Shelby Cannon Predicts “A Hell of a Fight” in Her “Biggest Opportunity” at BKFC 79
Shelby Cannon is a tenured strawweight bare knuckle boxer and recently gave her overall thoughts on her clash with Taylor Starling at BKFC Sturgis while appearing on Bare Knuckle Bowker before the August 2nd fight. When breaking down this upcoming contest against an opponent who is a highly touted, tenured fighter in the company as well as a multi-division BKFC title challenger, Shelby Cannon said,
“I think that this is the biggest opportunity that I have had in my career and I’m just really excited. I really didn’t think that I was going to be able to showcase my skills up against a vet in the sport so fast. So, I have been busting my butt because I have to prove myself. You know, the way I look at it is I’ve got nothing to lose in this fight. I’ve got everything to gain in this fight, and I’m just nobody from nowhere Indiana.”
“I am coming for that belt, which is important, you know, having goals. Right now, Taylor is kind of in my way, and no disrespect, but it wouldn’t have mattered who it was. You know, I have a goal and I’m going to achieve, and I’m gonna come up on top. I think it’s going to be a hard fight. I think it’s going to be my hardest fight. Her experience is awesome on paper. She’s just been everywhere and fought everybody. So, you know, I’m excited.”
Shelby Cannon on feeling underestimated ahead of key clash in ‘my home division’
Shelby Cannon previously vied for BKB gold with ‘Boom Boom’ now pursuing championship hardware elsewhere. When it was mentioned that generating the ideal performance here would likely behoove her in chasing that goal of getting towards a BKFC title shot down the line, Shelby Cannon stated,
“Yeah, absolutely… She’s number two. So I wasn’t sure how they had the rankings at this moment. But I remember after my last fight, I thought that it would be really good for me to fight Sarah Shell, who happened to be, I thought, next in line for the belt. I thought it would be [a] great opportunity to fight somebody at her length.”
“Someone who’s as confident as her, and I thought that I would fight her before I would fight Taylor Starling. So I made a comment about just not thinking it makes sense to fight Taylor. It’s so much more than just thinking that I’m better than her. It’s just with the rankings and with the experience, I do have more experience in my division in bare knuckle than almost anybody except for Britain Hart.”
“So, when we’re talking about rankings and we’re talking about experience, Taylor Starling has a lot of experience, yes. She has fought the champ, sure. But she doesn’t have as many fights at 115 that I do. So, I know what it is to get down to 115. I know what it is to fight bigger people at 115. Most people that fight at 115 are bigger than 115. I mean I’m walking around at like 121-122 on a regular.”
“So I just think that people underestimate me and my abilities. Not realizing that this is my home division, and I don’t look forward to moving up or down in division. I’m here to do what I can and showcase my skills and see how far it can take me, which is ultimately to the top.”
“Taylor Starling, she’s underestimating me and she’s going to have a hell of a fight. So, we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. It’s a bare-knuckle fight. Anything can happen. But one thing for sure is it’s going to be a good fight.”
