Javon Wright holds the BKB Police Gazette welterweight championship, which will be defended in the co-main event of BKB 54’s Mayhem in Manchester offering on May 16th. Wright will clash with Dan Gittens in a bout that was cancelled in January. When speaking to the timeline piece of this fight finally coming to fruition after tensions have been mounting throughout the calendar year, Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Right. I’m looking forward to it too, my man. Like I said, dude been running his mouth a lot since January. So, I’m hoping he gonna back up all that little stuff he was talking come Saturday. Ending my career and all of this. So, let’s hope he can back it up.”
When asked if there was an uncharacteristic bit of bad blood heading into this Gittens clash, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh, yeah. I’mma smack the s**t out of him for real. Cuz like I say, you can run your mouth. He been crying like a little girl since since August for real. So he been crying about this title fight for a while and I said I unexpectedly got hurt a week before the fight. I had to unexpectedly pull out. Like I said, he been crying. He been crying to the promoters and everybody who had listened to him since then. So since he want to run his mouth, I’mma make sure he backs up everything he was saying come Saturday.”
When asked if he was feeling like his opponent for Saturday was doubting the legitimacy of his injury or something of that persuasion, Javon Wright quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, he definitely was. But like you said, I mean, people gonna run their mouth and talk. But I mean, I know I was injured and my camp know I was injured. So that’s all that really matters.”
The BKB kingpin believes what makes him a champion is being a good father. How winning a world title is one thing, but that it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t share it with your babies. As he espoused the pride he takes in being a fighting father, Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yes, I definitely do because my daughters, they’re usually at the gym with me most of the time when I’m working out. Whenever they’re with me, they’re usually at the gym with me, watching me, or trying to do what I’m doing, working out, hitting the bag, and everything. I was actually talking to them like right before I got here and she was asking me questions like, “Who [are] you fighting? What’s his name?” She’s like, “Well, daddy, you better not lose.” All this [laughs]. So, I definitely got to do what I can not to lose so my daughters don’t talk stuff when I get back home.”
When it was mentioned how it sounds like his daughters have talked a little smack to dad if he’s taken an L and that a precedent is set for that, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, they are definitely gonna let me hear. They definitely gonna let me hear it. So, I mean, I got to do everything I can so I don’t hear it.”
Speaking to the demonstrable growth of BKB Bare Knuckle seemingly on an event to event basis as he authors his own individual story as one of their titleholders, Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh yeah, I’m very proud to be a part of something as big as what BKB [are] doing. With coming over here to England and then having fights over here, signing all the big names that we recently signed, the Ricky Hatton Foundation that they just launched, and all that. So it’s only going to get bigger and more global. I’m actually grateful to be a part of everything that they’ve got going on right now. To be champion of everything that they’ve got going on is a time, so.”
There is a certain confluence of what the BKB Bare Knuckle title represents in a way. As much as BKB is the present and as an extension of that, the future, the Police Gazette component of the strap carries over a century of lineage.When it was asked if he felt these were cool components that were tied to this fight as well, Javon Wright quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yes, it definitely is. Like you said, I think the [Police] Gazette belt is over a hundred years old, and then I actually got my name already etched in legacy now just because of me winning the title and everything. So, to be holding a title that’s been something that’s been going on for years is a blessing for me. So, I love it.”
‘Wolfman’ has experience in a few different combat sports, with gloved boxing and MMA fights to his credit, but he has crafted a great approach to competing in the Trigon and competing in bare knuckle boxing, in general. When he went about discussing how he carved out a specific ring craft for something like the BKB Mighty Trigon, Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh, well, you [would] be surprised. I do a lot of shadow boxing in the sauna and usually the sauna is small. So if I can maneuver around and do my pivots and whatnot in the sauna then the trigon is pretty much nothing at that point. So, I try to do a lot of shadow boxing and pivoting and whatnot in like enclosed spaces. Like the sauna, maybe a closet, or anything. Anything small enough that I can still move around, I try to use to imitate the Trigon because if I can move around there, the trigon is pretty much nothing.”
