Stanlee Wilson – “I’m so excited for this”

BKB returns on May 21st at the Indigo at the O2 for a night of Bare Knuckle Boxing the capital will not soon forget with the absolutely explosive BKB 32 card.

And will also play host to the return of Stanlee Wilson. This fight is pivotal to Stanlee, and will forge his path going forward on his career with the organisation.

I caught up with ‘Big Country’ as preparations are well underway for his explosive return to London.

Stanlee ‘Big Country’ Wilson is an English professional Bare Knuckle Boxer currently competing in the Heavyweight division. Stanlee has competed for BKB throughout his professional Bare Knuckle Boxing career.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to speak with me today Stanlee, and also to congratulate you on your upcoming inclusion to the BKB 32 mate.

“Thank you.”

You’re very welcome, man.

I hope preparations have been going well in the build-up to your return to action?

“Yeah, this is the best I’ve trained in about 5 years. I’ve got no injuries, I’m actually enjoying being in the gym again. Sometimes it can get very tiresome when you’re doing it for so long, and I sort of lost the love for it. So I wasn’t training properly, I wasn’t committed properly if that makes sense. But with this camp, I’ve sort of hit it running, I’m really enjoying it.”

It definitely shows, from what I’ve seen you seem to be really enjoying it, and looking like a completely different animal going into this.

“I’ve been training twice a day since I started my camp. I didn’t train yesterday because I was in Birmingham, So by the time I got home last night it was 7 O’clock. I’ll be back to it tomorrow for some light-weights and swimming, and then sparring in the evening.”

I don’t blame you for the rest after a trip to Birmingham man, it’s a hell of a journey.

“Thing is, it’s only one road, it’s only the M40. But you’re on that road for so bloody long, and it just zaps the life out of ya.”

It really does man.

“I’m only in Slough, so it’s only an hour and 40 minutes for me, but it feels like you’re only in the car for like 3 hours.”

Especially travelling from London, it is 3 hours if the traffic is kind to me, hahahaha.

“Yeah, it’s not good, I wouldn’t wanna be doing it regularly hahahaha”

Hahahhaha, I completely agree.

Last in action back at the tail end of 2022, the BKB fans were overjoyed to hear of your return. How does it feel to once again head to war in the Capital?

“You know what, I’m so excited for this. I fought in October at the BYB card, which is in the trigon and that was the 1st time I’d fought in 4 years. I was up for it but then some stuff happened, I’m not making excuses I just didn’t perform. So I was 50/50 on whether I was going to fight again, I wasn’t sure if I had it anymore or what I did have I lost, then I got this opportunity on my doorstep. I’m coming into this as a replacement as well, but the second we agreed to the fight, we started camp that day. And like I said, I’m so keen to get in there and put on a show for everybody, I really am. It’s gonna be explosive, I’m working on a lot of new stuff in the gym now that I didn’t work on before, or what I felt like I didn’t need to work on before. I’ve stripped everything back, I’ve gone back to basic boxing, mate I promise you now, don’t blink.”

I for one am excited to see the progression you’ve made mate, be great to speak to you on the night.

“Yeah mate, absolutely.”

Greatly appreciated man, I’ll definitely give you a shout when I’m there.

Dedicating your life to one of the world’s most brutal yet exhilarating sports, fight fans have bore witness to many exceptional wars from yourself since your 1st step on the bare knuckle scene back in 2016.

Amongst these wars, will there be a battle in particular that will forever hold a special place for you?

“For me, as silly as this is gonna sound, the fight that holds the best memory for me is a loss. I fought Christian Evans for the BYB world title in Hartlepool.”

That was a great fight.

“I dropped Christian in the 1st round, I caught him with a left hook and as he was going down I caught him again and I think I woke him up. If you look back at the fight you’ll see how hard he went down and he wasn’t making that count, and I genuinely believe when I hit him again and woke him up. Then he made the count and in the next round he caught me with a body shot, and I’ve never been hit like that before. When I went to get up, it was like someone had kicked me straight in the ribs, so that fight will forever stand out for me. Because I was never given a chance for that fight, I was written off from the get go. I struggled to make the weight so the day of the fight I was still cutting in the sauna, I missed my initial weigh-in and had to cut 2 pounds in 45 mins or an hour I can’t quite remember. And I know 2 pounds is not an awful lot of weight, but when you’ve been cutting for 2 weeks, there’s not much more to come off. I ended up being a quarter of a pound under so I made the weight, but I was drained and like I said, I was written off from the get go. No one expected me to do anything, everyone thought it was gonna be an easy one for Christian, but leading up to that body shot I was dominating the fight. That fight as well as my fight at BKB 1 against Somaiya Preet where he dropped me, he caught me with an overhand right out of nowhere within 10/15 seconds and broke my nose, but I went on to win as he didn’t come out for the 2nd round. That stands out, just for the sheer fact that I got dropped so early, I put my warrior’s hat on and went to work.”

Both were absolutely incredible fights, I can see why they stand out. Regarding the cut, I honestly don’t think I could do it, you guys are completely built differently.

“That’s why I stay up at Heavyweight now. I mean, I’m not a tall Heavyweight but I’ve had 5 at Heavyweight and never been dropped. I’m quite famous for saying that I’m the best 5′ 6 Heavyweight in the world.”

You’ve done extremely well, I know some were losses but they went to a decision, and to last until the decision in bare knuckle, is a result in itself I personally believe.

