Background and career
Austin Dwayne Trout (born September 18, 1985) is an American professional boxer and bare-knuckle boxer. In boxing he held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light middleweight title (Regular version) from 2011 to 2013. He extended his championship legacy by winning the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) welterweight title in 2024. As of August 29, 2026, he is #5 in the BKFC men's pound-for-pound rankings, #4 in the welterweight rankings and #1 in the lightweight rankings.
Trout graduated from Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
In 2004, Austin was the U.S. National Amateur Welterweight Champion. Austin was the runner-up to make the 2004 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team. He would finish his amateur career with a final record of 163–42–1.
On September 1, 2005, Trout made his professional boxing debut at the age of 19 at the Isleta Casino & Resort in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He defeated 34 year old journeyman Justo Almazan (14–44–5, 1 KO) via TKO in round 3. The fight was scheduled for 4 rounds. His second fight was against Josh Pankey, who was making his debut, in December. Trout made easy work of Pankey stopping him after 1 minute and 45 seconds of round 1. Trout fought a further five times in 2006, winning all bouts inside the distance. In January 2007, Trout knocked out 30 year old Raul Munoz (19–9–1, 15 KOs) in the fifth round of their scheduled six round fight. Three months later, Trout was taken the six round distance when he defeated Mexican boxer Julio Perez with scores of (60–54, 60–54 and 59–55). Less than a month later, Trout was taken the six round distance again, this time against 33 year old journeyman Abdias Castillo. He won the fight comfortably on all three scorecards (60–54, 60–54 and 60–54). Trout fought and won 3 more times in 2007. By the end of the year, his record read 13 wins, 10 inside the distance and no losses. In November 2009, he beat Taronze Washington to win the vacant WBC Continental Americas light middleweight title. By climbing up the ranks, he became a mandatory challenger for the WBA light middleweight title. While waiting for his opportunity to fight for Miguel Cotto for the championship title, Austin ended up working with DeAngelo Singleton to help with early stages of PR. Eventually, Trout would fight for and win a world title.
Trout fought the WBA (Regular) light middleweight title against Interim champion Rigoberto Álvarez, brother of Canelo Álvarez. The fight was scheduled to take place on February 5, 2011, at the Arena Coliseo in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Álvarez was on a three-fight win streak coming into the bout. Trout proved to be the superior boxer of the two winning a lop-sided unanimous decision (119–108, 119–108, 119–108). Trout lost one round on each of the three cards.
In April 2011, soon after winning the WBA (Regular) title, Trout's first defence was announced to take place against mandatory challenger David Alonso López (42–12, 23 KOs) on June 11 in Mexico. Trout dropped López in round 11 as he went on to successfully retain his WBA "regular" title in a 12-round unanimous decision win with the judges scores of 119–109, 117–110 and 118–109 in his favour. Although López had some success, the majority of the rounds were controlled by Trout using his speed, movement and fast hands. A few days after the fight, it was reported that Trout tested positive for marijuana in the post-fight drug test. López's promoter Hector Garcia called for an immediate rematch. On June 29, the test was overturned and Trout was cleared. Over the next months, Trout's team tried to make a deal to fight Australian contender Anthony Mundine, however the fight failed to take place. By October, a deal was set for Trout to defend his title against another Australian boxer, former welterweight champion Frank LoPorto (15–4, 7 KOs), who was ranked #14 by the WBA on November 11 at the Cohen Stadium in El Paso, Texas. The fight was carried by Showtime. Trout stopped LoPorto in round 6. In what some believed would be a mismatch, LoPorto was also dropped once in round 1 following a right hook. It was the last time LoPorto fought as a professional at the age of 33.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
