Canelo Alvarez called out for bare-knuckle boxing rematch by former foe who is now a BKFC world champion

12/09/2024 08:00

Austin Trout wants to run it back with Canelo Alvarez without the gloves.

The New Mexico puncher was handed the first defeat of his professional boxing career by Canelo in 2013.

At the time, Trout was the WBA ‘regular’ little middleweight champion and was coming in fresh off a win against Miguel Cotto.

However, he was unable to get the better of Canelo, who dropped and outhustled Trout over the distance of a competitive and exciting 12-round scrap.

In the years that followed, Trout fell short in world title fights against Jermall Charlo, Jarrett Hurd and Jermell Charlo before transitioning to bare-knuckle boxing last year.

He took to the brutal sport like a duck to water, stopping UFC legend Diego Sanchez inside four rounds in his debut with Conor McGregor co-owned BKFC before picking up the company’s welterweight strap by outclassing Luis Palomino in February.

Now, he is out to exact his revenge on everyone who beat him in pro boxing, especially Canelo.

Asked which former foes he’d like to welcome to bare-knuckle boxing, Trout told talkSPORT.com: “All of them, everybody I took a loss to I want to fight in the bare-knuckle ring.

“That means Canelo, [Jermall] Charlo, [Erislandy] Lara, the other Charlo (Jermell), [Jarret] Hurd, every one of those cats I would love to fight in the bare-knuckle ring, it’s different…

“Canelo if you want that rematch, let’s run it or anyone else that has a high-profile name.

“Danny Garcia is another one I’ve been calling out for a while, I’d love to get one of those fights.”

Canelo is set to defend his WBA, WBC and WBO super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The 34-year-old still has plenty of big fights left for him in boxing but if he eventually chooses to ditch the gloves, Trout thinks his skillset would transfer well.

“I do [think he’d do well in bare-knuckle], he’s not one of those guys that has hand problems,” he added.

“I mean he hits hard enough. He’s explosive without having to turn his whole body so that protects his hands.

“I think he would do fine, he is a student of the game so he would learn the type of standing grappling that’s needed to be able to box so I’m sure he’d figure that out.”

Trout returns to action on October 12 in the co-main event of BKFC Spain against one of Britain’s finest bare-knuckle boxers, Ricardo Franco.

The Englishman holds an impressive victory over bare-knuckle icon Jimmy Sweeney and is a former BKB super middleweight world champion.

A vacant lightweight title clash between Franco Tenaglia and Tony Soto headlines the card while former WBA super-welterweight champion Hannah Rankin is set to make her BKFC debut further down the bill.