London bare knuckle boxer aims for glory on Leeds show

London bare knuckle boxer Harvey Dossett travels north next weekend to fight Belfast’s Aaron Sinclair on the Leeds Brawl show. Organised by the UK’s leading bare knuckle promotion BYB with whom Dossett has just signed a three-fight contract the show takes place at the Yorkshire city’s John Charles Centre.

Dossett, who turns twenty-two in December and describes himself as ‘the hardest fighter in England’, won five national championships as a teenage amateur boxer before ‘throwing myself into bare knuckle boxing in my late teens to get plenty of competition experience. However, my ambition remains to be a professional boxer. Bare knuckle suits me as I’m quick and good at damaging the opponent’s face while dodging their shots. That’s why I’m still so good-looking,’ joked Dossett.

Dossett grew up in south-west London and attended Surbiton’s Hollyfield School and Chessington Community College ‘but not that much as I preferred to train. Both my grandfathers boxed, and my dad Steve was a several times world champion kickboxer. Fighting runs deep in our family and hopefully when I eventually have children, they’ll be fighters too. I’m one of Britain’s youngest bare-knuckle fighters and I love to break records.’

BYB was set up as BKB in 2014 by Jim Freeman Dove, now 47, who’d ‘enjoyed the testosterone-fuelled atmosphere of hard men fighting bare knuckle in hay bales’ but saw that ‘to grow the sport it needed to become more family-friendly and care better for the boxers and to do so it would need to cast off its dubious image,’ explained Dove. ‘We’ve made it a professional outfit. We’ve had no serious injuries in a hundred shows and foremost is our duty of care to the fighters. You’ll find experienced referees and the most qualified medical staff at our events.’

‘There can be no doubt that bare knuckle has a more dangerous appearance than gloved boxing with injuries such as lacerations being much more dramatic, and some fights can be a bloodbath. As the fights are relatively short head trauma is reduced. The fact is that few bouts go the full distance which is a maximum of five two-minute rounds. Knowing they’re professional athletes on professional shows enhances the commitment of fighters like Harvey.’

Father Steve is his son’s biggest fan. ‘Harvey was just nineteen still a boy really who’d trained in our garage when he fought Johnny Jones in the bare-knuckle ring, the trigon. He had a head hematoma but proved himself a warrior and fought his heart out in what became the fight of the night making me and granddad Brian so proud. He’s won his next two bouts by stoppage and the boy is lightning. It’s good pay and publicity and Harvey is a natural born fighter and was a strong wrestler at just two. Ben Young perfected him as an amateur and hopefully soon someone will offer him a professional boxing contract to make best use of his talents. Meanwhile everyone will see how good he is on the Leeds show.’

Young is complimentary about Dossett. ‘I always thought that Harvey was one of the best juniors around. He’s been more committed to training lately and has talent which coupled with very hard work could make him unbeatable.’

Like all elite athletes, Dossett appreciates sponsorship. ‘I’m grateful to Gosling and Dossett Groundworks & Construction, Cypress Garden Services and Trademark Scaffolding Services. New potential sponsors should contact me on Facebook Harvey Dossett or my dad Steve Dossett or by e-mail at [email protected] .