Stayton Bonner

Stayton Bonner is an American journalist and author whose work explores the worlds of sport, culture, and the people who inhabit the margins of mainstream society. His book Bare Knuckle examines the raw, brutal, and often underground world of bare-knuckle fighting, a sport that has experienced a remarkable revival in recent years after centuries on the fringes of legality and respectability. Bonner's reporting takes readers deep into a world that most people know only through rumour and reputation, meeting the fighters, promoters, and fans who are drawn to a form of combat that strips away the rules and equipment of mainstream boxing to return to something more primal and elemental. His writing is characterised by vivid, immersive reporting, a gift for capturing character and place, and a journalist's instinct for finding the human stories within larger cultural phenomena. Bonner approaches his subject without judgment but with genuine curiosity, exploring why bare-knuckle fighting appeals to its participants and what it reveals about masculinity, courage, and the human appetite for authentic physical contest. His work contributes to the tradition of literary sports journalism that finds meaning and drama in unexpected corners of the sporting world. Bare Knuckle is available as an audiobook, offering listeners a gripping, deeply reported journey into one of sport's most visceral and controversial arenas.