Jarrow bare knuckle boxer secures first professional win with a 56 second knockout

Gary Slator, from Jarrow, is celebrating a successful step up from amateur to professional bare knuckle boxing after he secured a 56-second first round knockout.

The 25-year-old fought in front of a sold out crowd at the Walker Activity Dome, in Newcastle, on Saturday, June 8, against Welshman Rob Cunningham.

Known as ‘The Grim Reaper’, Gary became the youngest heavyweight on the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship’s (BKFC) roster following a successful amateur career, in which he was Europe’s youngest bareknuckle heavyweight champion.

Gary took up the sport following a period of struggling with his mental health and a number of suicide attempts.

In just over two years on from that dark period, he is now a fast upcoming fighter and has spoken to the Shields Gazette about his pro debut.

He commented: “It was an unbelievable feeling to get the win, especially given that it had been such a hard training camp.

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“I’m just over the moon with how it went, we had a game plan going into the fight and I was able to execute it perfectly.

“Beforehand, I predicted that I would get the knockout within 90 seconds so to get it within 56 seconds just shows that I can do exactly what I say I will do.”

Looking to capitalise on his successful BKFC debut, Gary has given an insight into what is next for him.

He added: “Obviously I want to build on what I’ve started so there are talks for another fight this October.

“I’m hopefully going to be flying over to the United States to fight over there which would be amazing.”

You can keep up to date with Gary’s bare knuckle boxing career by following him on social media at: https://www.instagram.com/garyslatorbkb.