Photo credits: BYB Extreme/ Gerardo Ramos/ Steven Rothman
Tony Lopez on BYB X and being the inaugural heavyweight champ
Tony Lopez garnered a second-round stoppage over Jordan Mitchell at BYB X: Biloxi Brawl to become the promotion’s first-ever heavyweight champion.
Lopez came on Bowks Talking Bouts and we covered a myriad of topics throughout. Excerpts from our chat are below.
Tony Lopez
The feelings of becoming the first-ever heavyweight king in BYB Extreme’s history
“I gotta say, it felt just like all the other twenty times (laughs). After the first I think it was the first three, I was just like I expected it. Every time I went to fight for a belt hey, it’s mine. So that’s how I felt that night. I’ve got to put on a show so they can give me my belt. Still, it was cool because I mean first BYB heavyweight champion ever. So I mean that’s a milestone there. So I like that part. I liked it a lot. Apart from that, except for just that part, everything else was the same as before. Just a regular day (laughs).”
Tony Lopez recently celebrating four years as a bare-knuckle boxer
“You know I’ve got to say it’s been fun. Because I did MMA, boxing, Muay Thai, every single sport out there. I always felt like I was missing something. With bare-knuckle boxing that fulfills the missing link so to say. Now it’s just straight fists. I can see what it feels like to get hit. Or even me hitting someone. A real what it would feel like if I was fighting out in the street. So I was like ok, let’s see how it goes and I mean it goes good (laughs). I like it.”
BYB X
When Lopez’s first BYB championship defense might take place
“I’d fight as quick as you can find me an opponent and that’s the thing. They’ve got to find someone willing to fight me. And with a decent, not record but a decent will to fight, a tough guy. I mean bare-knuckle, it takes a certain kind of person to get in there. So far I mean Josh Burns, perfect example. He’s a tough guy. I hit him with everything from everywhere and every direction. He kept coming and we kept going. It went the distance. That’s a tough guy… They want to find another Josh Burns.”
Tony Lopez continued, “So it was tough…But yeah, so that’s the hardest part with me. Is finding someone that’s going to fight me. Because it’s always easy for me to fight anyone else. ‘Oh the opponent dropped out. You want the fight or not? I’m coming’. With me it’s like ‘fuck, you want me to fight Tony? Oh I don’t know’. When people are asked to fight me, it changes. Then all of a sudden it becomes, well how much are you going to pay me? So we’ll see. I talked to the matchmaker and first thing out of his mouth is we’re looking but we’ve just got to find someone.”
