News from Ray
A Cuban Night in Miami: Why I Was at BKB 58
By Ray Diaz · October 2026
The last time I wrote about bare knuckle, I was at BKB 56 in Los Angeles because my friend Adel Altamimi was fighting. BKB 58 was different. This time BKB invited me to Miami to represent, and the reason goes back further than any gym. I was there because I am Cuban.
A card built for Miami
On August 29, 2026, BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing brought its 58th event to the James L. Knight Center in downtown Miami, live on VICE TV. One look at the card told you why they picked this city. Miami is the heart of the Cuban community in the United States, and BKB built a night those fans would recognize as theirs.
Yuriorkis Gamboa, the Olympic gold medalist and former world champion from Guantánamo, made his bare knuckle debut and won a unanimous decision over Yesner Talavera. Gustavo Trujillo defended his BKB heavyweight title by stopping Mick Terrill in the second round. Yunieski Gonzalez won the vacant cruiserweight title with a first round knockout of Ethan George. And Alberto "El Indio" Blas, born in Cuba and fighting out of Miami, defended his super featherweight title with a first round stoppage of Brandon Birr.
The top four fights on the card, and Cuban fighters won every one of them. In Miami, that means something.
Why heritage put me in that room
I was born in Key West to Cuban parents. I grew up ninety miles from the island, close enough to feel it and too far to be part of it. I have written before about losing my first language in foster care, and about years in an industry that had one narrow lane for Latino actors. I stopped trying to fit that lane a long time ago.
So when BKB and its CEO, David Tetreault, asked me to come to Miami and represent, it felt like being asked to show up as exactly what I am. David spent more than a decade in marketing at 20th Century Fox and about seven years as chief business officer at Golden Boy before taking over BKB. He understands that a fight night is a story, and that night the story was Cuban.
Filming with the Vargas Dynasty
I did not come only to watch. I came to create. My partner Hannah and I filmed a couples comedy skit with Fernando Vargas Jr., "El Feroz," the son of two time world champion Fernando Vargas.
Fernando Jr. and his brother Amado signed with BKB in April 2026, and their younger brother Emiliano completes what the family calls the Vargas Dynasty. Fernando Jr. won his BKB debut at BKB 57 in London. Being around three brothers carrying their father's name into a brand new sport was a reminder that in this sport, family is part of the story.
Victor Ortiz, Tyson Fury, and a full room
Hannah and I spent part of the night with former world champion Victor Ortiz and his wife. Victor is one of the boxing names who crossed over to BKB this year, and seeing him there as a couple, the same way we were, made it feel less like an event and more like family.
Then the Gypsy King walked in. Tyson Fury made a surprise appearance at BKB 58, and the whole building felt it. When the heavyweight champion of a generation shows up to watch your sport, the sport is not niche anymore.
After the fights I caught up with Elie Seckbach, the Emmy winning boxing reporter behind EsNews, and with Adel Altamimi, who is getting ready for his next fight at BKB 60 in Newcastle, England on October 10.
What I took home
My BKB 56 story was about proximity: the standard you hold yourself to comes from who you stand next to. BKB 58 added something to that. The room matters, and so does why you are in it.
In Los Angeles I was there for a friend. In Miami I was there for where I come from.
Since Miami I have been training more often at Adel's Humble Warrior gym in Beverly Hills. That is the next story.