Rolando Dy Has Fallen In Love Ahead of BKB Extreme’s Brawl In Duval II

That doesn’t mean Dy was an easy sell, at first.

“Actually, I despised bare-knuckle before,” the 33-year-old said. “I’ll be honest, I was a hater of bare-knuckle because there was MMA, and I didn’t feel like bare-knuckle was a sport. It was too brutal. And now, when I tried it, I was like, man, this is nice. This is beautiful. And for me, it’s also scientific. It’s not just a brawl; it’s technical. You are also an athlete in bare-knuckle; it’s just a different kind of sport. It completely changed my mind when I tried it.”

In other words, it’s not just a fistfight without gloves. And while MMA had to shatter stereotypes on its way to the mainstream, bare-knuckle boxing is doing the same thing in recent years. And if you want an example of how the majority of fighters in the sport are, at their core, look at Dy’s debut against George Hillyard in September of 2023 and see his comments after his fourth-round TKO win.

“I don’t enjoy hurting a family man,” said Dy in his post-fight interview. “He’s a family man with a boy, and I have two daughters, so I don’t want to damage him that much. I was talking to him in round three. I told him, ‘George, just give up, let it go, because you are a father and you have a son. But man, he didn’t want to give up.”

That’s a true sportsman, and though Dy admits it’s not for everyone, it is his passion.

“It’s very brutal because there’s blood, but it’s not that fatal compared to some sports, especially boxing,” Dy said. “When I fought Hillyard, he was so tough, but he was overweight, as well. I threw everything that can kill a normal person, but he was standing there. I was starting to get worried because I might damage him permanently, but then I realized that after two months, he was back on track; he was back fighting, and that was a good thing. I was like, yeah, it looks brutal, and it looks very damaging, but it’s all on the outside. It’s not that hurtful and fatal how it looks like on the camera.”

If anyone knows what toll fighting can take on someone, it’s Dy, whose father is former world champion Rolando Navarette. Back in the 80s, Navarette was an all-action fighter who won a world junior lightweight title by beating Cornelius Boza-Edwards. Other notables on his record were Alexis Arguello, Bazooka Limon, and Frankie Duarte, but after his career ended with three straight losses, he spent three years in prison and also saw his money disappear. Dy doesn’t have much contact with his 68-year-old dad these days, but he believes he knows that he’s now fighting bare-knuckle.

“I think he knows, but I didn’t grow up with him, and we barely talk,” said Dy. “I even disagreed and argued with the side of my dad’s family online, and they decided to block me. I don’t hate my dad, but he’s never been a dad to me. He’s my father, but he’s never been a dad to me. So yeah, I’m pretty sure he knows that I’m fighting bare-knuckle, and I’m pretty sure he knows that I’ll be fighting Duran’s son.”

And that’s all that really matters at the moment because, for everything the two combatants’ fathers did in the boxing ring, on Saturday, the sons will be the ones throwing hands. “He has heavy hands, very good fitness, very well-conditioned,” Dy said of Duran Jr. “But my goal is to make it look easy.”

If he does, Dy has his future planned out with his new girlfriend.

“I want to be the first Filipino to be a world champion in bare-knuckle,” he said. “It will be hard, but that’s my goal. I don’t want to fight just for money. Of course, this is my job, and I fight for money, but that’s secondary. I have a goal to be a world champion. I want to create a legacy in bare-knuckle boxing, especially since it’s a very new sport and it’s the fastest-growing sport in history. So someday, when I’m old, I want people to remember that Rolando Gabriel Dy is one of the pioneers and one of the world champions of bare-knuckle, and one of the legends. That’s my goal. I will be a legend of bare-knuckle before I retire.”