BKB, the world's biggest and baddest bare knuckle boxing company in the world, announced today its first-ever show in Connecticut as it hosts BKB 52 live from Foxwoods Resort Casino (350 Trolley Line Blvd, Mashantucket, CT 06338) on Saturday, March 28, 2026.
Headlining the card will be Haverhill, Massachusetts’ undefeated Super Lightweight Champion Harry “The Hitman” Gigliotti (5-0, 4 KOs) defending his title against Merced, California’s Estevan Partida (2-0, 2 KOs). Gigliotti was the 2012 New England Junior Olympic Champion, 2013 New England Golden Gloves Runner-Up, 2021 New England Welterweight Champion and 2023 ABF Atlantic Super Lightweight Champion. Partida, who trains under the tutelage of WBA and IBA Super Bantamweight World Champ Bones Adams and Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame coach AJ Easley, burst on the scene early this year with two quick knockouts, the latest against former BKB Lightweight title contender Joshua Oxendine.
Also slated for the card is the long-anticipated matchup between top contenders for the vacant BKB Featherweight Championship as number one-ranked Yampier Ramirez takes on Wales’ number two-ranked Ash Williams. Ramirez has an undefeated pro record and 100% knockout rate (3-0 with 3 KOs in bare knuckle, 7-0 with 7 KOs in gloved boxing). Ramirez jumped to number one contender status with a second round-knockout of former Featherweight Champion Brandon Birr (then 4-1) this past May. He was scheduled to fight for the title this past September, but champion Harold McQueen failed to make weigh-ins and was subsequently stripped of his title.
Originating in South Florida with backyard legend Dada 5000, whose backyard fights gained worldwide popularity online, BKB was founded to harness the excitement of bare knuckle fighting into a more structured product for a wider, more mainstream audience. Since 2015, BYB has worked diligently to grow the reach of bare knuckle on both a domestic and international level, hosting events in Wyoming, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, England, Wales and Dubai, and is continuing to work with athletic commissions throughout the United States and globally to expand the fanbase growing sport of bare knuckle fighting.
In the past two years, BKB (originally BYB) has purchased the UK-based BKB, the world’s oldest professional bare knuckle boxing company, and in doing so merged the organizations to create the largest bare knuckle boxing company in the world in terms of roster, library and distribution; ushered in ethical and legalized gambling to the sport; acquired the rights to the historic and prestigious Police Gazette Diamond Belt which now serves as the Bare Knuckle Boxing World Championship; and brought bare knuckle boxing to lineal television on both sides of the Atlantic, including the recent deal with VICE TV and in the UK with TalkSport.