Remarking how this is a unique modality to exist in when preparing to fight within the most compact space in combat sports, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Right, and then actually it also helps with; I’m trying to do it in a sauna, it’s 100 degrees in there, and I’m sweating my ass off trying to regulate my breathing and temperature. So it actually puts me at a disadvantage. So it actually works out for me a little bit more cuz it puts me in that tense situation. Like if I’m fifth round and I’m dead tired, and like you said, my opponent is backing me up. Like oh, I got to do like; I’ve already been through this in the sauna. So just turn and pivot. So it makes me used to it already.”
When asked if there was a particular fight where he felt that kind of work paid dividends, Javon Wright quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Probably my second fight against [Kylle] McMillan, Kylle McMillan. We, maybe like the fourth or fifth round, I was getting tired. It got to the point where I was like, “Well, just stay on the bike and keep moving.” So, it’s just like, “All right, just keep moving, keep turning, keep pivoting. Make him come to you and when he get close enough, just turn him.” So, it worked out for me in that fight, for sure.”
When it was inquired about how having one’s mettle tested and overcoming adversities can level one up as a fighter, Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah. Cuz I mean if you don’t you’re going to either get knocked out or you’re gonna end up losing the fight. So it’s either suck it up and go past your limits or fall off and lose the fight. So I mean, I just Iold myself, dig deep, start breathing. Like, remember all the training you did. Just go out there, stick to the game plan, and it worked.”
This is a unique time for gloveless combat with people curating unique methodologies for the game in real time, and when discussing his own pursuit of elevating the fight IQ specific to bare knuckle competition, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
Yeah, because definitely with this sport, my clinch is pretty much one of my biggest weapons in this. Me coming coming from MMA and boxing, kickboxing backgrounds, it actually worked out better for me coming from those backgrounds first before I came to BKB.”
“Because like I said, usually when I get that arm behind your head, it’s most likely you not getting out too, most of the time. So, I’m actually glad I started MMA and kickboxing before I came here cuz I already had the skill set, the experience, and then I just transferred all the experience over to what I’m doing now.”
The work at Hill Street Boxing Gym has also helped him workshop his bare knuckle methodology with a former BKB Bare Knuckle titleholder, as Jovan Wright quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yes, I’m still at Hill Street Boxing. I’m usually there pretty much almost every day training and I got the guys up there helping me. Julio Tanori, the former BKB boxer, he’s there and I got a few people helping me out. So yeah, I’m still at Hill Street Boxing and that’s where I’ll most likely be at.”
With a mention about how much that Tanori training embodies the trope of ‘iron sharpens iron,’ Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh yeah, of course. He be beating me up sometimes [laughs].”
Javon Wright states that Dan Gittens “is gonna get his a** destroyed”
Wright’s first BKB title fight saw him take only one round to finish the job. With the bad blood piece and his track record in title fights, when asked how he sees this one wrapping up, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“To be honest, I can’t see how it’s going to feel, but I can tell you this. Like, I’ve been literally training as hard as I can for this fight. Be honest, since I’ve started BKB, this is probably the hardest I’ve trained for a fight in a while. Only off because dude was running his mouth a lot. I mean, I’m not really the type to talk a lot of s**t. I just come in there and back my thing up.”
“But [the] dude [has] been running his mouth a lot. So, he gave me a lot more motivation to get ready for this fight. So, I mean, at the end of the night, it’s going to be me beating his ass and getting my hand raised.”
When touching on how it sounds like his daughters talking a little smack to him has prepared him for the verbal warfare with Gittens, Javon Wright quipped [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Definitely. Like I said, he ain’t here yet, but I’m waiting for him to get here because I’m going to be talking s**t the entire next three days into the fight.”
While it’s not his usual MO, the champ is fine to engage in trash talk if someone encroaches into space in that kind of way, as Javon Wright said [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Yeah, we can definitely do it. I don’t mind talking a little s**t. I mean, he was telling the whole crowd how we can go outside, and we can fight, not inside the the ring and all that. He definitely don’t want to fight with no referees there. I promise you, he don’t want to see me with no ref there because he is gonna get his ass destroyed. But I beat his ass outside the ring, inside the ring. I really don’t care. But I guarantee you, I just want him to back up everything he was saying. Everything. I want him to end my career. Please end my career.”
In summation, as he offered up parting thoughts amid the proceedings of BKB 54 fight week, Javon Wright stated [via Bare Knuckle Bowker],
“Oh, yeah. My thought is Dan Gittens is a hoe, and I can’t wait to see him Saturday.”
