A Cockermouth bathroom fitter is now a bare knuckle fighting champion, writes James Bovington.
Nathan McAdam, 21, has won the Spartan Fight Club’s strawweight title belt at Fight Fest Five, an open-air show held in West Yorkshire with bouts taking place in a pit made from bales of hay.
Nathan said: “I was proud to win the belt. It was a hard fight as my opponent Allan Halbert from Worksop put up strong opposition. He was tougher than I expected.
“But I kept at it and got a third-round stoppage. I was happy to have come out of it with my face unscathed although I ended up being sick with all the effort. I was totally exhausted. I’ve nothing but respect, love even, for Allan and I’m sure that we’ll meet again on the dance floor.
“I now need to settle for a while after weeks of intense training, rest up a bit and then go on to bigger, better things in the sport. As I’ve said before, I’m a placid lad who never causes trouble but fighting bare knuckle gives me a safe place to channel frustration or anger into something I enjoy and am good at.”
The Mirfield event was organised by Spartan Wars Fight Club, the brainchild of bare knuckle boxing promoter and former amateur boxer Christian Roberts.
He said: “We set it up in 2017 after hearing of the fatal stabbing of a young boy in London as we wanted to change the knife culture with a ‘gloves up, knives down’ approach to allow young men to settle differences in a controlled environment. We currently hold five shows a year across the North and plan on growing the promotion to hold up to 24 annually throughout the country.”
Nathan is looking forward to becoming a dad to a baby girl in November and works with dad Neil fitting bathrooms.
Nathan said: “My dad’s my biggest fan. In my corner when I fight. His company Better Bathrooms is my sponsor and I’m grateful that Soulless Ink in Workington has become my second sponsor, but I need more to progress. If extra local individuals or companies want to help it would be appreciated.”
Email [email protected]
