Former world champion Lee Selby marked his return to the ring in devastating fashion by producing a brutal second-round knockout in his bare-knuckle boxing debut before immediately calling for a world title shot.
Fight Details
The 39-year-old from Barry, who hadn't fought competitively in four years following his retirement from professional boxing, stopped Italy's Antonio Rizzo with a crunching left hook to the body at BKB 55: Carnage in Cardiff on Saturday night.
Fighting in front of a home crowd at the Vindico Arena, Selby looked anything but ring-rusty as he rolled back the years with a composed and clinical display. He dropped Rizzo with a right hand at the end of the opening round before taking complete control in the second. The Italian hit the canvas three more times before a sickening left hook to the liver ended the contest and forced the referee to wave it off.
Selby's Motivation
The emphatic victory came after Selby admitted to WalesOnline last month that he had turned down the opportunity to fight in BKB on three separate occasions before eventually agreeing to a lucrative multi-fight deal. Speaking after his victory, Selby joked that he was flying the flag for older fighters.
"It felt amazing, and don't forget, I'm almost 40 years of age," he said. "Rizzo is almost half my age; he could be my son. So I'm doing it for the 40-year-olds, the 40 club. Like NWA said, I've got an appetite for destruction."
Title Ambitions
The Welshman then wasted little time outlining his ambitions in the sport, revealing he wants to challenge for a bare-knuckle world title. "Yes, I do," he said when asked about a title shot. "I want to avenge my good friend and sparring partner, Kallum Shkhane, and the loss when he fought for the world title. I thought he was very unlucky to get stopped just before the bell when I thought he was winning on points."
Pedigree and Career
Selby arrived in bare-knuckle boxing with an outstanding pedigree. The Barry fighter became Wales' 12th boxing world champion when he claimed the IBF featherweight title in 2015, successfully defending the belt five times before losing it to Josh Warrington in 2018. He also won British, Commonwealth and European honours during a professional career that ended with a record of 28 wins and four defeats.
Ahead of his debut, Selby told WalesOnline that he still had "a bit left to add to the sport" but did not want to continue chasing younger fighters in conventional boxing after retiring in 2022. Instead, he targeted a new challenge, signing a multi-fight deal with BKB with the aim of becoming a world champion in a second combat sport.
More Than Money
He also insisted the move was about far more than money. "Luckily I had great managers so the money I did earn in boxing, which was a fortune, thank God, I used to invest into a lot of property in my town," Selby told WalesOnline. "So I'm not going to be getting skint any time soon. There's more to it than money."
His prediction before the fight also proved remarkably accurate. "Rizzo is going to come out smokin', but Selby ain't gonna be chokin'," he said with a smile. "I'm gonna be pickin', I'm gonna be pokin', pouring water on Rizzo smokin'." On Saturday night in Cardiff, that is exactly how it played out.
