Conor McGregor and Anthony Joshua seem united in their appreciation for an ever-growing sport based on a recent interview with the latter. In an excerpt from an interview on This Life of Mine with James Corden, Joshua was asked what his favorite sport was other than boxing.
The former world champion under Queensberry Rules quickly responded by shouting out bare-knuckle fighting. Many took note of this including a partial owner of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship when the clip was shared on Instagram afterward, on the handle for The Mac Life.
While tagging BKFC at the end of the comment, McGregor succinctly stated:
"Fact! @bareknucklefc"
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Check out Anthony Joshuha's response below:
Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, and boxers who have dropped the gloves
Conor McGregor was part of one of the biggest boxing fights ever when he fought Floyd Mayweather and he seems keen on fighting in BKFC one day in addition to his ownership stake.
It seems like as the sport grows, more and more high-level boxers have been curious to drop the gloves including a big-name former opponent of Joshua. But there have been a few big-name crossovers from the world of sweet science to BKFC already.
Paulie Malignaggi took part in what is widely viewed as one of the first BKFC fights to grab the broader attention of the combat sports world. This happened when he fought a former friend of 'The Notorious'.
Artem Lobov threw down with Malignaggi which played into the feud Malignaggi had with McGregor in the lead-up to the aforementioned MayMac fight that lingered for a long time thereafter. Malignaggi would fall short of the UFC veteran by way of a unanimous decision in their BKFC 6 headliner.
Demarcus 'Chop Chop' Corley also tried his hand at the world of bare-knuckle boxing and like Conor McGregor, also previously fought Mayweather. 'Chop Chop' would fall short to eventual BKFC bantamweight champion Reggie Barnett Jr after a fourth-round corner stoppage at BKFC 16.
While Corley reached out to the promotion about a rematch with Barnett Jr as well as another go inside the BKFC ring, neither of those things have transpired since March 2021.
Austin Trout would seem to be the most successful crossover yet from gloved boxing as he is a current BKFC titleholder. Trout has fought Canelo Alvarez in gloved boxing and in BKFC, 'No Doubt' secured a fourth-round stoppage over Diego Sanchez in his bare-knuckle debut.
Trout then cemented himself as the BKFC welterweight champion when he bested pound-for-pound ranked star Luis Palomino and handed the multi-division bare-knuckle champion his first loss in the sport via unanimous decision.