For Austin Trout, bare-knuckle is where it's at

Nov. 27—It was not a Thanksgiving-themed interview, having taken place via Zoom the previous week.

Even so, for Austin "No Doubt" Trout, there's no doubt he's thankful for bare-knuckle boxing.

"That's my bread and butter," he said.

Trout, a former world boxing champion and a longtime Las Cruces resident who now lives in Houston, hopes to spread a little honey on that bread and butter on Dec. 5. He's preparing for a rematch against Luis "Baboon" (smile when you call him that) Palomino on a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship card in Hollywood, Florida.

It's a semifinal in a BKFC lightweight championship tournament, the winner to face Argentina's Franco Tenaglia for the title at a later date. Tenaglia defeated Ben Bonner by split decision in an October semifinal.

Trout defeated Palomino by unanimous decision in February 2024 for the BKFC welterweight (165-pound title). He has willingly vacated that title to fight at 155 pounds, a more natural weight for him and just a single pound above the 154-pound junior middleweight class at which he won his world boxing title belt.

Trout went 4-0 fighting at 165 but was knocked down and broke his left hand in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, while gutting out a victory by split decision against Carlos "Snake" Trinidad. It was a brutal fight that went overtime to a sixth round.

"Those dudes (at 165 pounds) were pretty strong, pretty brave," he said, the hand fully healed. "I had to really finesse my way through those fights.

"I made the comment, 'Hey, let me go down to 155 and take that belt, because that's where I feel the strongest.'"

Trout, 40, has had a splendid professional boxing career: a WBA junior middleweight title, which he successfully defended four times; a 37-5-1 record, the five losses — four of those in world title fights — coming against fighters with a cumulative record of 132-1-3 at the time of those bouts.

The past seven years, though, opportunities in boxing have been few: seven bouts, a 6-0-1 record. His last fight in the squared circle was in October 2023 —a win by eight-round unanimous decision over Omir Rodriguez in Oberhausen, Germany.

Fortunately for Trout, and for bare-knuckle, the BKFC came calling.

In seeking an opponent to fight Albuquerque MMA legend Diego Sanchez on the BKFC's debut card in Albuquerque, BKFC President David Feldman first reached out to former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit.

Condit, a former Sanchez teammate at Albuquerque's Jackson-Wink MMA, said no thanks. Feldman turned to Trout, who battered Sanchez en route to a victory by fourth-round TKO.

Successive wins over Palomino, Ricardo Franco and Trinidad have established Trout as one of the BKFC's best fighters — ranked No. 2 pound-for-pound behind middleweight champion David Mundell — and top drawing cards.

He loves it. So committed to bare-knuckle is Trout that he's opened a bare-knuckle gym in Houston.

In the recent past, Trout has said he'd take a boxing match if the right opportunity came along. He's not saying otherwise now.

That possibility, though, seems less likely than ever before.

"I'd be dumb to say I'm not ever going to do boxing (again), because if boxing did present the right dollar sign and opportunity, sure," he said. "But my focus is on bare knuckle."

Bare-knuckle or otherwise, how much longer will Trout, the father of four, continue to fight?

"I never want to put a number on it, but I know it's not long," he said. "... Transition is a part of my life, and I see (out-of-the-ring) opportunities that I think can help carry me into that transition.

"But for now, I still want to fight. That's the biggest space, you know, wanting to fight."

Trout didn't get to this point, he said, by taking any opponent lightly. Still, he exudes confidence as a prepares to face an opponent he defeated by clear-cut unanimous decision some 22 months ago.

His ability to study and dissect an opponent over the course of a fight, Trout said, has always been a strength.

"If I get one look," he said, "it doesn't take me too much time to figure that person out. Now, imagine if I had two looks.

"This is gonna be my second look. I think it's gonna be a lot worse for (Palomino) than it was the first time."