A former boxing world champion is getting back in the ring for a brutal showdown like nothing he has ever faced before.
Our sister title Wales Online has reported an incredible story, that’s unfolding at a gym hidden away behind a flooring dealership on a seemingly unremarkable industrial estate in the town of Barry. The thunderous sound of pads echoes sporadically through the pounding hip-hop beats that render conversation virtually impossible within the cosy confines of the Queensbury Rules Gym, where former IBF featherweight world champion Lee Selby is scheming a surprising return.
After claiming world champion status when he defeated Russian fighter Evgeny Gradovich in 2015, Selby successfully retained his belt on four occasions before surrendering it to Leeds pugilist Josh Warrington in a brutal encounter at Elland Road in 2018. Following two victories and two defeats, he chose to retire his gloves in 2022, maintaining a relatively quiet existence ever since.
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Yet he’s now poised to step back into the ring, though he won’t be slipping on boxing gloves this time. The 39-year-old, formerly known as ‘the Welsh Floyd Mayweather’, is preparing to make his bare-knuckle boxing debut in Cardiff next month as part of BKB 55, which boasts the catchy slogan ‘Carnage in Cardiff’.
BKB ranks among the most rapidly expanding brands in combat sports, though it’s certainly not suited to the faint-hearted. Competitors can endure devastating cuts and trauma inside the Trigon.
Dorian Darch, a fellow Welshman and veteran of this sport having previously faced Anthony Joshua during his own heavyweight boxing career, was notoriously left with his ear dangling when this show last visited the Welsh capital. He happens to feature on the undercard for Selby’s maiden bout against Antonio Rizzo.
Yet predictably, the Barry native required some convincing before accepting the fight. “Since retirement I still felt I had a bit left to add to the sport, but I didn’t want to become second best in boxing to people I would have beaten in my prime,” he tells WalesOnline.
“I started coaching. I coached a few amateurs, a few professionals, and then finally a BKB boxer in Joe Morgan. I went to the show and worked in his corner, and I was approached by my coach now and the head of the BKB and they offered me a luxurious deal… which I declined… three times!
“Then the money offered became more and more, which meant there was more reward. I’m not solely doing it for the money, though.
“Funnily enough, today someone said to me that the word on the street was I’d spent all the money I’d made in boxing, and that’s why I was doing something as crazy as bareknuckle boxing! But that’s not the case.
“Luckily I had great managers so the money I did earn in boxing, which was a fortune, thank God, I used to invest into a lot of property in my town. So I’m not going to be getting skint any time soon. There’s more to it than money.” He chuckles: “But everyone has a price.”
BKB, he reveals, pursued him, and he seems fully cognisant of the potential appeal his name will bring, especially to what’s expected to be a lively local Welsh audience. “BKB has grown massively recently,” he carries on.
“I was probably the second major signing after Paul Malignaggi. I’m the second world champion they’ve signed. Victor Ortiz recently signed. A lot of names have come into it now.”
Selby has already experienced his fair share of savagery in the ring. When he relinquished his world title eight years ago, it was in a match characterised by a gruesome cut that left him bleeding for most of the fight.
One could argue he’s perhaps well equipped for the bone-on-bone terrors that potentially lie ahead. “If I’m not prepared for all that then it’s a little too late now!
“Obviously there’s a lot of blood. There’s injuries. Clear knockouts. The fights are usually over I think in an average of four minutes or so. I’m a nervous kind of guy anyway. All through my boxing career I’ve been nervous.
“Not really because of the fear of getting hurt. Just more nervous and fearful of losing. It’ll be the same with this fight.
“Obviously I’m going into the unknown. I’ve seen it. It looks brutal. But once I’m into that ring it’s natural to me. It’s second nature.
“I’m excited and nervous. I’ve never had a street fight. I’ve never hit anyone without a glove, and that’s part of the reason I want to do it.
“I don’t want to say any more on that because the police might come knocking on my door or I might get put in a straitjacket!”
Should he come through relatively unharmed on June 27, there’s every possibility his brother Andrew, himself bouncing around the gym in a show of solidarity, will seek to emulate his example.
Lee has always been quite open about the influence his brother has wielded over his career, and the former Olympian continues to be a fixture as he enters this new phase.
“My brother can’t wait to see what my face is like after the fight and if it’s still looking like it does when I go in then he’s going to sign up.
“He’s going to be in the corner for me, helping coaching. He’s going to start training himself now. So you might see us both headline a show in Wales soon!”
Their father, though, is rather less enthusiastic. But while Selby has penned a multi-fight agreement with the BKB, one he hopes will pave the way to a world title, he’s not intending to outstay his welcome.
“My dad’s a bit more of a boxing purist,” he adds. “So he’s against it. None of the boxing purists or the traditionalists are all that keen on BKB.
“I don’t really think this is a long-term sport, though. You can make a career of it, but I don’t really want a long career. I’d like to see my four fights out, be a world champion, and then retire.
“A world champion bareknuckle boxer and a world champion gloved boxer. You can’t get better than that.” For the time being, all attention is on Rizzo, and Selby has a rather definitive opinion on how he believes it will unfold.
“Rizzo is going to come out smokin’, but Selby ain’t gonna be chokin’. I’m gonna be pickin’, I’m gonna be pokin’, pouring water on Rizzo smokin’.”