Jack Hyde hoping to end the stigma of bare knuckle boxing in York

Hyde, from York, has enjoyed an explosive start to his bare-knuckle boxing career after battling to two first-round knockouts in his first two fights.

A former pupil of Archbishop Holgate CE academy, Hyde has made waves in his early career after making the transition over from boxing, having once been offered a professional contract in the sport he dreamed of starring in.

Victories over both Jake Hedley, from Malton, and Warren Lee means that Hyde has the opportunity to clinch the BK Sports cruiserweight title in Runcorn on Saturday, November 9, with his opponent still to be confirmed.

Hyde is looking to make up for lost time after a spell away from sports, opening up on his big ambitions for a future in the sport as well as why he opted to take off the gloves in the ring.

“I started off as a boxer from the age of 17-years-old, and I promised myself two things, that I would be father and a professional boxer by the time I was 25,” Hyde told the Press.

“I started boxing and kept pushing on but had some inactive years because I was still trying to figure it out.

“When I got to 22-years-old I was offered a professional boxing contract, but for some reason I got cold feet and that was the end of that.

“I’d not had many fights up to that point, I had been very hit and miss over the years with my fights, some people don’t really know about my boxing and so it’s quite deceiving when I turn up to my fight nights now.

“It’s quite deceiving how experienced I really am, because my fight record doesn’t really show that.

“I’d only had nine fights up until the end of 2016.

“How I got into bare knuckle, just at the back end of last year I had been inactive and hadn’t had a fight in four years, I was fat, I was depressed, I was feeling down and knew I had so much more to give.

“I just tried to figure out what it was, I sent out a few messages to a fella in York that had previously done it for about eight years in Luke Atkin, and just asked him if there was anyway he could get me involved in this.

“I don’t think even he took it seriously at the time with the physical state I was in.

“After March this year, after one boxing match that I had had, they were doing a York bare knuckle show.

“There were meant to be multiple lads in it, but as it came to it there was no one so I stepped up to the plate.

“It was meant to be a one-off, just to say that I have done it and tick it off the bucket list.

“When it came around, after a few drop-outs leading to the fight, I got told my opponent for the main event for the first-ever boxing show in York and I knocked him down three times.

“On that third knockdown, I broke his nose and that was the end of that.”

Bare-knuckle boxing has a less than desirable reputation in the public eye, with it being viewed as a more dangerous sport than that of boxing or MMA.

Hyde, who is trains at Steve Melton’s York Boxing Club as well as Team Valour in Pontefract, hopes to abolish the stigma in the city of York and explained the transition from boxing to bare-knuckle boxing, as well as why he made the decision to proceed with a potential career in the sport.

The 30-year-old confessed: “It was absolutely terrifying, that’s why I think there is such an anomaly in it.

“The truth is that it is absolutely terrifying, knowing that you are going to put yourself into harms way to that extent.

“That’s almost where you find the beauty in it as well, because you know that what you’re doing is courageous.

“As for the actual transition, I’m still yet to receive an actual punch in a contest so I can’t really tell you much other than that!

“It hurts your hands more when you hit, it definitely hurts and it doesn’t last as long when you land a decent punch.

“It was because of how well I performed, I genuinely believe in myself and that’s a big change from now to 2016, the difference is that I believe in myself, 100 per cent if I put my mind to this, I can achieve whatever I want.

“Both of my opponent fights have ended in the first round.

“The first one was due to a broken nose on the third knockdown, and then the fight in Durham on Saturday was a last minute opponent that stepped in at 24 hours notice.

“From the get-go, I’d say that my ability was quite clearly better than his.

“I split his eyebrow with a first jab, and then threw three to four punches after that and he couldn’t continue, he was too dazed.

“That was the end of that, it was the safest option for him really to call it there.”

The 30-year-old had previously working alongside Glen Banks, a professional boxing coach, for eight years prior to his switch to former MMA fighter Gary Watkinson, who now coaches Hyde.

Jack Hyde from York has enjoyed an explosive start to his bare-knuckle boxing career. (Image: Submitted) Hyde detailed the difference in training that he undergoes compared to a usual boxer, working with Watkinson.

“It’s definitely different training, whilst I’d usually be with a boxing team, I’m actually with a former MMA gym owner and coach in Gary Watkinson, who is also from York.

“He’s owned his own gym for about 16 years I believe, and he’s had a fair few MMA fights himself.

“The fact that I’ve got a mixed martial artist coach for bare knuckle boxing, it shows the difference.

“The stuff that he has shown me that you would never expect to be used in something called bare-knuckle boxing but is actually relevant because the rules can be different, in comparison to boxing.

“You can punch on the inside on the clinch, which is something that you wouldn’t be allowed to do for a fairly long time in boxing, you can kind of grab each other’s arms more because you’re not restricted to a glove.

“The training is definitely a lot more vigorous for me, that’s something that makes it different for me because there was no fear factor in a boxing match.

“You could train as hard as you want to train, the whole purpose of the training for me was to lose weight and feel good, and the consequence of that was that you would have to fight.

“The bare-knuckle game, you’re more worried about how good you can prepare.

“I want to find confidence in my training, so that on a night it’s not as daunting as what it could be.

“I would like to say thankyou to my sponsors too, York Plastering company, Linden Hall Brickwork, JB groundwork solutions and Castle tree surgeons for all of their support so far.”

Hyde’s ambitions don’t stop with his upcoming fight in Runcorn, with the York fighter hoping to one day be an active fighter on the Bare-Knuckle Fighting Championship [BKFC], which he viewed as the pinnacle of the sport.

He also has plans to one day headline a show in York, and hopes to spread awareness for the sport to ensure that a big crowd can pack in to a future North Yorkshire event.

“The end goal is to be an active fighter on the BKFC, the bare-knuckle fighting championship.

“That’s the pinnacle of the sport as it stands right now, as it is a worldwide stage.

“I can’t see how I wouldn’t be able to achieve that if I carry on with the same mindset, the same determination to work hard and learn as much as possible.

“I can’t see how it would go any other way from me achieving exactly that.

“I think the plan, as soon as we agreed to a second fight, the plan was to go on the road and visit cities as such, there is Runcorn near Liverpool, we had Durham, something to get excited about.

“When we bring that second show back to York, we want there to be more people that are aware of it and have everyone experience a good night of something different that has never been in the city.

“It’s just going to be something that will be there to be remembered.”