With questions surrounding what Big Knockout Boxing (BKB) would entail, the inaugural pay-per-view event answered most of those with an exciting card top to bottom. The main event between Gabriel Rosado and Bryan Vera in front of the 4,572 fans that filled the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas ended the night with a bang.
Rosado and Vera opened their bout landing big shots through out but both fighters took those shots in stride early on.
In the third round Rosdao got hit then while stumbling tipped on the raised edge of the 17-foot circle called “the Pit” which was ruled a knockdown. Moments after that Rosado returned the favor flooring Vera to even up the knockdown tally.
That knockdown woke Rosado up and it brought on a sense of urgency knowing about the shorter fight and rounds.
“It (the knockdown) kind of woke me up,” Rosado said. “There’s seven rounds, two minutes each, so when you go down you have to get back to work quick.”
The hard-hitting action continued up until the sixth and final round where the fight ended just shy of the final bell.
Rosado hit Vera with a stiff one-two dropping Vera face first on the circled-canvas and when he got up he was very unstable and caused referee Kenny Bayless to call a halt to the bout.
“I got careless and gave Gabe the fight, Vera said. “I was fighting with my hands down and was trying to bully him but it didn’t work.”
With heavy emphasis put on bringing the knockout back to boxing by BKB leading up to the event, the knockout-to-fight ratio was solid. Out of the nine fights Saturday, four bouts ended early giving BKB’s first event a 44 percent KO ratio.
Even in the fights that did go the distance there still was plenty of knockdowns and big shots to feed the viewers punch-drunk appetites.
Fighting in “the Pit” was no different than fighting in the squared-circle to Vera, as he said he likes to fight in the middle of any ring.
“It doesn’t fell any different,” Vera said. “It felt like we were fighting on the inside.”
Co-feature event winner and BKB cruiserweight champion Anthony Johnson thought differently as he said he thought the no ropes concept of “The Pit” upped the ante.
“With no ropes you’re forced to fight in the center of the ring,”Johnson said. “It definitely pushes the action.”
Bruce Binkow, BKB executive director, said the event even surpassed his expectations and thought the crowd participation was a great part of the event.
“Well that was Big Knockout Boxing,” Binkow said. “I don’t think we could have asked for more. It was a big success as far as I’m concerned.”
In all the BKB experiment was a success and with the excitement in the bouts the next installment of BKB is already in the works.
“It would be fantastic to have another event in the fall,” Binkow said. “There are plans in the works to do that. It’s not the easiest card to make but we’re getting to work on it tomorrow morning.”
Checkout the full results of the BKB card here: Full BKB results
