Photo credit: Phil Lambert/ BKFC
Reggie Barnett Jr on Geane Herrera being in the way of his plans at BKFC 32
Reggie Barnett Jr tests skills with Geane Herrera at BKFC 32 on November 5th.
Barnett Jr once again appeared on Bowks Talking Bouts and several subjects were covered throughout our chat. Excerpts from our recent conversation are below.
Reggie Barnett Jr
Thoughts on his upcoming opponent Geane Herrera and gameplanning for someone who hasn’t fought in around a year
“We know that Herrera is a dog. He will fight and we know that he’s really, really strong for his size. But we’ve focused on what my strengths and my weaknesses are. We improve our strengths and we fix our weaknesses. That’s really what it is. I’ve never truly, truly; I think the only fight I’ve truly gameplanned for was the second Johnny Bedford fight. Well that’s not true. The Abdiel (Velazquez) fight I did. So that’s a lie.”
“But really at this point after my last performance, if you put the (Travis) Thompson and the (Jarod) Grant fight next to each other. Even though they look so similar, they’re night and day between a boxer and an actual bare knuckle fighter. I truly believe that I’m almost to the point of what Bobby Gunn wanted me to be as far as my skill and my technicality and my tactics and adaptability. The best bare knuckle, not boxer but fighter technically in the entire sport. There’s nobody who is touching my level in that aspect.”
“Are there great guys out there? People who are incredible fighters? Absolutely and I always be teasing Luis Palomino that I’m coming for his number one pound for pound ranking. Love him to death, he is great at bare knuckle. But as far as his grip on the sport in itself, he’s missing a few tools and not in any disrespectful way but you can see his continuous growth within the sport. Not like mine. So that’s what it is. I am that and as long as I continue to improve on that then I don’t see anybody beating me.”
BKFC 32
The status of Barnett Jr’s interim bantamweight BKFC title as it’s not on the line this Saturday
“I guess we’ll find out on the fifth. That’s what Dave (Feldman) said. But as far as I’m concerned and I always put it out there, there is no actual champion at 135. There’s only been belt holders. I’m a belt holder, Johnny (Bedford) is a belt holder, Dat (Nguyen) was a belt holder and still claims he’s the champion. But nobody has successfully defended the title. That’s what I want. No disrespect to Herrera, he wants to fight me. I initially wanted to do the fight at 125.”
“I thought we were going to fight at 125 so I can make my 125 debut. As we all know, the tournament is pushed back again. So they said Herrera didn’t want to fight at 125, did I still want to fight? Y’all know me. I don’t turn down no fight. But there was an agreement between me and Dave Feldman as far as what would happen after I went out and performed on this. So it gives me a little more boost, a little more oomph.”
“We talked about plans and what I wanted to do in this sport. Win a world title, did that. Defend it successfully, not yet. But also bring bare knuckle home. As we all know, bare knuckle is legal and can be sanctioned in Virginia. That’s what I’m trying to do, bring bare knuckle home. Geane is kind of in the way of that. I’m going to go and prove why I’m still one of the best fighters in this league. Despite whether it’s 125, 135. I even asked my manager can I go to 145?”
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