How Alex Pereira inspired a bare-knuckle champion to battle serious illness and win world title: A look at Harry Gigliotti's journey

Alex Pereira has inspired many with his title-winning performances in kickboxing and mixed martial arts, with his influence extending into the world of bare-knuckle boxing. A newly minted champion with BYB Extreme recently credited the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion for inspiring his journey to become a titleholder in the world of gloveless combat.

Harry Gigliotti halted Joe Fitzpatrick with a stabbing left hook to the body in the first round of their BYB 32: Leeds Brawl headliner on Oct. 12. He became the BYB super lightweight Police Gazette diamond champion simultaneously becoming the inaugural BYB champion in this division and being interwoven into the PG title lineage that extends over a century to names like John L. Sullivan.

Speaking on Bare Knuckle Bowker following the title win, Gigliotti discussed the weeks of bronchitis-related illness that he dealt with before. When discussing how Pereira inspired him during a tumultuous round of antibiotics he was on in the lead-up to BYB 32, Gigliotti said:

"I actually read that; This is what tuned me back in and gave me good energy, it made me feel I had will power to want to go through with the fight. But Alex Pereira actually was diagnosed with bronchitis. I guess he was out for three weeks of his camp or something along the lines of that. Relatably enough, I was out for a week. So it was like oh, man."

Gigliotti added:

"If he can do it and he can go out there and defend his belt and stay as the world champion, I can go out here and get a world championship belt too. So it was a lot of inspiration off Alex Pereira following through with his fight. Being sick and battling illness as well, that kind of gave me that influence to want to follow through, go out with the fight, and get the title."

Check out Gigliotti discussing the Pereira influence on his title win [2:14] below

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Alex Pereira and his fairly loose connection to the world of bare-knuckle

Alex Pereira is loosely connected to the sport of bare-knuckle at least within a very specific moment. Jake Paul defeated Mike Perry in a gloved boxing bout towards the end of July. Perry is BKFC's King of Violence champion and is regarded by many as the biggest star in the sport of bare-knuckle boxing today.

The post-fight callout for Paul after halting the BKFC standout saw Pereira get in the proverbial crosshairs of 'The Problem Child'. Other than this instance, 'Poatan' is not solidly connected to the world of bare-knuckle.

It seems like the UFC titleholder has a lot of business to attend to in the MMA world but could potentially someday get into gloveless combat would undoubtedly be tantalizing for many.