Austin Trout turns his attention to money fights now that he’s accomplished an unusual and impressive feat.
A former WBA champion, Trout notched his second world title in a different combat sport Feb. 2 when he defeated Luis Palomino at BKFC 57 to become the promotion’s welterweight champion.
“This belt means a lot,” Trout recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “Being a world champion is nothing to shy at. It’s nothing to turn your nose up at. It’s definitely a major feat. To be a two-sport champion? That’s pretty legacy stuff right there. It means a lot, you know? I’m on a really short list of people who have done that.”
Boxing’s storied history and championship lineage means Trout’s previous boxing world title reign means more than the one he notched weeks ago.
But there’s a certain savagery and bravery that comes with bareknuckle fighting, and for that reason, Trout indicated his BKFC title isn’t far behind in the power rankings.
“There’s a lot of history so that boxing title definitely weighs a lot more, but don’t get it twisted,” Trout said. “Muhammad Ali holds the same belt that I had. But at the same time, BKFC has some real killers in there, not to mention that it takes a certain special kind of person to want to fight. It takes an even more crazy, demented, special type of person to want to bareknuckle fight. I ask my peers, ‘Are you down?’ The majority of them were like, ‘Nah, I’m good. I’m not with that.’ So to be the champion of a combat sport that a real select few combatants would do, I’m bad mother-shut-your-mouth.”
Even though he went five full rounds with Palomino, a beastly combatant who is held in regard by many as the best bareknuckle fighter to date, Trout walked away relatively unscathed.
With Knuckle Mania 4 recently announced for April 27 in Los Angeles, Trout wants a big name on what could be the promotion’s most high-profile card of all time.
“Nothing has been shot my way yet, but I’ll be there,” Trout said. “I’m just going to throw a name out there. Eddie Alvarez is a good fight for LA. Tony Soto would be a good fight for LA. Tony Soto, they say he’s the No. 1 at 165. Those are two different decent names to put under my belt.
“…To be honest, the Mike Perry fight does intrigue me. It does. It does intrigue me. … The way I’m feeling right now, it seems like a tough one on paper but I feel like I’ll make that fight look easy too.”
No fights have been announced for Knuckle Mania 4 at this time, though the event serves as the promotion’s first in California and is a trial run for widespread bareknuckle boxing sanctioning in the state.
Neither Perry nor Alvarez are booked at this time.
