Knuckle: New Documentary about Irish Gypsy Bare Knuckle Boxing.

[Benoco]

Hey guys, I came across a trailer for a new documentary detailing the world of bare knuckle boxing amongst Irish Travelers (gypsies/pikeys). It looks like its gonna be interesting, these are the people Brad Pitts character in Snatch was based on, colorful group, take a look:



Alot of the Irish bare knuckle fights on youtube are extremely sloppy affairs but it is worth noting that the traveling community has produced some of Irelands best boxers so theres bound to be at least some quality footage.

Theres two more videos on this page (the bottom video box, bonus and bonus2):

Watch Knuckle, a film by Ian Palmer . Stream or Download today on VOLTA

From bonus 2 you can see that its about far more than money, its about clan pride, defending the family name and avenging past grievances.

Apparently it made a splash at Sundance. HBO have picked the documentary up and are making it into a TV drama, names like Gerard Butler and Downey Jr have been linked:

HBO Turning Sundance Documentary ‘Knuckle’ Into TV Series | Screen Rant

And lastly heres an unrelated short documentary by Shane Meadows interviewing a charming old (now deceased) bare knuckle boxing gypsy champion.

Enjoy!

 

[East 1999]

Gypsies need to get into MMA!

 

[Benoco]

Gypsies need to get into MMA!

Imagine a Rampage Arona type slam in a carpark.

 

[van1ty]

somewhere on a boxing forum people are saying how these guys are more skilled than mma fighters.

 

[CroZ]

Gypsies need to get into MMA!

Some are. My cousin won some "all Ireland" (note the quoteations) no contact MMA tourney a while back and said all of his opponents were pikeys. Can't exactly see this helping the sport though, for one they have a tendency to harrass and beat the shit out of anyone who beats them in boxing, for another I don't see many young lads willingly having that much physical contact with them

Gypsies have really hurt boxing in Ireland. It's known as a pikey sport and since many people try to avoid them it tends to make young people stay away from boxing. Boxing gyms located near halting sites don't stand a chance at attracting middle class/non-travellers. I mentioned my cousin above, he specifically joined MMA because he couldn't handle the gypsies in the boxing gyms. They set up there own school operated MMA gym purely with the intent of keeping gypsies out ... since non-students can't join. It's been mentioned many times about Ireland that the most succesfull boxers are gypsies, but that's mostly because they've pretty much gained a monopoly on the sport here in terms of them vs us.

If anyone remembers how Irish stations originally refused to show Willie Casey vs Rigo live it was purely because he was traveller. Irish stations are less likely to show boxing on TV if there's a traveller fighting who isn't going to lose. It is pure rascism but it's clear to see how travellers being involved with the sport has hurt it. A young middle class country boy fighting for gold in the Euro amateurs will be shown on TV, yet when Willie Casey had a world title fight suddenly they're strapped for cash. Same with our olympic medalists with non-traveller winners getting far more media attention than travellers.

 

[Benoco]

Thanks for the insight croz.

 

[Vascular15]

Ah, king of the knackers. I remember those videos were like gold dust in school.

 

[amhlilhaus]

the videos I've seen shows no throws. do the travellers allow throws?

 

[Vascular15]

the videos I've seen shows no throws. do the travellers allow throws?

No, just sloppy punches. Of course that only applies to knacker vs knacker fights.

If they were fighting a settled person than anything goes, including getting every single one of their relations within a 5 mile radius to jump you.

 

[Benoco]

Ah, king of the knackers. I remember those videos were like gold dust in school.

True, one fight in particular was hugely popular and quite tough to get a hold of.

 

[Blue Mercury]

Fuck yeah!

 

[Hotspur]

the videos I've seen shows no throws. do the travellers allow throws?

The English Gypsy's have two types of fight,you can have a 'fair go' fight which allows only punches above the waist and will be refereed by one or usually two people.The second type is called an 'All in' which are very brutal,anything goes including gouging and the removal of testicles with a clawed hand!:icon_twis
If you read Bartley Gormans wonderful book you get a good insight into the Gypsy's,Travellers of the British Isles.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Gypsies-Bartley-Gorman/dp/1903854164

 

[fightingrabbit]

That was an interesting 10 minutes. That Bartley Gorman the Fifth had a pretty good one-two. I wouldn't be surprised if he sparked quite a few people with it.

Surprisingly straight punches for a bare knuckle brawler though.

 

[EsercitoBlu]

I fuckin hate pikey scum!

 

[Cham]

Couldn't resist.

 

[uncookedpork**]

This is a new video that just surfaced on the net last month. A previous version was around, but the quality was terrible and looked like it was black and white. This one is much better.

This is what happened when the infamous "boxer" Joe Savage, who claimed to be England's bare knuckle champion, met the 1990s perennial contender Bert Cooper:

 

[db03892]

Is this new for pikey's or something? They're all rats.

 

[Vascular15]

Sweet video ^^

that looked brutal

 

[USBAdguy88]

I was waiting for this to come out and download it on iTunes...but sad to F'kin say...no release on US iTunes...it's only available in the UK or Ireland apparently...needless to say even switching over to view that iTunes store, I couldn't use my account to rent it...so I guess I'll just have to wait a month...I don't want the damn DVD I just want to rent it...so I guess there's a good chance I don't see this until whenever it becomes available in the US store...

 

[amhlilhaus]

a true london prize ring rules bout would be epic. none of this boxing without gloves stuff. throws, thirty seconds to come back to ring center, amazing to think about.