Two World Title Fights Set for BKB 59 in Tijuana, Mexico
BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing is taking its first event in Mexico straight to championship territory. BKB 59 lands at Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana on September 19, with local fighter Julian Fernandez defending his super cruiserweight world title against former three-division champion Dan “Big Pod” Podmore.
BKB 59
Fernandez will have home support, but Podmore is arriving with a résumé built for this kind of assignment. The Birmingham fighter has previously held BKB belts at heavyweight, bridgerweight and cruiserweight, and he most recently stopped Jarome Hatch at BKB 55: Carnage in Cardiff. His 9-4 bare-knuckle record includes experience against title-level opposition, which gives Fernandez a serious first defense rather than a soft launch in Mexico.
Fernandez is 2-0 under the BKB banner and 3-0 in bare-knuckle competition overall. He won the title after a first-round knockout of Alex Wilson at BKB 53 and has yet to go the distance in the discipline. Before taking off the gloves, the 33-year-old Tijuana native compiled a 16-4 professional boxing record with 13 knockouts, fighting names including Frank Sanchez, Arslanbek Makhmudov and Tom Schwarz.
That background gives the main event a clean contrast. Fernandez is the hometown champion with professional boxing experience and a fast start in the Trigon. Podmore is the proven BKB title collector who knows how to manage the format, the pace and the pressure of a championship fight. One man gets his first title defense at home; the other gets a chance to add a fourth BKB weight-class title to his record.
The co-main event will crown the first BKB super flyweight world champion. Puerto Vallarta’s Cecy Ulloa faces South Carolina-based Andy “The CrAsian” Nguyen for the vacant belt, placing another Mexican fighter in a title bout on the promotion’s debut card.
Ulloa enters at 2-1 with one no contest in BKB and brings 18 years in combat sports, along with experience as a gym owner. She was ranked No. 1 at flyweight in bare-knuckle boxing in 2019 and can work from either stance, making this a matchup where positioning may prove important as soon as the opening bell rings.
Nguyen enters at 1-1 in BKB after a long MMA career. She was the first professional Vietnamese-American female fighter in combat sports and won the King of the Cage atomweight title three times before moving into bare-knuckle competition. Her cage experience will be tested against Ulloa’s comfort in the BKB setting, with the vacant championship waiting for the fighter who settles in first.
The Mexico show is the opening event in BKB‘s partnership with Zanfer Boxing. The companies plan to stage multiple cards per year over several years, while Zanfer helps identify Mexican fighters interested in crossing into bare knuckle boxing. Zanfer has worked with champions including Jaime Munguia, Emanuel Navarrete and Rafael Espinoza, adding a familiar local boxing name to BKB’s Mexico plans.
