? He must have been frustrated because he's an elusive guy at the top of this game. No, he's a good guy. Like I said, a lot of things with that fight wasn't right.

I fought them all. I like Roy. He's a good guy. But listen, I love him.

Put me in an elevator with him. It'd be a different world. In my world, the street's a different world. Right.

Because he moves. But even in bare knuckle, those guys, they would break their hands quicker because they don't know what they're doing. Right. You see, I want you to break your hand. On your head. Bang.

I said, oh. One hand's gone. What's amazing about Bobby's pro boxing career is he left at 21, disgusted with the game because his mother had died. Spent 10 years in the underground becoming this legend for his bare knuckle fights. And then with the birth of his son, he wanted to show him he was more and show him his pro boxing skills. So he came back to pro boxing at age 30. Thomas Adamak, James Toney, Roy Jones Jr. All of these guys were fascinated by his legend in the underground, and that's what got him in these pro boxing matches. And, sir, Brian, you know, I never had the training camp these guys had.

Yeah. Who trained you? Your dad.

Mostly my dad, but my dad was gone. I was training myself over here in this country over here and training the gym and pitch, pace, sparring partners, sparring. All these guys, I was out working every day, sir. Working from morning to night.

If I had the training they had, it'd be a big difference. He fought Thomas Adamak, Prudential Center, Jersey. Thousands of fans. Adamak's got a whole entourage. Bobby Gunn shows up out of work just off this truck by himself. He has one person with him. He's getting checked in.

The guy's like, why do you have paint on your hands? Because he just came out of work, and he would go into the ring in front of thousands of people, and that's how Bobby lives his life. You know, that fight there, I had him meet in the fourth round, and they stopped me.

Think about it, Brian. You know boxing, right? It says only the referee can stop a fight with the advice of a doctor. When did you ever see a fight with no knockdowns? He was breathing with legs up like he couldn't breathe. I was coming in like a bull the last round. He stopped the fight. The doctor in the corner with no cuts. Now watch this, Brian.

Ready? Investigation under the little guy. He pulled up the thing. All the money went on that day for me not to go in the fifth round. I interviewed Adamak, and he said people told me not to fight Gunn. Who is this guy? He said he has a heart of a lion. I wanted to go in the ring with him. Yeah, he's a good guy. I like Thomas.

He's a nice kid. Right. Well, what I noticed too, I did the first four UFCs when they did not know how it would turn out. So I have a sumo guy against a karate guy. Mixed martial arts.

The only way to lose is to get knocked out or choked out. They created the octagon. I saw it on paper.

I watched it be put together for the first time. And because I was doing stand-up at the time, and the guys that I was with said, you know, I do music and entertainment. Brian, you're the only guy I know who does sports.

Would you take a look at this? And I said, well, that's crazy. So he goes, see the jiu-jitsu guy on his back? He's winning.

And he just talked about it. He goes, it's going to be a battle of disciplines in that world. And within the first three minutes, I think the sumo guy got his teeth kicked out. He's a karate guy from Holland, right? Yeah, by the guy from Holland who didn't even look in good shape, right? He just lined him up, kicked his teeth out.

He goes, I quit. And Horian Gracie wouldn't open the door. And I'm sitting there as the ring reporter going, this is not going to be good. You would have been great in that. Did you know how to grapple? Yeah, well, see, my dad fought that way. You see the MMA fighters?

They were great fighters. Hold on to that thought. We'll take a time out.

I've got a few minutes on the other side. The name of the book is Bare Knuckle. You're going to love this story. You don't have to be a sports fan to love this story. It's a great American story. It's a story of Bobby Gunn, 73-0, written by Staton Bonner. And the story is still being written in real life.

Up until this point is in the brand new book. Don't move. Expanding your knowledge base. It's The Brian Kilmeade Show. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. I'm Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of the transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Domenech Podcast.

Subscribe and listen now by going to FoxNewsPodcasts.com I was on my cell phone. There was that little phone and it boxes him. The phone. And I would get a note, a call. There's a picture of it in the book.

Yeah. And I would go and call this guy. And I called him long story short. It was in Sheepshead Bay. He goes over and a couple of my buddies are with me.

He pulls in. Should have been the red flag right away. I seen pet leopards.

And they had cats. You're kidding. No. Chains on the wall. I should have been a red flag. Let's see it out here. I mean I walked in. It was a movie. Things you've never seen. One's a crazy dance and the finest jewelry.

Like things like booze and drugs. It was all around me. And we're walking through the door. And I thought this guy had a sweater. They want me to fight.

Yeah. I never seen a man in my life. I have so much hair. George the animal steal. I wish he would have taken it all the way home.

I mean, I suppose he's wearing it. How big is he? He was a former simple champion. 280. Yeah monster. But he fights me. Well good old long fight. We're fighting. And I bust his eye socket.

You know the corkscrew. A crack right there. I heard a snap. But his worst pain fell down. He should have been out.

I said they wouldn't count him out. He's screaming to get back up. He gets up. He grabs me. Throws me down real hard his way. But you shouldn't do this to Brian. It was fair play.

Fair knuckle rules. Gets up. Fighting. He's in bad shape. His eye starts to come out. His right eye starts coming out. Poor bugger you know. So I just sit back and I hit him again. Drops him. Little young boy maybe 18 year old.

That group of family that was there. You know the back of them. Puts a gun right to the man's head. Starts squaring and screaming his language. And he's disgusted with him. He turns the gun right at me and says Brian. I said son don't do that. I says please. I come here as a proper man.

Don't do that my boy. Put that down. And the old man sat in the corner with the head man. Just playing his cards. Put that gun down. He says down. Pay him his money.

Pay the boy's money. I'm walking out the door saying Brian. It was my last fight.

It was my last underground fight. I'm walking out. I said please God.

My wife is a little girl. And you did? Yeah thank God.

And they beat the hell out of that guy. I probably should have. I don't know. Maybe shave him.

Maybe shave him. That is some of the dramatic stories. But you go back in the history of bare knuckle boxing.

Prior to John L Sullivan who used to do it. He had an interesting approach with it. His battle with Jay Kilraen. And I'm up to chapter 6 on it.

I'm blowing through it. But you know how John L Sullivan lost his title to James Corbett who did this thing called boxing. Right? So instead of brawling it was boxing. And that changed the game. But you do the brawling still. That fight was John L Sullivan's first club fight. Thanks so much. Hey pick this book up. It's called Bare Knuckle Statin. And Bobby thanks so much guys. Keep it here. Thank you so much.