Boxing | Legal bare-knuckle fighting makes bloody debut in Wyoming

DJ Linderma (left) fights Arnold Adams during the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship event, in Cheyenne, Wyoming

The first ever state-sanctioned bare-knuckle boxing match got a bloody this weekend — and a big response from a raucous crowd.

Arnold Adams, a 32-year-old MMA heavyweight, pounded ex-UFC fighter D.J. Linderman’s face into a bloody mess in front of 2,000 rowdy fans at a hockey rink that usually hosts birthday parties and skating lessons in Wyoming’s capital. Tens of thousands more tuned in for the pay-per-view event, which featured 10 bouts, including four heavyweight fights in a tournament format.

Fans were lined up outside the Cheyenne Ice and Events Center more than an hour before the first major bare-knuckle event in the U.S. since 1889. Forrest Peters, from Cheyenne, was among those in attendance. He came to cheer Estevan Payan — who served in the same Army unit as Peters — and to witness history.

“With the bare-knuckle fighting and everything, having them bring it back for the first time in over 100 years, you knew it’s pretty exciting to see,” Peters said, “and especially having it here in Cheyenne, kinda out here where the West is still a little wild.”

Payan, of Tempe, Arizona, didn’t disappoint, flooring Omar Avelar at 1:57 of the opening round of a 145-pound match.

The quickest knockout occurred when Sam Shewmaker used one punch, an overhand right, to send Eric Prindle to the canvas 18 seconds into their heavyweight bout.

“It felt like hitting a home run,” said Shewmaker, a fourth-generation stone mason from the tiny central Missouri town of Gravois Mills. “I didn’t think I would be able to catch him that early, but luckily I did.”

Shewmaker has been an amateur boxer for years, and when he heard about the Wyoming event, he tried out and earned a chance to compete.

“I never dreamed that it would be legal to be able to do this,” he said. “I’ve been in plenty of illegal bare-knuckle fights.” AP