Bare-knuckle: The Gloves Are Off

My life as a retired amateur boxer with a passion for analog black and white photography, brought me there. For two years, as a photographer, I traveled regularly to Bolton, one of the hardest boxing underworlds England has to offer. The Bare Fist Boxing Association's events are a tough place without gloves, where honor and respect stand tall. Here I was with my camera by the ring, capturing the pain, flying banded fists, bleeding cuts and swollen faces. For millenniums, this discipline has been practiced in various ways, but for over a hundred years it was banned from common sight. Deemed illegal, the fights found refuge in barns, depots, hidden backyards and many more dark places, yet they never stopped. Now tolerated again in England, bare-knuckle boxing is making a strong comeback, changing the perception of the English Boxing world.. Those blood splattered days in Bolton, resuming more than 150 fights and 3000 shots, took me so close to the fighters I could smell their blood and sweat. I saw brave men pushed to their limits, fighting through extremely brutal or even bone-crushing victories and defeats. My camera lens captured unique perspectives, waves of intense rage, bursts of madness, flashes of despair and relief but most of all, an unmatched mutual respect. This unusual family took me in and I tried to give back the justice it deserves with this selection of chosen photographs. Welcome to the BARE-KNUCKLE world, one that never died, one that will forever live. * Pendant deux ans j'ai côtoyé en tant que photographe le milieu de la boxe le plus sulfureux d'Angleterre, un milieu où l'honneur et le respect se gagnent à mains nues. Cette discipline existe depuis des siècles, interdite depuis plus de 100 ans elle a continué à se pratiquer dans l'illégalité à l'abri des regards indiscrets, entre des bottes de pailles au fond des caves ou dans les hangars abandonnés. Aujourd'hui tolérée elle ressurgit encore plus forte aux yeux du monde. Nous assistons mai