Alberto Blas came out on top on September 13, when he faced Ryan Reber in the BKFC 66 main event at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, FL. The bantamweight champion retained his title by knockout, twice sending him to the canvas along the way. The bare knuckle boxing fight was stopped at 56 into the first round.
With the victory, Cuban-born Miami-based Blas made the first successful defense of his belt, improved to 6-0 and remained undefeated. Previously unbeaten Reber of Pinellas Park, FL dropped to 6-1 and suffered his first career defeat.
“Who is next?” said Alberto Blas said post-win. “Hello, hello, 135ers. I am back!”
In the co-main event, Howard Davis (7-2-1) of Fort Lauderdale, FL eliminated James Brown (3-1) of Wilmington, NC. The lightweight bout ended at 1 minute and 41 seconds into the first round.
“I train every single day,” Davis said post-fight. “Blood, sweat and tears. 155, 165, 145 – I’m there. Tell Conor [McGregor] to call me!”
Among other BKFC 66 results, Leonardo Perdomo (5-0) of Miami stopped Steven Banks (3-2) of Kentucky in 44 seconds at heavyweight. Justin Ibarrola (5-0) of Boca Raton, FL defeated Detroit’s Justin Street (1-1) by unanimous decision at bantamweight with the scores 49-46×3.
Also at bantamweight, Miami’s Armando Rodriguez (1-0) successfully debuted in the BKFC with the first-round TKO against Dameko Labon (2-1) of Homestead, FL. Plus, Stephen Townsel (4-4) of Miami TKO’d South Africa’s Jeremy Smith (3-3) in the fourth round at cruiserweight.
As well, Leonel Carrera (2-1) defeated Sean Hotusing (0-2) by split decision in an-all Miami contest at middleweight with the scores 46-49 and 48-47×2. In addition, Miami’s Peter Peraza (2-1) TKO’d Raymond Pell (1-2) of Daytona, FL in the third round at welterweight and Joseph White (2-1) of Miami stopped newcomer Kendrick Miree (0-1) of Atlanta, GA in the fourth round at heavyweight.
Among the BKFC 66 prelims, Venezuelan-born Miami-based Jim Pulgar (1-1) defeated Joshua Alvarez (4-5) of South Florida by unanimous decision at welterweight with the scores 48-44×3. Julio Perez (2-0) of Framingham, Massachusetts KO’d Orlando’s Devonte Jeffery (0-2) in the first round at cruiserweight. Kicking off the action, newcomer Almat Jumanov (1-0) of Kazakhstan TKO’d Rayne Wells (0-2) of Corsicana, TX in the first round at welterweight.
The next bare knuckle boxing event, BKFC Spain is scheduled for October 12 at Marbella Arena. On top of the fight card, Franco Tenaglia of Argentina and Tony Soto of Hickory, North Carolina clash for the vacant lightweight title.
Also on the card, Austin Trout of El Paso, TX defends his welterweight title against Rico Franco of the UK. Plus, David Mundell of Oldsmar, FL defends his middleweight title against British Danny Christie.