“Yeah. absolutely, and I’m one of the lucky ones as I don’t really get cut that easily. Obviously a lot of the BKB fights if you don’t get knocked out you get stopped by the doctor because of cuts. I’ve had my nose popped and a small cut reopened from my MMA days, so touch wood it continues that way.”

Thick skin is an incredible trait to have in the bare knuckle industry.

“You need it, because it doesn’t take a lot to cut ya. This fight against Tony Barratt, I don’t know too much about him. I think we’re quite similar in the way that we fight style-wise. But I’m working on a whole different style, so if he’s training off of old footage of me he’s gonna be very, very surprised come fight night.”

I’ve spoken to many fighters over the years, and many of them have said the same thing. It’s always best to focus on your own game and be the best you can be on the night.

“That’s it. I go into every fight whether i’m the underdog or the favourite with the same thought in mind, he’s got 2 arms, 2 legs and a head, so watchIng old footage doesn’t help me, so i just tend not to. When the fight was made, Jim sent me some footage of Tony and I didn’t even watch it, as soon as he messaged I replied to make it happen.”

That’s a very determined and professional outlook to have, brother.

“Thank you, I appreciate that.”

My pleasure man.

As we edge closer to your 3rd appearance for BKB, there has been a lot of talk regarding your future, as you previously mentioned. The violent festivities in London it seems is make or break for you, and a run for the title could also be on the cards.

What has led to these decisions?

“For me, it is make or break if I don’t win this after the way I’ve been training. Because before I’ve had losses and I hadn’t trained properly and I can put it down to that, that person wasn’t the best Stan Wilson. Whereas this one, I’ve been putting everything into my training, so if Tony does pull off the win then he’s beat the vert best version of me, there’s no excuses. Without being disrespectful to Tony as I don’t mean it disrespectfully at all, if I can’t beat Tony, then I can’t be fighting for titles, and if you’re not looking to fight for titles what are you doing. Because it’s not about money for me, we earn good money for what we do but it’s not life changing money. So I’m not doing it for a paycheck, I’m doing it because I want to be remembered in 30 years time and to be remembered, you have to hold titles.”

Truly great to hear such dedication to the sport, not the financial side of it.

BKB 32 is a fitting place for your sights on the strap, with Charlie Milner taking on Heavyweight Champion Carl Hobly.

If successful on the night, and the title aspiration is next for you, which one of these prolific warriors would you be most interested in colliding with?

“Ohhh, that’s a good question. Before we start jumping and talking about running for the title I have to win this one 1st. I’m quite friendly with Carl, we’ve met at shows and we talk. just for his size and shape, Carl would be the preferred option because of obviously Charlie’s height. But within that, you’ve also got the absolute animal that is Carl Hobly, hahahaha, so it’s a hard one to pick so I really don’t know. If I was to fight for a title, I’d want to fight whoever was the best. So if Charlie can avenge his loss against Carl, then that makes him the best until he gets beat so that would make it Charlie, if Carl wins it would be Carl. So I haven’t got a preference, at the end of the day I’ve gotta fight whoever is holding the belt. Even with a win on the night I don’t think I’d be pushed into a title fight just yet, I think they’d want me to win a couple, to edge me toward a title fight if that makes sense.”

That’s understandable. And it’s always good to fight the best, I completely agree with you.

“Yeah, You’ve gotta fight the best of the best, because otherwise it’s not worth doing.”

Looking forward, yet another explosive night of violence is being pieced together by the BKB team, to make May 21st a night to remember for all in attendance. Other than your inclusion on the night, are there any confirmed fighter’s or bouts in particular that you’re looking forward to witnessing?

“Yeah hahaha, there are actually a couple. It’s well documented that me and Jimmy Sweeney are really good friends, since I’ve been on the scene we’ve clicked like brothers.”

Stanlee wilson with Jimmy Sweeney & James Connelly at the BKB media day in Birmingham

“I’d love to see him come out and put on a performance, I really would love to see that. And the other fighters that really piqued my interest is Scott McHugh vs Aaron McAllum for the British title, that really interests me because they both look in phenomenal Shape. The main 1 for me though is Jimmy’s, he’s had a couple of tough losses fighting Barry Jones which there is no shame in that whatsoever. Looking at Jimmy at the media day, he looks so eager to do what he does best.”

2 absolutely amazing bouts, May 21st is gonna be fireworks that’s for sure.

It’s been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today Stanlee, I wish you all the best for your preparations and I look forward to witnessing you out there.

“Mate, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you to Aaron, thank you very much.”

You’re very welcome, brother.

Last but not least, do you have a message for the fans that will be in attendance and anybody you’d like to give a shout-out to?

“I’ll do my shout-out’s 1st. I’d like to thank my sponsors Colin at Munty’s Maintenance, Jason Morris at JMC Groundworks, Sean at Rail Planning Solutions, Jamie at JM Van Services, Billy at Bright Sparks Electrical & Property Services and Lee at CCC Roofing & Cladding. I’ve been in combat sports as a pro for 12 years now, and Lee has been with me from day 1. Without you guys help I couldn’t do what I do, so thank you so much for your support and long may it continue. And a little message to the fans, don’t blink.

Catch Stanlee and many more explosive warriors take the walk to the BKB ring on May 21st for the absolutely stacked BKB 32 card at the Indigo at the O2.