Meet the feminine bare-knuckle fighter who trains by punching concrete paving slabs – and laughs at misogynist males who say she has “puny arms”.
Danni Ashfield, 32, just lately signed a professional contract – and thinks she might be the primary feminine fighter with autism in Britain. The private coach, from Flintshire, took up bare-knuckle preventing after her autism prevented her from with the ability to put on boxing gloves.
Not with the ability to see her arms gave her anxiousness – so the gloves have been off. Danni, a 5ft 5ins bantamweight who fights beneath the title ‘Danni Lee’, now competes in sanctioned occasions.
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She desires extra girls to take up bare-knuckle preventing – which originated in Seventeenth-century England – and hopes to encourage her son Alfie, 13, who additionally has autism. “I just hope that I can build more awareness for this sport and the charity,” Danni said.
“I became an ambassador with the National Autistic Society mainly for my son. I do get a bit worried what might happen when he grows up and what the world will be like then. So when they approached me to get involved, I was 100 per cent on board.”
Danni began taking part in preventing sports activities aged eight. She achieved a black belt in karate and earned 24 trophies through the years.
However, when she first tried boxing, Danni mentioned on account of her autism and never with the ability to see her arms whereas carrying boxing gloves, she could not take pleasure in it. But she mentioned: “As soon as I took the gloves off – it was a completely different story. That’s when I first heard about bare knuckle boxing.”
Danni began bare-knuckle preventing six months in the past and shortly turned a rising star. She was signed on as an expert fighter with the primary Bare Knuckle Boxing Company just lately.
Would you ever attempt bare-knuckle preventing? Let us know within the feedback part.
(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
Danni trains for between 4 and 6 hours per day, both working, doing metabolic train or energy and conditioning of her arms, with two classes within the morning and two within the night.
She mentioned: “For conditioning my hands, I punch sandbags or the concrete slab in my garden. I don’t aim to break them, but it is just purely to build enough strength up in my hands.
“Eventually you get a bit immune to the pain but it can be a painful process. You just start out slow with it. I can feel the pain more in winter.”
She additionally works carefully co-owner of Bare Knuckle Boxing, Jim Freeman, and trains at Unit One MMA in Shotton and Tokon Karate Academy in Chester.
Jim mentioned: “I believe Danni has an incredible future forward of her. She is at all times going to be seen as a pioneer of the game, she will get to out her title on the market and create a long-lasting legacy.
(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
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“She is going to get a lot of adulation and respect for what she is doing, and rightly so because the people are the toughest of the tough.”
Danni added that bare-knuckle preventing is a male-dominated sport and that she has confronted criticism for participating, saying: “I’d say the game is sort of male-dominated for the time being – and I’m attempting to make some noise about it.
“It’s like how soccer began out – there weren’t many ladies enjoying. I believe the primary subject is that the game has not had sufficient time to evolve.
“The company I am signed on with is the only one in the whole world. They try to go into different countries and organise fights there. But I think it’s the bare knuckle element that puts some women off, it might seem a bit brutal.
“A couple of people have told me that women shouldn’t be fighting. Some people think it’s really cool, other people think it’s scary. People have mixed reactions to it.
(Image: William Lailey / SWNS)
“I have had a guy on Facebook that I ‘shouldn’t be punching with my puny arms’ and was offering to fight me. But the community itself so friendly and welcoming.”
Jim added: “We have about a dozen women signed up as fighters now. They can fight to a great standard and quality and are extremely talented.”
Danni additionally mentioned the game was accommodating like no different sport she has been concerned in. “I typically don’t inform those that I’m autistic in case they handled me in a different way,” she said
“Some people don’t have a full understanding of what autism can involve. But my coach took me to where I would be fighting and showed me everywhere I would walk through, what would happen, the music, the speakers, the people who were going to be there.
“I could prep and process before my match and that was really, really good of him to do. I’ve never been involved in a sport as accommodating as this one.”