James Connelly: “Get ready for a real old-school fight”

James Connelly is one of the best bare knuckle boxers in the world.

Taking on the incumbent BYB Police Gazette Super Middleweight champion LT Nelson, Connelly looks to put this chapter behind him and become the champion in one of the world’s hardest sports. The fight between Nelson and Connelly will take place at BYB 35 on January 11th, and fans are in for a massive treat.

The fight between James Connelly and LT Nelson is a rematch from BYB 19, a fight ended in a draw. Since then, both Connelly and Nelson have achieved huge things. Connelly grabbed the BKB title against Jimmy Sweeney and notched a second-round finish against Mark Tiffin at BYB 28.

With his last win in July, James Connelly is itching to get back to action in the sport that he’s come to love.

“I’m really looking forward to being back out fighting again with my last fight being in July. The feeling of excitement comes to mind when I think of my next match-up.”

Coming from BKB, Connelly has enjoyed the merger between that promotion and BYB Extreme. Having fought there before (against Nelson and Tiffin), Connelly has had nothing but fantastic experiences with the newly merged company.

“I think it’s been great with the bigger productions and more fighters involved. It throws more spice into it. But many fighters didn’t like the change so never followed through with moving across from BKB to BYB.”

With Nelson’s massive success, Connelly has had to put a huge team behind him to be the best he can be. The UK native feels he’s better than he’s ever been. With his biggest challenge in front of him, he will need to be at his best.

“I always trained very hard but never had a team of people around me during my camps to keep me learning and improving. I needed a change and put a great team together by linking up with my trainer now, Spencer McRaecken Jr. He has brought me on leaps and bounds, and the great training relationship we have has really been great to me.”

The first fight with LT Nelson was a short-notice bout. When offered up the rematch, especially with the belt attached, James Connelly jumped at the opportunity.

“As soon as the fight got put to me again, I took it straight away, no problem,” Connelly said. “This is what I’m in this sport for: the big fights, the big nights, and the big names.”

Circumstances around the original fight at BYB 19 weren’t in Connelly’s favor. Originally training for Des Green, a southpaw. The shift changed the approach James Connelly would have to take. Now with a full camp, he thinks this will be a big shift in his favor.

“This time I’ll be having a full camp for Nelson. When I fought him before, I was training for Desmond Green, who’s a southpaw, for 8 weeks before the change to Nelson happened. So all my concentration and efforts are directed towards Nelson for this fight that would be a big difference to me.”

With BYB having the Police Gazette Diamond belts under its banner, history is consistently noticed by those who fight for it. Now the Super Middleweight Championship is on the line. Having achieved everything he has, Connelly wants one more thing to add to his collection.

“It would mean the world to me after not getting it last time we fought. It actually looks like an Irish belt with the green, white, and gold on it, and me coming from an Irish background, I was drawn to it. Winning it, I would have won all belts from BKB and now BYB, so it would be a great achievement.”

It’s all respect between James Connelly and LT Nelson. Building up the fight, Connelly believes, doesn’t require smack talk. It requires action. Having watched the two fight each other and others, it is apparent fans will get just that.

“LT is a friend, so we never needed any smack talk or animosity during the build-up to this fight, which I always respect. But what you will see is two high-level bare knuckle fighters who won’t want to give an inch in the fight. Both of us have high-level fitness and kill-or-be-killed mentalities. This is a fight that you won’t want to miss, and if Nelson was fighting someone else, I still wouldn’t miss it,” Connelly said with a laugh. “Get ready for a real old-school fight.”

James Connelly takes on LT Nelson at BYB 35: Albuquerque Brawl. Learn how to watch below!

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