Since its heyday in the late 1800s, bare-knuckle boxing in the US has been relegated to parking lots and grimy basements, an underground sport that couldn’t find a way to bring itself above board. But in June of 2018—after spending years petitioning almost 30 states to sanction the brutal fights—promoter David Feldman finally managed to stage America's first-ever legal bare-knuckle boxing match in Wyoming. VICE went to the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championships in Cheyenne a few days ahead of the big event to hear how Feldman managed to pull it off, and to meet a handful of fighters for whom boxing—and even MMA fighting—just isn’t hardcore enough.
Credit card fraud has been on the rise for about a decade. In 2016 alone, losses topped $24 billion worldwide, half of which affected cardholders in the US. With a virtually unlimited amount of money to be made scamming, some tech-savvy criminals have turned ripping off credit card numbers into a full-time gig. VICE met up with a scammer in Brooklyn for an inside look at the shady underground profession. He walked us through the process, showing us how he buys stolen accounts on the dark web, prints pilfered numbers on blank cards, and buys thousands of dollars worth of goods with stolen money. He also explained why he got into the game in the first place—and what it would take for him to get out.
Mathilda “Mayhem” Wilson is the first professional women’s bare knuckle boxer in the whole of Scandinavia. She’s from Sweden, where the sport is still illegal. To compete, she has to travel across Europe to follow a hard-fought career as a @BKFC fighter.
Ex-gang member Johnny reflects on his life of crime, prison, and redemption in the first VICEWORLD x Soft White Underbelly feature.