Last night in Biloxi, Mississippi, former world champion DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley fought his first ever bare-knuckle bout. The 46 year old lost, opting to stay on his stool after the completion of the fourth round of his BKFC fight with Reggie Barnett, but Corley said after the defeat that he would “consider doing this one more time.” Corley, who has been around the sport of boxing for many years and has been in with the very best – Floyd Mayweather, Randall Bailey, Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, Marcos Maidana, Junior Witter, Devon Alexander, Ruslan Provodnikov, Viktor Postol and a good few more top names – found out last night how tough it is making the transition from boxing to bare-knuckle. And of course, Corley’s age and the number of hard fights he has on his body did not in any way help him.
Corley was well beaten by Barnett and he later said the speed and red-hot pace of the bout took a lot out of him. Corley said he felt “exhausted” and that he basically had no choice other than to stay on his stool after the end of the fourth round. Corley, though, says he enjoyed the experience of fighting under bare-knuckle rules, stating how he has no regrets and is instead glad that he tried it.
“It was a great night tonight, man, and I want to take my hat off to Reggie, he came to fight,” Corley said to Bare Knuckle news. “It was a great experience. There was a very fast pace in there. Reggie caught me with some good shots. I got a little exhausted, and I took my hat off to Reggie. I told my corner-man we could have done another round, but I didn’t want to get hurt, and [my corner] stopped the fight. It was a great experience being in there. It was very fast-paced. It’s rushing. But it’s a gladiator sport. I was happy to be a part of it for the first time. I would consider doing this one more time.”
Aside from Corley, Paulie Malignaggi is the only other big name boxer to have tried his hand at bare-knuckle fighting. And like Corley, Malignaggi lost his BKFC debut also (to Artem Lobov). It is clearly a hard thing to do, making a successful transition from gloved fighting to bare-knuckle fighting. But of course, Corley and Malignaggi were at the end of their careers when they made the switch. It would be interesting to see a primed and peaking boxer have a go at bare-knuckle. But if a guy has a promising or already successful career as a boxer, why is he going to make the switch? It’s veteran fighters who have seemingly exhausted all their avenues in the boxing world that have so far been tempted to try bare-knuckle.
Corley, who made his boxing pro debut way back in May of 1996, so almost a quarter of a century ago, gave it a go, but he had too many miles on the clock at a quite astonishing 51-33-1(28), and at age 46, to be able to be successful at a brand-new combat sport. Also, Corley was coming off a layoff, not having been in action since May of 2019. Again, Corley might have lost last night, but he proved again what a warrior he really is. But as far as “Chop Chop” having another try at bare-knuckle fighting, let’s hope he has a change of heart.