As BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing prepares for its landmark
BKB 61 event in London on November 14th, divisional stalwart Marko Martinjak has made his feelings abundantly clear regarding the influx of traditional professional boxers entering the bare-knuckle arena. Celebrating a decade with the promotion, the Croatian champion is gearing up for another high-stakes bridgerweight title defense, this time against former professional boxer Matty Askin at the iconic O2 Arena.
For Martinjak, the journey with BKB runs deep. Having been a fixture of the organization since its inception, fighting all the way from BKB 1 to the upcoming BKB 61 milestone, his loyalty and foundational role in the sport’s growth shape his perspective on newcomers. Reflecting on his long tenure with the promotion during an interview with Bare Knuckle Bowker, Martinjak noted how intertwined his career has become with the city of London.
"Yeah, it is my 10 years with BKB. 10th year with BKB," Martinjak said. "If I hadn’t been in jail for that three and a half years, they would have much better score, much better record. But London is my hometown, second hometown from where I am living. So I think it’s my seventh O2 appearance, I think."
While Martinjak occupies a prominent spot near the top of the card—serving as the penultimate fight on a night where decorated former professional boxer Lee Selby is slated to headline in his sophomore BKB appearance—the champion views the trend of traditional boxers transitioning to gloveless combat through a critical lens. Rather than welcoming them as equals, Martinjak perceives their arrival as a slight to the veterans who built the sport from the ground up.
"Yeah, but I think the thing of those ex-professional boxers, it’s like a little downgrade to us," Martinjak stated. "We were with the company very long, that’s my personal opinion, and we built this company from the beginning. Me personally, because I was on BKB 1, so this is BKB 61 now. But it’s time to show those ex-professional boxers that they don’t belong here, that this is completely another sport."
When pressed on whether he was targeting specific individuals or addressing the broader wave of crossover talent stepping into the BKB Trigon, Martinjak delivered a stern warning to anyone underestimating the realities of gloveless fighting. He believes that fighters relying on traditional defensive guards developed behind large boxing gloves are in for a brutal wake-up call.
"Yeah, I am talking about all boxers who were saying this isn’t boxing, and I think many of them on a very painful way are going to find out this is the real deal," Martinjak warned. "This is the real fight. That you can’t hide behind gloves, behind some kind of defense which you can do in professional boxing. So, it’s going to be very painful lesson for all of them."
A common talking point among analysts examining the crossover between traditional boxing and bare-knuckle fighting is the role of the clinch. Critics often point out that traditional boxers who fail to master the active clinch game struggle when transitioning to promotions like BKB. However, Martinjak downplays the supreme importance of the clinch, arguing that stylistic matchups dictate how much grappling actually occurs inside the Trigon. Drawing from his own background as a former Muay Thai champion in Croatia, Martinjak understands the nuances of close-quarters combat, yet he insists that other attributes far outweigh clinching proficiency in bare-knuckle bouts.
"Listen, I don’t think the clinch game is so much important," Martinjak explained. "It’s important that you figure out when you fight; maybe when boxers are fighting MMA fighters. But when you fight a boxer, you can see between me and Dan Podmore when we fought, when we were clinching, we didn’t hit one each other in the clinch. So I think most of the boxers are going to just do regular Queensberry rules. So without clinching."
"That’s fine by me, but that clinch—listen, I was a Muay Thai champion of Croatia. I trained like through three years Muay Thai. So I know how to clinch, but I think to be very aggressive, very precise, and powerful and fast is much more important for bare knuckle."
Elaborating on the stark differences between gloved combat sports and the bare-knuckle discipline, Martinjak emphasized that the defensive mechanics ingrained in amateur and professional boxing become obsolete once the protective padding is removed. He noted that even the transition to smaller MMA gloves creates a vastly different athletic environment compared to competing entirely bare-knuckled.
"Because defense you got within a sports with the gloves, that isn’t working in bare knuckle, that is completely another game," Martinjak said. "Like it’s the same like fighting with a 4 oz glove bare knuckle, and that is very similar like every boxing or extreme boxing with 4 oz gloves. But when you have 10 oz gloves, that’s completely different. Different sport."
"This Kingdom is Mine and Mine Alone"
Beyond his broader philosophical grievances regarding traditional boxers entering his domain, Martinjak has an immediate challenge to address inside the ring. Although rumors have previously swirled regarding a potential future matchup against Cody East to sort out the next challenger in the bridgerweight division, the Croatian champion’s immediate focus is entirely locked onto Matty Askin for November 14th.
The path to this title fight, however, has not come without controversy in the eyes of the champion. Martinjak revealed that the initial discussions for the bout envisioned a heavyweight encounter before the contractual paperwork shifted the parameters to a bridgerweight title fight. Given that Askin enters the contest with just a single bare-knuckle victory to his name, Martinjak questions whether the challenger genuinely earned his championship opportunity.
"Yeah, but when they first asked me to fight Matty Askin, we were supposed to fight at heavyweight," Martinjak recalled. "Then when I got the contract for the fight, I see it’s a bridgerweight fight. It’s a title fight. So, then I asked him, it’s a title fight. Oh, yeah, yeah, it’s a title fight. So, I said, okay, no problem. But listen, he has only one win, and for me, he doesn’t deserve the title fight."
"Let’s leave in the past his professional boxing career. It was great. But this is professional boxing [bare-knuckle], and for me you didn’t earn that shot. It is given to you. For me, I was waiting for the fight between Cody [East] and [Ike] Villanueva and I was presuming that Cody will beat Ike and he’s going to be my next challenger, that I am going to do my next fight at heavyweight. But it is what it is. I don’t give a damn who it is. So everybody is going to be destroyed against me."
While bridgerweight remains his optimal weight class—jokingly remarking that a 95-kilogram division places him right in the middle where he historically held titles in older iterations of BKB—Martinjak remains open to testing the waters at higher weights if the right opportunities present themselves. Yet, his primary identity and dominance are rooted firmly in the bridgerweight landscape.
Analyzing Askin’s sole bare-knuckle appearance that propelled him into this championship opportunity, Martinjak acknowledges his opponent’s power and background while remaining unimpressed by Askin’s overall readiness for the elite tier of the sport. Pointing to early struggles in Askin’s previous outing, the champion plans to exploit any lingering vulnerabilities when they lock horns at the O2 Arena.
"Listen, he was on his ass in the first second of the fight, and in my opinion that guy wasn’t ready," Martinjak said regarding Askin’s debut. "He gassed out, and because of that, he was gassed out, he lost the fight. He was two-time knockdown or three, I don’t know. He is a dangerous fighter. He knows how to throw punches. He’s a cool boxer. I give him all respect because of that. Listen, this kingdom is mine and mine alone."
