Dat Nguyen on shady boxing politics and exile in BKFC

Dat Nguyen had a successful boxing career, but after winning his biggest bout, he was exiled from the sport. Can a win in BKFC bring him back?

A career in the ring as a boxer is a tough path to follow, but according to Dat Nguyen, it’s boxing’s politics that have knocked him out of the sport. He’s hoping that an impressive performance at BKFC 8 on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on pay-per-view can offer him a road to redemption.

Nguyen made his bones in boxing’s junior lightweight division. During his 13-year professional boxing career, Nguyen generated a 20-3 record with 7 knockouts. Today, he’s 37 years old and hasn’t fought in more than two years.

His absence from boxing is curious, considering his last performance was his greatest and most unlikely. In 2017, he fought a then-undefeated Miguel Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) and stopped him via TKO in six rounds. Nguyen wasn’t supposed to win the fight, but he did.

Most would think that pulling an upset victory over a young, promising prospect would warrant more opportunities, but the opposite occurred to Nguyen. He was shut out of the sport from his perspective.

“I thought I was going to get a bigger fight afterward, but nothing happened,” Nguyen told FanSided. “My promoter couldn’t get me a big fight. I asked him if he could get me with Al Haymon and see if he could get another TV fight. He said Al Haymon is not interested. I guess they got upset that I won.”

Nguyen proved that he wasn’t a journeyman and that he still had some fight left in him. It didn’t matter that he had something left in the tank. No promoter wanted to put him in with their young prospect. Nguyen lacked the management connections to continue in the sport.

"At one point I said screw boxing. I’m gonna go on and do other things in life. Boxing has basically took half of my life. I dedicated half of my life to the sport of boxing to be a world champion. As I realized this big win, it’s not my skill level that’s not getting me the fight. It’s all the people behind me. It made me realize that I don’t have the right people to push for a big fight. I was really disappointed."

Nguyen has fielded some calls for boxing matches, but most promoters want him to take a fight on short notice with no time to prepare. At one point, he was in talks to fight an up and comer named Ryan Garcia. It’s a fight Nguyen wanted, but it never materialized.

“Nothing happened,” recounted Nguyen. “I guessed they realized I was too dangerous. They never called back.”

Having been exiled from boxing against his will, Nguyen’s trying to make his way back into the sport through the relatively new organization BKFC. It’s similar to boxing but with no gloves, just bare knuckles.

Nguyen’s skill set should make him prosperous in BKFC, but fellow boxer Paulie Malignaggi fell short in his one fight in the organization. He also broke his hands in the process. No gloves mean that the risk of hand injury is much higher. Unlike Malignaggi, Nguyen doesn’t have a history of hand problems and thinks that bare-knuckles work to his advantage.

“When I fight, I don’t feel pain,” declared Nguyen. “I don’t feel pain. Maybe afterwards I’ll feel the pain, but I’m not worried about hurting my hands or anything. I’m just going to focus on hitting him  [Matt Murphy] as hard as I can on the right spot, so I’m not worried about that.”

Nguyen’s opponent in his BKFC debut is MMA fighter Matt Murphy (6-10). Murphy is the larger man. At 5-foot-8, he has a 2-inch height advantage over Nguyen, and he fought in the 140-pound range. Nguyen’s heaviest fighting weight was 130 pounds. He’s fighting Murphy at a contracted weight of 135 pounds, which he thinks will be beneficial.

“I always spar big guys,” said Nguyen. “I sparred Arturo Gatti. I sparred Paulie Malignaggi. I sparred bigger guys, and I was able to be on top of them. When I lose so much weight dropping to 126, I get really weak. That shows in my performance. When you cut so much weight, you don’t have the energy anymore. I think it’s perfect for me at 135. I walk around at 142, 143, so I don’t have to cut much weight.”

During his time off from boxing, Nguyen has re-invented himself as a restaurant owner. He owns Miss Saigon Vietnamese restaurant in Vero Beach, FL, but he’s still passionate about boxing and competing. BKFC isn’t quite boxing, but he hopes that a dynamic performance against Murphy will re-open doors in boxing.

Nguyen’s case shows the shady politics of boxing. He defeated Flores, but he can’t get a legitimate boxing match while Flores fights Leo Santa Cruz in November for a version of the WBA super featherweight title. Hopefully, Nguyen will find a sense of poetic justice.

“I love boxing,” said Nguyen. “The politics side, Miguel Flores is fighting Leo Santa Cruz in November. I wish I would have had that opportunity. Even though I beat him, I got no opportunity. He’s rated number one in the WBA, and he’s fighting for the world title.

“I want to accomplish my dream.”